Cymer Abbey

An example of Cistercian influence in medieval Wales

Cistercian monks were more than religious men. Worldly Cistercians were also pioneering sheep farmers and some of the first rural entrepreneurs. Their network of abbeys included Cymer, idyllically set at the mouth of the Mawddach Estuary.

Founded in 1198, it was one of their lesser settlements, suffering greatly during the conflicts between Wales and England in the 13th century. Nonetheless, substantial remains survive from this simple abbey church.