Of the magnificence of this ancient Monastery no adequate description can
now be given, and scarcely an idea formed of what it has been. The body
and nave of the Church are disfigured, and nearly choked up with masses
of ruins, and large and luxuriant forest trees, among which the ash and
sycamore are most predominant. The length of the Church is about one
hundred and eighty feet; the width I can only guess at, as the north side
is wholly gone. An author before me says the nave was thirty-one feet
broad, and the side aisle thirteen feet.
In the north transept are the remains of a chapel, said by some to have
contained the tomb of the founder. In a wall in the cloister stands a
double benetoir, or vessel for holy water. The cloister is small and
gloomy, whose
“Storied windows, richly dight,
Have shed a dim religions light.”
The solemnity of the place, and the stillness that reigns, aided by the
subdued light of the moon, and by a vivid fancy, may conjure up strange
ideas, and
“Still may imagination’s ardent eye
In the tall grove the sage’s form espy;
See him intent with sacred zeal to plan
Some moral lesson for ungrateful man.”
The part of the Abbey now remaining is inhabited by a farmer, who will
show the premises on proper application. There is a Saxon or
semicircular arched gateway in the farm-yard, adjoining a very curious
gothic window, well worthy attention. The dormitory or sleeping cells
were formerly entered by stone stairs from the outside, which have been
removed some years ago. The floor of the dormitory is supported by low
massive pillars; and the arches which spring from their capitals form
vaulted rooms, in which the family reside. There are many beautiful
features in this interesting ruin, to amply repay the attention of the
curious, and the research of the antiquarian. The front seems to have
been extensive, and before it gurgles up a very pure spring of water.
The Abbot’s apartments were contiguous to the church, and there opened
from one of them a small space, where he might stand, and hear the holy
services performed below.
The venerable ruin is lessened by every succeeding tenant, and some of
the recently erected buildings exhibit stones with mutilated devices and
inscriptions worked up in the walls. In one of the farmer’s bedchambers
a stone forms part of a chimney-piece, which is carved with running
foliage, and contains this imperfect inscription:—
“Hic jacet Arvrvet.”
This is the only remain of any tomb discovered. In digging a few months
ago in the farm-yard, to make a drain, at a short distance from the
surface were dug up the remains of eleven men, in a very small compass of
ground, which goes far to prove that this was the common cemetery of the
Abbey; and also a wedge-like stone, having carved on its front a hand,
holding a vine or olive branch, bearing fruit. The stone is now at Plas
Newydd.
I have in my account of Castell Dinas Bran recorded that Madog Ap
Gryffydd Maelor was buried in this Abbey, A.D. 1236; and his son,
Gryffydd Ap Madog Maelor, Lord of Dinas Bran, A.D. 1270.
Having thus given the best account I can of the present state of this
once noble Abbey, I now proceed to state what I can collect from
authentic sources of its Abbots and its endowments.
Reyner, Bishop of St. Asaph, who died in 1224, bestowed on this Abbey
half the tithes of Wrexham. Abraham, his brother, succeeded him in the
Bishoprick in 1227, and gave the remaining half. {65a}
Howel Ap Ednyfed, successor to Abraham, gave to it the Church of
Llangollen. {65b} The monks also obtained, besides these endowments, the
patronage of several other livings, as Wrexham, Ruabon, Chirk,
Llansantffraid, and Llandegla.
The freemen of Llangollen made a grant in part of the river near their
town of a fishery to the monks of Valle Crucis; and, for want of a seal
of their own, affixed the seal of the founder of the Abbey to the grant.
{65c}
The landed endowments were, in the year 1291, near the Abbey, a grange,
with three ploughlands, {65d} a mill, and other conveniences, probably
the donations of the founder Madog; the granges of Bodhange, Tregam,
Rudryn, and Baketon. I have no means of ascertaining who were the donors
of the farms, but I find they had also the dairy farm of Nante; the
grange of Nostroyz, Convenet, and Grennychamt; also the grange of
Wyrcessam, consisting of one ploughland and some pasture, with thirty
cows, valued in those days at only thirty shillings.
All these estates were vested in the Abbot for the time being, and formed
no inconsiderable revenue; but the title of the monks to several of the
livings was disputed by a succeeding Bishop of St. Asaph, called Y Brawd
Du O Nannau, or the Black Brother of Nanny, who obtained a decision in
his favour. The third of the tithes of Bryn Eglwys, or Egwestl, was,
however, allotted to them, in lieu of the patronage of Llandegla.
The monks had also a dispute with the freemen of Llangollen respecting
the fishery, the former having erected works on the river, whereby they
caught more fish than the Llangollen folks thought came to their share,
or than abstemious monks could require. However, the affair was referred
to the Prince of Wales, and the fishery was confirmed to the Abbey in
1234.