Monday 19th October 2015

Twmbarlwm and the Cistercian Project

an illustrated talk presented by

Prof. Maddy Gray
of the University of South Wales, Newport

At Crosskeys Rugby Club

7.00pm for 7.30 start

Entry is FREE to members or £3.00 to non-members.

The bar at the club will remain open and a raffle will be run on the night.

Help us promote this event – download a poster from here, print it out and display it in work or anywhere loads of people will see it

Discover the importance of Monastery Farms of Mynydd Maen and the Ebbw Valley

The Twmbarlwm Society welcomes back Professor Madeleine Gray PhD, FRHistS, FSA, Professor of Ecclesiastical History,  School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus.

Maddy has been a great friend of Twmbarlwm and has presented her interesting, inspiring talks to us on a number of previous occasions. Previously she has told us about the Cistercian monks of Llantarnam Abbey, the pilgrimage trail from the Abbey to the Shrine at Penrhys and monastic grange farms established by the abbey on Mynydd Maen and in  the Ebbw and Afon Llwyd Valley.

In this talk Professor Gray will talk about Twmbarlwm’s place in medieval pilgrimage routes and about the revived project to complete and publicise the Cistercian Way. This project was somewhat sidelined while the Wales Coast Path was being established but it is now being brought to the fore, with plans for a new web site and a launch next year.

Twmbarlwm was an important landmark on the old pilgrim route from Llantarnam to Penrhys in the Rhondda.

Maddy Gray has been working for some years to establish a round-Wales heritage trail using old pilgrimage routes to link the great Cistercian abbey sites with other key places in our history.

CLICK HERE to see some preliminary information on this subject.

There will also be an opportunity for questions and discussion following the presentation.

Chapel Farm pictured in the lower middle ground of this photograph was a monastic grange farm with a chapel attached. This site is now occupied by Cwmcarn High School

Click the image below to download a PDF which you can print out and display somewhere to help us promote the event.