Strata Florida Abbey: approaching the ruins
Approaching the ruins of medieval Strata Florida Abbey (near Pontrhydfendigaid and Tregaron in Ceredigion, West Wales) in Welsh Abaty Ystrad Fflur, on a mostly clear afternoon in late May 2022.
The Romanesque archway of the “Great West Door,” the remains of the west entrance of the ruined church, frames a view of the limited surviving walls of the nave. Flowering shrubs border the site.
A monastery was founded quite nearby around 1164 by Cistercian monks from Whitland Abbey, with land granted by Robert FitzStephen (ca 1123-1183), a Norman-Welsh knight. Under the patronage of Rhys ap Gruffydd (1132-1197, known as the Lord Rhys) prince of Deheubarth, the Cistercian abbey was established at its present site in 1184, where it grew into a key religious, economic, and cultural centre; it was the burial place of many princes of Deheubarth during the 12th and 13th centuries as well as the noted 14th-century Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, and a number of important medieval Welsh texts were very probably written there. During the rising of Owain Glyndŵr, the last declared Welsh Prince of Wales (known in English as the rebel Owen Glendower), between 1401 and 1415, the English army occupied the site. Even though the Cistercian monks were then allowed to return there, Strata Florida never recovered its former prominence, and it was dissolved under Henry VIII in 1539.
The buildings were dismantled or fell into ruin over subsequent centuries, until recognition of its importance by Victorian archaeologists resulted in an excavation led by Stephen Williams, a railway engineer and a founder member of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. It officially became a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1919 and is now in the care of Cadw.
(Information from the official Cadw website, the website of the Strata Florida Trust, and Wikipedia, all last consulted 12 March 2024. Rhys ap Gruffydd’s dates from US Library of Congress/Name Authority Cooperative (NACO) name record no98071481.)
[Strata Florida 2 abbey archway 2022-05-24 f; DSCF0249]
Strata Florida Abbey: approaching the ruins
Approaching the ruins of medieval Strata Florida Abbey (near Pontrhydfendigaid and Tregaron in Ceredigion, West Wales) in Welsh Abaty Ystrad Fflur, on a mostly clear afternoon in late May 2022.
The Romanesque archway of the “Great West Door,” the remains of the west entrance of the ruined church, frames a view of the limited surviving walls of the nave. Flowering shrubs border the site.
A monastery was founded quite nearby around 1164 by Cistercian monks from Whitland Abbey, with land granted by Robert FitzStephen (ca 1123-1183), a Norman-Welsh knight. Under the patronage of Rhys ap Gruffydd (1132-1197, known as the Lord Rhys) prince of Deheubarth, the Cistercian abbey was established at its present site in 1184, where it grew into a key religious, economic, and cultural centre; it was the burial place of many princes of Deheubarth during the 12th and 13th centuries as well as the noted 14th-century Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, and a number of important medieval Welsh texts were very probably written there. During the rising of Owain Glyndŵr, the last declared Welsh Prince of Wales (known in English as the rebel Owen Glendower), between 1401 and 1415, the English army occupied the site. Even though the Cistercian monks were then allowed to return there, Strata Florida never recovered its former prominence, and it was dissolved under Henry VIII in 1539.
The buildings were dismantled or fell into ruin over subsequent centuries, until recognition of its importance by Victorian archaeologists resulted in an excavation led by Stephen Williams, a railway engineer and a founder member of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. It officially became a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1919 and is now in the care of Cadw.
(Information from the official Cadw website, the website of the Strata Florida Trust, and Wikipedia, all last consulted 12 March 2024. Rhys ap Gruffydd’s dates from US Library of Congress/Name Authority Cooperative (NACO) name record no98071481.)
[Strata Florida 2 abbey archway 2022-05-24 f; DSCF0249]