Cymer Abbey (Welsh: ''Abaty Cymer'') is a ruined
Cistercian abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The con ...
near the village of
Llanelltyd
Llanelltyd ( cy, Llanelltyd) is a small village and community in Gwynedd, to the northwest of Dolgellau. The community population taken at the 2011 Census was 514, 57.4% of which speak Welsh.
It is home to the 12th-century Cymer Abbey, a grade ...
, just north of
Dolgellau,
Gwynedd, in north-west
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
History
It was founded in 1189 and dedicated to
the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...
under the patronage of
Maredudd ap Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd (d. 1212), Lord of Merioneth (grandson of
Owain Gwynedd
Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...
), and of his brother,
Gruffudd ap Cynan
Gruffudd ap Cynan ( 1137), sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was rememb ...
, prince of N. Wales (d. 1200). It was a daughter house of
Abbeycwmhir
Abbeycwmhir or Abbey Cwmhir ( cy, Abaty Cwm Hir, "Abbey in the Long Valley") is a village and community in the valley of the Nant Clywedog in Radnorshire, Powys, Wales. The community includes the hamlet of Bwlch-y-sarnau.
The Abbey
The villa ...
in Powys.
The remains of the church and west tower are very plain, but substantial with walls surviving about nave archway height. It is a simple nave with aisles, lacking northern and southern transepts, and the choir and presbytery are incorporated into the nave. The abbey has buff sandstone dressings and some red sandstone carvings, but is primarily of local rubble construction. The foundations of the cloister and other monastic buildings are visible to the south. The abbot's house remain to the west of the site and have been extensively remodelled as a farmhouse.
Like other Cistercian communities in Wales, Cymer Abbey farmed sheep and bred horses, supplying them to
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth
Llywelyn, Llewelyn or Llewellyn is a name of Welsh language origins. See Llywelyn (name) for the name's etymology, history and other details.
As a surname Arts
* Carmen Llywelyn, American actress and photographer
* Chris Llewellyn (poet), America ...
, Llewelyn the Great. Llewelyn gifted the Abbey mining rights in 1209. However, despite this the Abbey was not prosperous: it lacked much arable land and had limited fishing rights. In 1291, annual income was £28 8s 3d. The
Welsh Wars of
Edward I (1276–77 and 1282–3) probably contributed to the abbey's relative poverty, for instance the failure to build the usual Cistercian central tower is one indication of this. While Alun John Richards argues that the cooler climate of the 14th century unduly affected the Abbey's lands which were largely mountainous.
The Abbey was a base for the troops of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1275 and 1279. In 1283 Edward I occupied the Abbey and a year later gave the Abbey compensation of £80 for damage caused in the recent wars.
By 1388 the monastery was home to no more than five monks and it seems that there was a marked decline in the standard of religious observance. In the survey of 1535, the annual income of the house was valued at little over £51 and the abbey was dissolved with the smaller monasteries in 1536–7, most likely in March 1537. The monastery was small and relatively unimportant. However, Cymer did possess a fine, thirteenth century silver gilt chalice and paten (Eucharist plate), which must have been hidden at the Dissolution; rediscovered in 1898, under a stone at Cym-y-mynach, they are now in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.
A small stream runs south of the cloister, and the site is on the banks of the River Mawddach and lies just above the confluence of the River Wnion with the Mawddach Cymer; and therefore the monastery was given the full title of Kymer deu dyfyr, which means 'the meeting of the waters'. It was sited at the lowest ford across the Mawddach.
It is now in the care of
Cadw. As with other monastic sites in England and Wales, the abbey did not survive the
Dissolution
Dissolution may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books
* ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers
* ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music
* Dissolution, in mu ...
of the 1530s, and parts of the fabric were recycled for their dressed stone. Situated next to the surviving farm, the remaining ruins are open to the public on most days of the year.
External links
Cymer Abbey- Cadw
www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Cymer Abbey and surrounding area today*http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/95420/details/CYMER+ABBEY%3BCYMMER+ABBEY
*http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/abbeys/cymer.php
*http://www.monasticwales.org/site/27
*http://www.snowdonia360.co.uk/virtualtour.cfm?tourid=1029
{{coord, 52, 45, 28, N, 3, 53, 43, W, display=title
Cistercian monasteries in Wales
Archaeological sites in Gwynedd
Cadw
1198 establishments in Europe
Religious organizations established in the 1190s
Christian monasteries established in the 12th century
Tourist attractions in Gwynedd
Ruins in Wales
Llanelltyd
Grade I listed buildings in Gwynedd
Ruined abbeys and monasteries
12th-century establishments in Wales