Ruins in Grounds of Abbey Hotel

Cadw's description

Location

In the grounds of the Abbey Hotel, 50 m N of the house, and close to St Deiniol's Well.

Exterior

History: Ruin of a large single-cell mediaeval building with undercroft and the ruin of a single-story building attached at the W side. The single-storey building is probably later in date but might overlie a fragment of earlier origin. The main building, with undercroft, is traditionally taken to be St Deiniol's Chapel. Fenton in 1810 considered it to be a chantry chapel. The group of buildings was altered before 1870 by the owner of The Abbey, Miss Robson, to create a fernery. The undercroft was rebuilt in brick, heating flues were installed, a stone staircase was inserted at the W of the main building, the windows were glazed and probably altered, and a glass roof was formed at a low level so that it would not be visible above the walls as seen from the garden nearby. There is a small water-tank of slate at high level. In the centre of the floor is a circular depression, brick lined, which was probably a fishpond.

Description: The main building is 6 m by 4.8 m, slightly out of square, with high gables at E and W. In the inside faces of the N and S walls there are corbels suggestive of a truss dividing the space into two bays (Gower's C14 hall at Lamphey has similar corbels at truss positions). High on the inside faces of the gable walls are marks of a former ceiling at collar-beam level. There are original small splayed openings of square shape high in each gable. There is an E window with pointed head, other window openings, and two pointed doorways, but all these were probably altered in the C19.

The undercroft is now vaulted in brick but there are signs of an earlier stone vault in similar position.

At the SW corner is a fragment of earlier masonry belonging to a structure to the W. This structure may later have been rebuilt as a cottage. At high level on the W gable of the main building are corbels for a lean-to roof. At the W end of the supposed cottage is an open fireplace with a cylindrical-shaft chimney. This chimney has no oven, and it may be merely a whimsical C19 garden feature. At the N side of the main building is a lean-to latrine and there are marks of a previous larger structure in this position.

Listed as a substantial mediaeval building and for the additional horticultural interest of its C19 conversion to a fernery.

References: Allen's Guide to Tenby (1870), p.115;
R. Fenton, Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire 1810 (1903 ed), p.243;
RCAHM Inventory (1925), p.293 and fig. 246 (drawings);
Dyfed Arch. Trust S&M PRN 4233.