Site of Grace Dieu Abbey

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the monument.

The monument consists of the site of the last Cistercian abbey begun in Wales and was founded by John of Monmouth in 1226 on a different site to the north. It was sister house to Dore Abbey in Herefordshire and remained poor throughout its history with relatively limited estates along the river Wye, including a Grange to the east of Monmouth. The Abbey was attacked by the Welsh in 1232 and destroyed in 1233 and subsequently relocated from its original site in 1236. It was dissolved in 1536. The scheduled area covers the traditional site within a field known as Abbey Meadow, which occupies a low promontory above a broad wet basin created by the confluence of a lesser stream with the River Trothy. No standing remains of the Abbey survive, although traces of buried walls, drainage ditches and tracks can be identified through aerial photography and have been partly confirmed by limited geophysical survey.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of the organisation and practice of medieval Christianity. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The structure itself may be expected to contain archaeological information concerning chronology and building techniques of a lesser Cistercian establishment.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.