Abbeycwmhir is a village situated amongst the Cambrian mountains in the county of Powys. It sits near the Clywedog River clustered around the ruins of the abbey built here in 1143. Although it was never completed, it was still the largest abbey in Wales and only the naves of York, Winchester and Durham's cathedrals were longer than Abbeycwmhir's 242 feet.
Leland writes, 'No chirch in Wales is seen of such length, as the foundation of Walles there begon doth show, but the third part of the works was never finished. All the howse was spoiled and defaiced by Owne Glendour'. Indeed, in 1401 Owain Glyndwr, the rebel Welsh prince of Wales, sacked the monastery and perhaps this was the reason the building was never completed. During an excavation in 1827, the abbey unveiled many exciting things: ornamented leadwork, carvings, a stone coffin lid with a Latin inscription, two pennies of Edward II and human bones.....

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