Whitland Abbey ( cy, Abaty Hendy-gwyn ar Daf or simply ;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, ''Albalanda'') was a country house and

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

abbey in the parish of

Llangan Llangan ( cy, Llanganna) is a small village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It is located approximately outside the market town of Cowbridge. As a community it contains the settlements of St Mary Hill, Treoes and Llangan itself. I ...

, in what was the hundred of Narbeth,

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The town which grew up nearby is now named

Whitland Whitland (Welsh: , lit. "Old White House", or ''Hendy-gwyn ar Daf'', "Old White House on the River Tâf", from the medieval ''Ty Gwyn ar Daf'') is both a town and a community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Description The Whitland community is ...

after it. It was widely known as Ty Gwyn ar Daf, meaning White House on the Taf, in reference to the country house originally built here before it became a monastic settlement which was known under that name. It is most associated with being the place where

Hywel Dda Hywel Dda, sometimes anglicised as Howel the Good, or Hywel ap Cadell (died 949/950) was a king of Deheubarth who eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubarth ...

drew up his laws around 940. It functioned as a Cistercian monastery between the 12th and 16th centuries.

History

The house of Ty Gwyn ar Daf

Ty Gwyn ar Daf was once the occasional residence of

in the 10th century and a grand national council was held here around the year 940. The council had the purpose of compiling and enacting the code of laws, which are still known as "the

Laws of Hywel Dda ''Cyfraith Hywel'' (; ''Laws of Hywel''), also known as Welsh law ( la, Leges Walliæ), was the system of law practised in medieval Wales before its final conquest by England. Subsequently, the Welsh law's criminal codes were superseded by the ...

." Hywel's laws were deposited at

Dinefwr Castle Dinefwr Castle (also known as Old Dynevor Castle) is a ruined castle overlooking the River Towy near the town of Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on a ridge on the northern bank of the Towy, with a steep drop of one hundred feet to the ...

later in the tenth century after being drawn up at Ty Gwyn. In order to give greater solemnity to this convocation, and to implore the divine wisdom to assist their counsels, the king remained here with his whole court during Lent, in the constant exercise of prayer and other acts of devotion.

Whitland Abbey

After the destruction of the monastery of

Bangor-on-Dee Bangor-on-Dee ( cy, Bangor-is-y-coed or Bangor Is-coed) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, on the banks of the River Dee. Until 1974 it was in the exclave of Flintshire known as the Maelor Saesneg, and from 1974 to 19 ...

( cy, Bangor-is-y-Coed or Bangor Is-Coed) in North Wales, following the 613

Battle of Chester The Battle of Chester (Old Welsh: ''Guaith Caer Legion''; Welsh: ''Brwydr Caer'') was a major victory for the Anglo-Saxons over the native Britons near the city of Chester, England in the early 7th century. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated ...

, a religious society was settled at this place under the auspices of Paulinas, son of

Urien Rheged Urien (; ), often referred to as Urien Rheged or Uriens, was a late 6th-century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (today's northern England and southern Scotland) of the House of Rheged. His power and his victories, i ...

, a disciple of St Germanus, in which originated the abbey of Albalanda, or Whitland, afterwards erected near the site, and called by the Welsh, after the name of the former establishment, Ty Gwyn ar Taf. However, this Abbey is now known not to have been founded in Whitland at all. Whitland was founded on 16 September 1140 by monks from the mother house of

Clairvaux Abbey Clairvaux Abbey (, ; la, Clara Vallis) was a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, from Bar-sur-Aube. The original building, founded in 1115 by St. Bernard, is now in ruins; the present structure dates from 1708. Clairvaux Abbey was a ...

. In 1144 it was located at Little Trefgarn, near

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

. It moved to Whitland in about 1155, a site having been granted by John of Torrington. The abbey founded a number of daughter houses in Wales, starting with an abortive foundation at

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 1143. In 1164 a group of monks from Whitland founded

Strata Florida Abbey Strata Florida Abbey ( cy, Abaty Ystrad Fflur) () is a former Cistercian abbey situated just outside Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The abbey was founded in 1164. is a Latinisation of the Welsh ; 'Valley of ...

. Strata Marcella Abbey was founded from Whitland in 1170, and in 1176

Cwmhir Abbey Cwmhir Abbey ( cy, Abaty Cwm Hir), near Llandrindod Wells in Powys, is a Welsh Cistercian monastery founded in 1176 by Cadwallon ap Madog. A spurious tale was later recorded that the abbey was founded in 1143 by Meredudd ap Maelgwn at Ty-faenor ...

was re-founded. Whitland Abbey was originally a

Cambro-Norman Cambro-Normans ( la, Cambria; "Wales", cy, Normaniaid Cymreig; nrf, Nouormands Galles) were Normans who settled in South Wales, southern Wales, and the Welsh Marches, after the Norman invasion of Wales, allied with their counterpart families ...

foundation, but soon came under the control and patronage of

Rhys ap Gruffudd Rhys ap Gruffydd, commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh ''Yr Arglwydd Rhys'' (c. 1132 – 28 April 1197) was the ruler of the Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197 and native Prince of Wales. It was believed that he ...

, Prince of

Deheubarth Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of ...

. It is related in the Welsh annals that

Cadwaladr Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (also spelled Cadwalader or Cadwallader in English) was king of Gwynedd in Wales from around 655 to 682 AD. Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682; he himself was a victim of the ...

, brother 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 ...

, Prince of North Wales, during the disputes which arose between him and his nephews, the sons of Owain, entrusted the custody of his newly erected Cynvael Castle to the abbot of Ty Gwyn ar Taf, who defended it with obstinate valour against the assaults of the young princes by whom it was besieged. After a determined resistance, protracted till the walls of the castle were beaten down, and the whole of the garrison either slain or wounded, the abbot effected his escape from the ruins, through the assistance of some friends in the camp of the enemy, and retired into his monastery. It was at Whitland that Rhys's son, Maredudd, ended his days as a monk after he had been blinded by order of King

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

when a hostage in England. It became an important cultural centre for south-west Wales and a strong supporter of the Welsh struggle to remain free of English domination. The monastery, which was dedicated to St Mary, and had an establishment of eight monks, continued to flourish till the dissolution, at which time its revenue was estimated at £153. 17. 2.; and its site was granted, in the 36th of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

, to Henry Audley and John Cordel. A forge was later established on the site, reputed to be the oldest in Carmarthenshire. This and the Victorian house built on the site came into the possession of the Yelverton family when William Henry Yelverton married the heiress of John Morgan, the previous owner. It later passed by marriage to the Blake family, who were given royal permission to adopt the additional name of Yelverton. When Major Anthony Blake, DSO MC Royal Ulster Rifles
52575 Major Charles Anthony Howell Bruce BLAKE was born on 1 December 1911 at Sheffield, Yorkshire. He was killed in action on 3 January 1951 aged 39. He was a member of the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles. He was married at the time of death and his Next of Kin (Spouse) was living in Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire - it is recorded that his Next of Kin was informed on 20 July 1951. was killed in Korea in 1951 his widow sold the estate to a Mr. Legge after which the estate was sold piecemeal to local farmers. Of the royal palace of Ty Gwyn, which was comparatively a small building, designed chiefly for a hunting seat, no vestiges are discernible, only the grass-covered foundations of the walls.

References

: {{Coord, 51.83367, N, 4.60189, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Carmarthenshire Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 940 10th-century establishments in Wales 10th century in Wales Cistercian monasteries in Wales 1140 establishments in Europe Religious organizations established in the 1140s History of Carmarthenshire Ruins in Wales Ruined abbeys and monasteries 12th-century establishments in Wales Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation