St Dogmaels Abbey

The site of the abbey is thought to have been the location of a Celtic monastery founded by Dogmael, a 6th-century saint said to have been the son of Ithel ap Ceredig ap Cunedda Wledig, and also reputedly the cousin of Saint David. The abbey itself was founded by the Normal Lord Robert Fitz-Martin and his wife, Maud Peverel (sister of William Peverel the younger, d.1149), who brought thirteen monks of the Tironensian Order in Normandy to live in at the priory. In 1118, he was then given another 13 monks and gained permission to raise the classification of the priory to Abbey status. Formal establishment of this took place 10 September 1121, when Fulchard was installed as the first Abbot by…

The earliest surviving remains date from the first half of the twelfth century. It seems that parts of the church were built to satisfy the immediate requirements of the monastery, but that the western part, for the use of the laity, was not finished. The nave was completed in the thirteenth century, although without the intended aisles. Unusually the church lacks a west doorway, possibly because the slope of the ground becomes steeper. The square-ended sanctuary was built over a vaulted crypt, possibly a repository for relics of St Dogmael. About the middle of the thirteenth century, the cloister was enlarged northwards; the cloister arcades were rebuilt in stone about the same time. The…