A Monastic Puzzle

Ewenny Priory, Vale of Glamorgan Parish church, Cadw monument and property of Jeremy Picton-Turbervill

A wonderfully atmospheric medieval priory in South Wales, encircled by fortifications, raises a series of puzzling questions and conundrums. David Robinson unpicks a story spanning 900 years

EWENNY PRIORY, situated near the western fringe of the fertile Vale of Glamorgan, was founded in the 12th century as a dependency of St Peter’s Abbey at Gloucester (now the cathedral). Its surviving church—today, part monument and part parish church— is widely recognised as one of the finest architectural survivals of the Anglo-Norman era in the whole of Wales.

What remains of the claustral buildings have been subsumed into a small country house, recast in its present form in the early 19th century. The site presents a delightful, but complex architectural ensemble.

Archaeology suggests there was a Roman settlement at Ewenny and there is growing evidence for subsequent early Christian activity in the immediate vicinity. Of still greater note, a group of pre-Norman memorial stones discovered at the site (and today displayed in the south transept of the church) offers compelling evidence that the Benedictine priory was preceded by an important native Welsh church.

The Normans almost certainly advanced into this part of South Wales under Robert fitz Hamon (d.1107), first lord of Glamorgan, perhaps in about 1100. A household knight in the service of fitz Hamon, William de Londres (d.1131), established a castle at Ogmore. It was de Londres and his family, as lords of Ogmore, who were undoubtedly founders and initial patrons of nearby Ewenny Priory.