Valle Crucis Abbey
Llangollen, Clwyd
Valle Crucis was truly Welsh from the moment it was founded in 1201 by Prince Madog ap Gruffydd and the ‘white monks’ of the Cistercian order.
There may have been a church of some kind on this site in the centre of Llangollen since the foundation by St Collen in the 7th century. The surviving architecture of the present building points to a stone church of 13th century date, with further changes in the 15th or early 16th centuries.
The main body of the present church was built adjacent to an older structure in the 13th century. The crowning glory of the church interior is the splendid medieval 6-bay oak hammerbeam ceiling, with ornamental timber carvings which depict Christian symbolism, plant life, beasts and images of ordinary folk. The ceiling is claimed to be ‘one of the finest roofs in Wales’, reflecting the flowering of Welsh carpentry at the end of the Middle Ages.
Following the tower building work in the 1700’s other alterations have taken place, including a major extension in 1863, when the south aisle was added and the church was extended eastwards to provide the chancel, the vestry and the organ chamber. The extension work was designed by S. Pountney Smith, architect of Shrewsbury. In 1887, a peal of 8 bells was installed in the belfry.