Llanthony Priory: A Thousand Years of History, Right Down the Valley From Us
If you’re staying with us at Llanthony Castaway, chances are you’ll end up down at the priory at some point. It’s impossible not to. The ruins sit right in the middle of the valley, and honestly, most of our guests walk or drive past them within the first hour of arriving, camera already out. So I thought it was about time I wrote the proper guide to the place, history and all, plus a nod to the people who now run the bar tucked inside it, who happen to be family of mine.
A quick bit of history
Llanthony Priory has been standing in this valley in some form since around the year 1100, when a Norman knight is said to have stumbled across a ruined chapel here and decided to settle. A small community grew up around it, and by 1118 a proper priory had been founded, one of the first of its kind in Wales. It wasn’t always smooth going. The monks were driven out by local unrest not long after and regrouped in Gloucester for a time, before funding arrived to rebuild the church here properly, a job that was finished by around 1217.
The priory carried on for a few hundred years after that, though it never quite recovered its early strength, and like most religious houses in Britain it was closed down under Henry VIII in 1538. What’s left is what you see today: a beautifully weathered set of Gothic arches and towers, now Grade I listed, and free to walk around any day of the week. The Victorian painter J.M.W. Turner famously came and painted the ruins from the opposite hillside, a story I went into properly in an earlier post if you want the full artistic history of the valley (MAKE SURE TO LINK!)
The bar and rooms inside the ruins
Here’s the bit I’m genuinely proud to write about. The cellar bar and guest rooms built into part of the old priory buildings are run by my sister Annabel and her husband Jamie. They took the place on and have been working hard on it ever since, doing up the rooms and the bar bit by bit. You can actually stay overnight within the priory walls themselves, which is a proper unique experience if that’s your sort of thing, and the bar serves locally sourced, home cooked food to go with a pint after a day on the hills.
We nip down there as a family fairly often. The kids love charging round the ruins while the grown-ups have a drink, and the dogs are always welcome, which as any dog-owning family knows makes all the difference to a day out. It’s a proper working part of the valley now, not just a heritage site, and I love that it’s stayed in local hands.
Practical bits for your visit
- The ruins are open to the public every day between 10am and 4pm
- Visits outside those hours can sometimes be arranged for stargazing, which is well worth doing given how dark the skies get up here
- The bar and kitchen hours are updated regularly on the priory’s own website, so it’s worth checking before you head down, especially out of season
- There’s no charge to walk around the ruins themselves
Making a day of it
If you’re staying with us, the priory makes an easy and obvious first outing, whether you walk down from the farm or drive the short way along the valley road. Combine it with one of the walks up towards Capel-y-ffin, stop for a drink and something to eat at the cellar bar, then head back to whichever of our little hideaways you’ve booked, the Hatterall Hut, the Carriage or the Dome (add internal links), for a soak in the hot tub and a proper Welsh sunset.
This valley does history rather well, and I’m lucky enough to have a front row seat to it, sheep, ruins, family pub and all.
Stay wild!