Valle Crucis Abbey Llangollen
Valle Crucis Abbey near Llangollen in the Dee Valley is the finest Cistercian abbey ruin in Wales, a thirteenth-century monastery set in a green valley below the Llantysilio Mountains whose combination of the substantial surviving fabric, the beautiful setting and the medieval fish pond still filled with water creates one of the most atmospheric monastic ruins in the country. Cadw manages the abbey and the combination of the architectural quality of the ruins and the pastoral valley setting provides an experience of considerable beauty and historical depth. The abbey was founded in 1201 by Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor, Prince of Powys Fadog, as a Cistercian house in the tradition of remote valley monasteries that the Cistercians favoured across their European expansion. The west front of the abbey church, surviving to considerable height and retaining the remains of the great rose window in its gable, is the finest single feature of the ruins and one of the most impressive pieces of medieval architecture in north Wales. The monks' dormitory, the only building surviving with its original roof, provides the most complete interior space of the abbey complex and is used as a small museum of finds from the site. The abbot's lodging adjacent to the church contains the tomb slabs of several abbots of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in a well-preserved condition. The Pillar of Eliseg, an early ninth-century stone monument with a carved Latin inscription, stands in a field above the abbey and provides a further dimension of historical interest in this exceptionally rich valley.