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Valle Crucis Abbey was founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1201 by Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor.
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| The first of three information boards on Valle Crucis. (114kb) | The second of three information boards on Valle Crucis. (116kb) | The third of three information boards on
Valle Crucis. (118kb)
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| The remains of the west (entrance) end of the abbey church, seen from the outside. (226kb) | The east end of the abbey church, taken from the nave. (207kb) | A really neat stone corbel at the bottom of
the southeastern pier of the main crossing in the church. (265kb)
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| The central window at the east end of the
abbey church, showing some really nice decorated stone corbels, carved in
the early 13th century. (270kb)
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The east range, built in the 14th century,
with the upper floor as the monks dormitory. (219kb)
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The elaborately decorated stone screen which fronts the "book cupboard", where part of the abbey library was housed. (253kb) |
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| Some stone tracery in the center of the chapter house (bottom floor of the east range). (184kb) | The grave slab of "Madog son of
Gruffudd called Fychan", showing the shield with a lion rampant
surrounded by an inscription, with a sword diagonally behind the
shield. (150kb)
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From Valle Crucis, we drove up to Dolwyddelan Castle, a square stone keep, dating from the thirteenth century. The remains of this castle were built by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth ('the Great'). The site was remodelled by King Edward I.
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| An information board on Dolwyddelan. (106kb) | Another info board, with a nice short piece
on the castle. (112kb)
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A view of the castle remains. (168kb) |
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| A closer shot of the tower, showing the stairs we are about to go up. (251kb) | A nice info panel on the inside of the
tower. (99kb)
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Debbie sitting in one of the windows of the tower's main room. (166kb) |
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| Debbie near the fireplace of the tower's main room. (167kb) | We then climbed to the roof. Here is
Debbie up on the ramparts of the tower. (176kb)
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A shot of the view from the top of the tower. (177kb) |
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| The tower from below. (137kb) | The tower from down below, near the parking
lot. (286kb)
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