VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY,
Like most abbeys, is beautifully situated. The monks of old well appreciated the value of rich lands and clear streams. This exquisite relic of a past age was founded in the year 1200, by Gruffydd ab Madoc, Lord of Bromfield and Yale, and of the neighbouring castle, Dinas Brân; and in conformity with the rule of the Cistercian fraternity, was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The remains of the abbey at present existing consist of the church, and of a building on the southern side, part of which seems to have formed the abbot’s lodgings, the refectory, and the dormitory above, now tenanted by a farmer. The church is a cruciform building, of which the northern side has been almost destroyed, and no vestige remains of the roof except in the eastern aisle of the southern transept.
In the midst of these hallowed precincts, and until the last twelvemonths, the rubbish was heaped up to a great height, probably by the fall of the northern wall, and by the remains of the roof, but through the praiseworthy exertions of a nobleman in the neighbourhood, Viscount Dungannon, the whole has been cleared away, leaving the pavement and sides as they existed in former days.
The eastern end is most ancient, and it is adorned by three lancet arches, forming one grand window.
The entrance was in the west, under a broad and beautiful window, above which is a smaller one of marigold form, decorated with tracery and fret work, and beneath it may be deciphered the following inscription:—
Quiescat ame
+ Adam Abbas fecit hoc Opus i Pace.
The intelligent cicerone of this ancient building is Miss Jane Lloyd, who has lived in this retired but delightful spot for some years. She has a perfect knowledge of the Welsh language, and of the history of these interesting ruins, which no one who has visited them can cease to remember with admiration and regret.
THE PILLAR OF ELISEG.
Not far from the abbey, in a field called Llwyn-y-Groes, or the Grove of the Cross, stands this famous pillar, which was erected above a thousand years ago to the memory of Eliseg, the father of a Prince of Powis, called Brochwel Ysgythrog, who met his death at the Battle of Chester, in 607.