St Dogmaels Abbey

3/4m W of Cardigan Bridge, Dyfed, west Wales

(new photographs needed!)

Cadw 1990
Founded about 1115 for a prior and 12 monks of the order of Tiron, St Dogmaels occupied the site of a pre-Norman monastery. It was raised to the status of abbey in 1120, and the monks followed an austere life based on the rule of St Benedict. The surviving ruins span four centuries of monastic life and show much alteration. Parts of the church and cloister are 12th century. However, the west and north walls of the nave, which stand almost to their full height, are of the 13th century, and a fine north doorway has 14th-century ballflower ornament. The north transept is Tudor, retaining elaborate corbels which supported the stone vaulting. Notice here the carved figures with an angel representing St Matthew, a lion for St Mark and the Archangel Michael. The footings of the chapter house can be seen to the west of the cloister, with the adjacent monk's infirmary standing almost to roof level. At the Dissolution, the church continued to be used for a time by the parish, and a rectory was built into the southwest corner of the cloister.

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