Margam Abbey ( cy, Abaty Margam) was a Cistercian

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

, located in the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

Margam Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into ...

, a suburb of modern

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

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 ...

History

The

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 ...

was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by

Robert, Earl of Gloucester Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved ...

, and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Early Christian crosses found in the close vicinity and conserved in the nearby

Margam Stones Museum Margam Stones Museum is a small Victorian schoolhouse near Port Talbot, South Wales, which now provides a home for one of the most important collections of Celtic stone crosses in Britain. All originally found within the locality of Margam, and m ...

suggest the existence of an earlier Celtic monastic community. The founding abbot was William of Clairvaux. The third abbot, Conan, enjoyed the praise of

Giraldus Cambrensis Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taugh ...

, whom he appears to have entertained prior to his official visit with

Baldwin of Forde Baldwin of Forde or FordSharpe ''Handlist of Latin Writers'' pp. 66–67 ( – 19 November 1190) was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. The son of a clergyman, he studied canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Po ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury, to preach the Crusade in 1188. Conan (or Cunan) contributed to Patristic literature, as he is credited with the '' capitula'' or chapter-headings prefixing each section of St. Bernard's ''Sermons on the Song of Songs'', one of the works for which that author was titled a Doctor of the Church. The ''Annales de Margan'' are a contemporary chronicle in Latin, beginning with the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066 and ending with Henry III's quarrel with

Hubert de Burgh Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (; ; ; c.1170 – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John and of his son and successor King Henry III and, as a consequenc ...

in the year 1232. The chief source for the earlier portion was likely William of Malmesbury's history. The text gives accounts of the purported discovery of the bones of King Arthur, and of the alleged murder of Prince Arthur by King John. Sir John Buchanan-Jardine (third baronet Buchanan-Jardine) recounts a tradition that Margam Abbey kept a pack of hunting hounds donated to them by a continental Abbey (which he takes to be the

Abbey of Saint-Hubert The Abbey of Saint-Hubert, officially the Abbey of St Peter in the Ardennes (''Abbaye de Saint-Pierre en Ardennes''), was a Benedictine monastery founded in the Ardennes in 687 and suppressed in 1797. The former abbey church is now a minor basilic ...

). The abbey was dissolved by King

Henry VIII of England 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 ...

in 1536 and sold to Sir Rice Mansel. Significant holdings of the monastery library appear to have survived this event, including the manuscript of the annals. At this time, only 12

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s were living in the monastery. From the Mansel family the abbey eventually passed to their descendants in the female line, the Talbot family. In the 19th century, C R M Talbot constructed a mansion at

Margam Castle Margam Castle, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales, is a late Georgian country house built for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot. Designed by Thomas Hopper, the castle was constructed in a Tudor Revival style over a five-year period, from 1830 to 1835. ...

which overlooks the abbey ruins. The nave of the abbey continued in use as the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, as it does to this day. It is Anglo-Catholic in its churchmanship.

Today

Margam Abbey now consists of the intact nave and impressive surrounding ruins. Those ruins not belonging to the church are now owned by the County Council. These remains, including the unusually large twelve-sided chapter house, dating from the 13th century, stand within 840 acre (3.4 km²)

Margam Country Park Margam Country Park is a country park estate in Wales, of around 850 acres (3.4 km²). It is situated in Margam, about 2 miles (3 km) from Port Talbot in south Wales. It was once owned by the Mansel Talbot family and is now owned and ...

, close to

. The Abbey church of St Mary, the ruined Chapter House and the Abbey undercroft are all Grade I listed buildings. On a hill overlooking the abbey stand the ruins of an outlying monastery building, Capel Mair ar y Bryn ("the chapel of St Mary on the hill"). The purpose of this building is thought to have been to allow members of the monastic community who were engaged in the keeping of flocks to fulfil their devotional obligations without having to return to the main church.

Tree of the Year 2020

In 2020, a beech tree located in the ruins of Margam Abbey was voted Tree of the Year in Wales. The 'Chapter House Tree' won an online vote conducted by the Welsh

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972. The Woodland Tr ...

, beating other trees such as the Monmouth Catalpa Tree and the

Chirk Castle Chirk Castle ( cy, Castell y Waun) is a Grade I listed castle located in Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. History The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Ed ...

Sweet Chestnut. It was awarded £1000 as a prize, and received 1118 votes.

Photos

*Original Abbey Comple
www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Margam Abbey

Notes

References

* ''A History of Margam Abbey'', Walter de Gray Birch, Bedford Press, 1897 *Bernard de Clairvaux, ''Sermons sur le Cantique Tome I (Sermons 1–15)''; introduction,traduction et notes par Paul VERDEYEN, s.j. et Raffaele FASSETT, o.c.s.o., 1996 (

Sources Chrétiennes Sources Chrétiennes (French "Christian sources") is a bilingual collection of patristic texts founded in Lyon in 1942 by the Jesuits Jean Daniélou, Claude Mondésert, and Henri de Lubac. Citations to the series are commonly made by the letter ...