It was a principle of the monksof the Cistercian Order that their Houses should be built inplaces remote from all human habitation, and at
The abbey (dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as were allCistercian abbeys) was founded as a daughter-house of Whitland,in 1143, by Maredudd, Cadwallon and Einion, sons of Madog, princeof what is now Radnorshire. The first community failed when Hughde Mortimer, Earl of Hereford, invaded Mid-Wales and drove outthe Abbey's protectors. The monks went back to Whitland: but in1176 the Lord Rhys, ruler of South Wales, re-established theprinces and Cadwallon ap Madog gave land to re-found the Abbey.Rhys died in 1197; the Mortimers again took over and presentedthe Abbey with a Norman Charter. Welsh monks who felt unable tolive under Norman rule, left to found an abbey at Cymer nearDolgellau. The architecture of the Abbey suggests that RogerMortimer started to build the Abbey in stone, replacing theearlier, probably wooden, structure.
When Llywelyn the Great regained Welsh independence in 1228,he began to turn the Abbey into a great national Cathedral.Llywelyn was friendly with the Corbett family, owners of theGrinshill stone quarries near Shrewsbury, and the HerefordMortimers. He imported Grinshill stone for this Abbey and some ofhis other great buildings. He was thwarted in his plans in 1231.During English Henry III's skirmishes with the Welsh, one of theCwmhir monks directed the English to a "ford", wheretheir horses were mired and they were trapped at the mercy of theWelsh leader Llewellyn. Henry retaliated by burning down a grangeof the abbey and fining the abbot. Privileges granted to Cwmhirthat same year include the condition that the monks "do notabuse their liberty by assisting the king's enemies inWales". It seems likely that the corpse of
Even in its heyday, Abbey Cwmhir, 240mabove sea-level, and in mountainous land, was never a rich houseby English monastic standards. Yet its nave,72.5m long, was exceptionally ambitious, and it had the usualextensive pasture lands for its sheep and cattle. Its stud farmwas such that in the early thirteenth century it was obliged tosupply the Welsh prince Llywellyn ap Iorwerth with two coltsannually "of their superior breed". At that time, too,the mountains would have been covered with their indigenous oakforests, source of fuel and of timber for building. (By 1848these were almost denuded; they are now being replaced, but notby oak.)
Abbey Cwmhir village is clusteredaround the Happy Union pub, a Victorian Gothic mansion, and aneccentric neo-Byzantine church of the same vintage (1866). Thelatter two were built by the Philips family, on the proceeds ofManchester cotton; hall and church have been described as a"lively and muscular couple". The church contains astone coffin lid, decorated and inscribed, from the grave ofAbbot Mabli.
There are many other interesting places to visit in