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Because of their particular life-style which was quite
austere, the monks always needed to settle in a secluded and wooded place
near to running water. They depended on seclusion for their life of prayer
and on wood for fuel and building. A local river would provide not only
their daily water supply but also fish, an essential part of their diet
since they ate no meat. Llantarnam, then, was an ideal site, nestling as it
does in woodland between the Dowlais Brook and the Afon Llywd. |
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L lantarnam
Abbey is now home to the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy who have lived here
since 1946. The Abbey has a fascinating history which began over 8 centuries
ago. To begin our story, we need to travel back in time to the middle of the
twelfth century. A dynamic monk by the name of Bernard-whom we know as St
Bernard-founded many monasteries of monks known as Cistercians-or white
monks.
The map shows the location of
Llantarnam Abbey in relation to other Cistercian Monasteries in Wales. One
such abbey is Tintern in the Wye Valley.
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The Monks came to Llantarnam
Abbey from Strata Florida Abbey. They lived lives of prayer and hard work
surviving on a fairly limited diet. Nonetheless when builders unearthed the
remains of monks in the 1960s the archaeologists found that the bones were
in good condition and that the skulls possessed complete sets of teeth!
Virtually nothing remains today
of that original Abbey. A fire destroyed it in about 1398 but the monks
bravely re-built their monastery. The ravages of the Reformation brought
about the dissolution of that re-built monastery and it was once
again more or less completely destroyed.
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“Be it known to all
the faithful of the Church of God that I, Howel ap Iorweth, son of Owen, for
the salvation of my soul and that of my parents and predecessors, I have
settled the White Monks at Llantarnam and have given the lands to the White
Monks” |
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It was frequently the case that
a wealthy member of the nobility would endow a monastery in return for the
prayers of the monks. This was the case with Llantarnam, endowed by Howel ap
Iorweth of Caerleon, described as “a man of war from his youth up”.
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