CWMYOY, Monmouthshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"CWMYOY, a parish partly in the lower division of the hundred of Abergavenny, in the county of Monmouth, and partly in the hundred of Ewyaslacy, in the county of Hereford, 5½ miles N. of Abergavenny, and 3 from the nearest station of the West Midland railway. It is situated on the river Honthy, near a branch of the river Monnow, and contains Fwthog and Bwlch-Trewyn. The country is hilly and picturesque. The parish is separated into upper and lower divisions, and extends along the borders of Herefordshire.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Llandaff, value £200, in the patronage of John Williams, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Michael. A National school was built in 1858. There are remains of an abbey founded in 1108 by Hugh de Lacy, who dedicated it to St. John the Baptist, and gave it to the Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine. It afterwards took the name of Llantony Abbey, and considerably declined, so that its revenues amounted only to £100 at the time of the Dissolution. The ruins, which stand near the centre of the parish, are in a tolerable state of preservation."

"LLANTHONY ABBEY, (or Llanddwi-nanthonddu), a chapelry in the parish of Cwmyoy, county Monmouth, 9 miles N. of Abergavenny, its post town. It is situated in the Vale of Ewias, at the foot of the Black mountains, and is watered by the river Afon Honddu. A monastery of Austin Friars was founded here in the early part of the 12th century, subsequent to the erection of St. David's Cathedral, and was afterwards transferred to the neighbourhood of Gloucester. The ruins show it to have been cruciform, with a central and two west towers, one of which, with the prior's house, now forms the inn.

A particular interest attaches to this establishment on account of the contemporary histories of Prior Betun (1131), Prior William, of Wycombe (1137), and one of its monks (1103-1203). It was described by Giraldus Cambrensis in 1188. An excellent historical account of the priory, with copious extracts from the chronicles, was published by the Rev. G. Roberts, in the Archaeologia Cambrensis.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Llandaff, value £55. There are extensive remains of the old abbey, which are very interesting, especially the church, 210 feet in length, with transepts 96 feet. The ruins belonged to the late Walter Savage Landor, Esq., who acquired them from Sir M. Wood, who had previously fitted up a portion as a shooting-box."

 

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

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