Wales – Snowdonia National Park II – (En)

The ruins of Cymer Abbey stand in a lovely setting beside the River Mawddach. Awe-inspiring are its large windows, arches, and unusual tower. The abbey, founded in 1198, was a Cistercian abbey and the only monastery established in Meirionnydd. It was an important part of the community in the area during the Middle Ages.

Where to stay

We stayed at Camping Vanner (52.757686, -3.896174 lat, long) next to the abbey. The facilities for filling and emptying grey and black water and rubbish bins are at the entrance to the campsite and are convenient and easy to use. Next door a building contains toilets, showers and sinks for washing dishes. We were told to park next to the owners’ farm where we had our toilet with shower, but not for washing dishes. The site is very nice and we had the abbey right next to the motorhome, but the toilet and shower were full of gigantic mosquitoes! They charge £4 for electricity, in total, we ended up paying £24 a day, which we thought was very expensive for what was offered, as it is only close to the abbey and there is nothing else to see apart from some walks.

What to see

Cymer Abbey was intended to be self-sufficient and used areas of Gwynedd and Powys for grazing cattle and breeding horses. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I, a large percentage of the Abbey’s holdings were confiscated, making it difficult to know what treasures were held at Cymer Abbey. In 1898 a ceremonial silver chalice was discovered hidden at Cwm Mynach. The chalice is believed to have belonged to the abbey and is now on display at the National Museum, Cardiff. The abbey was dissolved in 1537 as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII.

Our next stop is Welshpool, a town with rural canal walks, modern art and historic castles, you can see this in the next blog!