07/09/2026
Pictured is an upscaled version of the interior of medieval Margam Abbey. Although there are no surviving plans, and with the Abbey founded in 1147, the church was the first building at Margam to be constructed, only a decade or so after the Cistercians started to build in stone, in the Norman Romanesque (round arch style) – plain and utilitarian; the emphasis on the liturgical.
The current church consists of 6 of the 8 bays (evidently retained for parochial use, post suppression, to avoid a clash in architectural styles and is the oldest surviving part of the Abbey dated approximately 1170), each pier 20 feet high with stunning simplicity and the front wall - 5 feet thick. Some of the clerestory windows (later bricked up) can still be seen.
In the 13th century, the original Abbey Bernardine choir made way for a rebuilt and enlarged Presbytery, in the early English style (approximately 1210-40), which was more aesthetically pleasing; the church a total length of 262 feet.
The nave itself was used by the Lay Brothers (and their inward facing seats) who lived in the western range of the community, with a rood screen (architectural partition) probably of wood or stone and an altar marking the division between the nave and the Monks Choir.
‘Its significance all too easily overlooked, the survival of the greater part of the twelfth-century nave at Margam is quite remarkable. Nowhere else in Britain is there more eloquent testimony of the stripped austerity of the early Cistercian architectural ideal’ (Dr David Robinson). Heritage Neath Port Talbot National Churches Trust fans
