'Incredibly important' medieval find in Wales (convent, cemetery and Tudor mansion)

Archaeologynewsnetwork ^ | June 13, 2014

[NYer]

Archaeologists says they have discovered an "incredibly important" medieval convent, cemetery and Tudor mansion in Ceredigion.

Archaeologists working on the Llanllyr nunnery excavation [Credit: BBC]

The location of Llanllyr nunnery in the Aeron Valley had been a mystery until now.

Dr Jemma Bezant from University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) said it offered an unparalleled opportunity to find out more about monastic life.

The public were able to view the site on Saturday.

Dr Bezant said: "Medieval nunneries like this are incredibly rare with only one other known in Wales."

The convent, founded by Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd in 1180, was a daughter house of the Strata Florida abbey, a former Cistercian monastery which was of immense importance to Wales during the Middle Ages.

Also the subject of a major University of Wales Trinity Saint David research project, the Strata Florida ruins lie just to the east of the village of Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron in Ceredigion.

The mansion depicted on a drawing by Thomas Dinely in 1684 [Credit: BBC]

The archaeologist said they were still aiming to locate a medieval chapel at the excavation site and learn more about the extent of the cemetery using 18th Century estate maps and a 17th Century depiction of the mansion as a guide.

She said: "The discovery of the grave features is very exciting but it is unlikely that skeletal material remains in the acidic west Wales soil.

"If we are able to recover such fragments, they could tell us about who was buried here, how many lived on the estate and what kind of lives they led."

Members of the Dyfed Archaeological Trust are also involved in the excavation. They are being assisted in the work by university students, countryside management students at Coleg Ceredigion in Aberystwyth, and community volunteers.

Their discoveries so far have led to important clues about how the nuns lived, said Dr Bezant.

The convent was on the edge of a wetland valley floor that was drained and improved although watery places were likely to have held continuing spiritual significance to both the nuns and pilgrims, she said.

"We know the nuns farmed sheep and cattle successfully and they would have tended mills, orchards and fishponds.

"There are medieval fairs nearby at Talsarn and Llanerchaereon and they could have been trading far and wide, with coastal access only a couple of miles away at Aberaeron.

"We have already recovered fragments of sumptuous glazed floor tiles indicating that the nunnery was lavishly built and decorated."

Source: BBC News Website [June 07, 2014]

[NYer]

Strata Florida Abbey

[NYer]

Ping!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“village of Pontrhydfendigaid”

That’s easy for you to say!

[livius]

Very interesting!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NYer for posting this.

[Kackikat]

Tudor Mansion?

[BenLurkin]

An anachronism, indeed.

[RJS1950]

I don’t think it is Tudor, this is medieval in the timeline.

[livius]

When Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries and Church holdings, he gave them to his friends and relatives. The same thing happened in Spain, when the left took over in the 19th century...the properties owned by the Church during the time of the “Desamortizacion” (”Disentailment”) were distributed to friends and relatives of the government.

The bad thing for the average Englishman or Spaniard was that the monasteries were big economic centers and maintained many families around them. It was paternalistic, but there would have been a transition to a different system as the trade fairs and banking brought by them had an impact.

The result in Spain was massive emigration, but that was during the 19th century. I’m not sure what happened in Wales, although it had major emigration to Argentina and the US in the 19th century.

[Candor7]

“GET THEE TO A NUNNERY,” has a whole new meaning.

[cloudmountain]

I wonder if Brother Cadfael ever visited there. :o)

[Candor7]

Cistercian lineages are interesting. Their main practice was
meditation, not prayer. They have a lot in common with certain lineages of Zen meditation and contemplation.

The main hall of this nunnery could have been a meditation room.

[Jeff Chandler]

Wales are not fish.

[AnAmericanMother]

Mansion is Tudor. Convent definitely medieval.

Probably the land was confiscated from the order by Henry VIII's minions, given to local nobility or gentry "for value received" and the mansion then constructed over the wrecked convent.

[Bigg Red]

...watery places were likely to have held continuing spiritual significance to both the nuns and pilgrims, she said.

***
What? We are not talking about pagans here. Why would she say this? Did she mean to say that such places had practical significance for the nuns?

[AnAmericanMother]

What you said.

"proudly posting without reading the entire thread since 1998."

[Bigg Red]

When Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries and Church holdings, he gave them to his friends and relatives.

***
Coming soon to a church near you....

[moose07]

Pont rhyd fendigaid
Bridge too blessed

As close i can break it.

[cashless]

Well, I thought the article was going to tell me they might have found where the English lost their bollocks after the Second world War. Daniel Hannan found his, verbally chastises the idiocy of Socialism in debates and knows US History better than most secondary education History teacher in America.