Qualla: Llanthony Priory

Llanthony Priory: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. "The sun is never visible to this gloomy recess, till between the afternoon hours of one and three; and even then, is rarely seen, except in the clearest season." That is how Giraldus Cambrensis described the Vale of Ewyas in 1188, and the observation holds today. Llanthony Priory sits at the bottom of a steep-sided, once-glaciated valley in the Black Mountains, hemmed in by ridges so high that direct sunlight is a brief daily event. It is a place that seems designed for contemplation -- or perhaps for driving poets and landowners slowly mad.

Read more: Llanthony Priory on Qualla

Image: Public domain

Llanthony Priory: A Knight's Solitary Vow

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eirian Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0. Around the year 1100, a knight named William in the service of Hugh de Lacy stumbled upon a ruined chapel of Saint David in this remote valley. Something about the place seized him, and he abandoned his military career to devote himself to solitary prayer. He was joined by Ersini...

Read more: Llanthony Priory on Qualla

Image: Eirian Evans | CC BY-SA 2.0

Llanthony Priory: An Amphitheatre of Immense Mountains

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Grimm, Samuel Hieronymus, 1733-1794 Chesham, Francis, 1749-1806, Public domain. It did not stay silent long. Around 1186, Hugh de Lacy the younger endowed the estate with funds from his Irish holdings, and the priory church was rebuilt, completed by 1217 in a mixture of Norman and Gothic styles. The result was, as Gerald of Wales described it, a church stand...

Read more: Llanthony Priory on Qualla

Image: Grimm, Samuel Hieronymus, 1733-1794 Chesham, Francis, 1749-1806 | Public domain

Llanthony Priory: Landor's Folly

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado), CC BY-SA 3.0. After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538, Llanthony decayed for centuries. Then in 1807, the poet Walter Savage Landor bought the estate, dreaming of becoming a model country gentleman. He planted trees -- the avenue still known as Landor's Larches dates from his time -- ...

Read more: Llanthony Priory on Qualla

Image: Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Llanthony Priory: Painted from the Opposite Hillside

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Lord from Edinburgh, Scotland, CC BY 2.0. What the poets and farmers could not sustain, the ruins themselves preserved. J. M. W. Turner painted Llanthony from the opposite hillside, capturing the arches against the mountain backdrop. In 1869, Father Ignatius founded an Anglican monastery at nearby Capel-y-ffin, naming it...

Read more: Llanthony Priory on Qualla

Image: John Lord from Edinburgh, Scotland | CC BY 2.0