location: | Whitland, Carmarthenshire, Wales |
founded: | 1140 |
daughter of: | Clairvaux |
current status: | ruins |
visit: | all year |
pictures taken : | May 2011 |
The first Cistercian foundation in  | |
Whitland
Buckland
location: | Yelverton, Devon, England |
founded: | 1278 |
daughter of: | Quarr (Savigniac) |
current status: | in the care of National Trust |
visit: | February - December |
pictures taken : | May 2010 |
Buckland Abbey is probably best known today as the house of Sir Francis Drake. After the Dissolution in 1536, the abbey was sold to Sir Richard Grenville who converted it to a residence, using the abbey church as the main part of the house. He sold it to Drake in 1581. | |
Cymer
location: | Dolgellau, Gwynedd, Wales |
founded: | 1198 |
daughter of: | Cwm-Hir (filiation of Clairvaux) |
current status: | ruins in the care of Cadw |
visit: | all year round |
pictures taken : | October 2010 |
Cymer Abbey, founded by Maredudd ap Cynan, Lord of Meirionydd, lies at the confluence of the Rivers Mawddach and Wnion; the abbey's name derives from Kymer deu dyfgr meaning 'meeting of the waters' . Of all the Cistercian abbeys in England and Wales, Cymer was one of the smallest and poorest and due to financial difficulties, was never completed. | |
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| the nave, looking east |
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| door from the nave into the south cloister walk |
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| looking up into the tower at the south west corner of the nave |
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| modern repairs! |
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| spider's view of the nave |
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| nature taking over the walls |
Poblet
location: | Vimbodi, Catalonia, Spain |
founded: | 1150 |
daughter of: | Fontfroide (filiation of Clairvaux) |
current status: | abbaye vivante - Order of Cistercians of the Common Observance (since 1940) |
visit: | all year round |
pictures taken : | June 2006 |
... | |
the abbey tower
looking down into the cloister
the lavatorium
the cloister
Santes Creus
location: | Aiguamurcia, Catalonia, Spain |
founded: | 1150-58 |
daughter of: | Granselve (filiation of Clairvaux) |
current status: | regional cultural centre |
visit: | all year round |
pictures taken : | June 2006 |
Building was begun in 1158, and continued for nearly two hundred years - the cloister was the last thing to be built, and was the work of an English master builder. The abbey has been a hospital, and later a prison, but is now a cultural centre. | |
detail from one of the cloister pillars
monks' dormitory
the lavatorium
the octogonal tower and lantern dome
the cloister, viewed from the doorway of the chapter house
Flaran
location: | Vallence-sur-Baïse, Gers, France |
founded: | 1151 |
daughter of: | Escaladieu |
current status: | regional cultural centre |
visit: | all year round |
pictures taken : | June 2006 |
Though founded in 1151, it was 1180 before construction of the abbey was begun; it took about thirty years to complete. Despite pillaging by soldiers during the Hundred Years' War and further damage during the French Revolution, the abbey today represents one of the best examples of what a Cistercian abbey must have been like at the end of the twelfth century, though the last remaining walk of the cloister was almost lost to a New York antique dealer in 1913. | |
the cloister
the west door
the cloister
the chapter house
one of the side chapels in the north transept
the nave, looking west
Dundrennan
location: | Dundrennan, near Kirkcudbright, Galloway, Scotland |
founded: | 1142 |
daughter of: | Rievaulx (filiation of Clairvaux) |
current status: | ruins in the care of Historic Scotland |
visit: | all year round |
pictures taken : | July 2009 |
Founded by King David I, little is known of the early years of Dundrennan (the name means Thorny Hill). The effigy of an unknown abbot of Dundrennan is the only evidence of a tale of murder and intrigue - the abbot has a dagger plunged into his heart, and the partly disembowelled body of his assassin lies at his feet. Probably the abbey's best known claim to fame is the fact that Mary Queen of Scots spent her last night on Scottish soil here, on 15 May 1568. | |
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| remains of the nave and south transept |
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| the chapter house, from the next-door inner parlour ... |
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| ... and from the cloister |
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| the nave, looking west |
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| the unknown abbot, with his assassin at his feet! |
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