Valle Crucis Abbey, the Valley of the Cross, was the last Cistercian Abbey built in Wales in 1201 by the Prince of Powys (a county in Wales). It was dissolved in 1537, when Henry VIII dissolved all the monasteries. The building is now a ruin. It passed to civilian ownership (Sir William Pickering) who stripped the valuable lead from the roof, and without the roof the abbey church soon became a ruin, but some surrounding buildings are better preserved. At its heydays around 120 persons would be housed in the monastery.
It gots its name from the Pillar of Eliseg, an ancient monument honouring Welsh kings that is raised in the valley not for from the Abbey. I didn’t think the Pillar looked much like a cross, but that is anyway the reason for the name. The Abbey held strong Welsh loyalties and because of that it suffered some damage during the military campaign of King Edward I (of England).
The abbey began under strict religious austerity, but later it became famous for its generous hospitality. Poets wrote about the lavish meals they were served as guests in the abbey. Meals “served in silver vessels and ale flowing like a river”. The Chapter House and some of the lodgings remain fairly intact, but the abbey church itself is ruined.
