Margam Abbey

Daughter monasteries

Monasteranenagh Abbey ( 1227 assumed )

Margam Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey at Neath Port Talbot in West Glamorgan in Wales. The former abbey church is now the parish church of Margam, a suburb of Port Talbot. With the exception of the Church of Holme Abbey Cultram she is the only one still used Cistercians church from the Middle Ages in Britain.

History

In Margam already existed in the 11th century as a monastery Celtic monks. Of the former wood or Flechtwerkgebäuden but nothing is received. The Cistercian monastery was founded in 1147 by Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of King Henry I and richly endowed with lands. It was a direct subsidiary of the primary Clairvaux Abbey. From the monasteries in Wales, it was the richest. The converse caused the monastery multiple difficulties, because of the beer Ausschanks to them in the year 1190. 1206 it came to a revolt of the lay brothers. 1210 is held King John twice in the monastery, which he freely placed (such as only Beaulieu Abbey ) from tax liability. In the early 15th century, the monastery of the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr was concerned.

Under Henry VIII, the abbey, which was inhabited by only eight monks, repealed 1536. Rhys Mansel, who had come under Henry VIII to power and wealth, leased in 1537 the monastery and eventually bought it in 1540. Mansel was allowed to cancel a majority of the convent, near the chapter house, he built a large, adjoining the convent building mansion. The eastern part of the church was used as a carriage house, fell into disrepair and was eventually demolished. The western part was used from 1542 as a parish church. By 1630 the Mansel finally moved their main residence of Oxwich Castle to Margam Abbey. After the death of Bussy Mansel, 4th Baron Mansel inherited in 1750 his sister Mary Mansel, who was married to the coming of Lacock Abbey John Talbot, Margam Abbey, which came into the possession of the Talbot family so. In the 1770s Thomas Mansel Talbot had, a grandson of Mary and John Talbot, Penrice Castle built on the Gower Peninsula as new residence. The old manor house of Margam Abbey, however, he had torn down in 1787. At the site of the old house he had until 1793 to designs by Anthony Keck build a magnificent orangery to house his extensive collection of orange trees and antiques. The Church and the remaining monastic buildings were neglected, however, remained under the necessary repairs. From the old chapter house, which was used as a carbon stock, the lead roof was removed and replaced with a simple wooden roof. The building fell into disrepair, so that in 1799 in a storm collapsed the central column supporting the arch. When, towards the end of the 18th century, the south aisle of the church was in danger of collapsing, Talbot finally settled at the request of the municipality in 1805 to renovate the church. The west facade was almost completely rebuilt, but the roof was lowered and the roof skylights demolished to improve the view of the Orangery. 1810 the restoration was completed.

The construction of the new neighboring Margam Castle, the Church renewed attention received by the Talbot family. On the occasion of the wedding of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot's daughter Bertha in 1866 an organ was installed in the church. The son of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, Theodore, was a supporter of Anglo - Catholicism and left the church, the new west windows and other decorations provided with a new altar.

Buildings and plant

From the former 83 -meter monastery church is still the 35 m long longhouse obtained with six yokes and the aisles of the 12th century. The aisles with the south wall of the church was rebuilt on old foundations in 1805. The west facade has been changed several times and renovated in the 19th century. The richly decorated portal in the Norman style was built around 1175 to 1180. The glass of the three arched windows in the west facade were designed by Edward Burne -Jones and made ​​by William Morris.

Of the monastic buildings sparse remains are still preserved on the site is now the Orangery. Receive roof is vaulted and loose ruins of the Gothic, built in 1200 dodecagonal chapter house south-east of the church. In the former, lying at the Cemetery Convent School, one of the earliest monastic schools in Wales, is the Margam Stones Museum, which is jointly operated with Cadw. The building was renovated in the 1990s, the museum displays 28 lettered or engraved stones, of which 27 are from the Roman period and a grave stone with a Latin inscription and an inscription in Ogham from the 6th century and several Celtic crosses from the 10th and 11th centuries including the finely crafted Cynfelyn or Conbelin Cross. From the Middle Ages several grave stones of abbots of the abbey, as well as an epitaph for a knight of the 14th century come.

West of the church is a newly created node on a medieval model garden.