Llanthony Priory

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Cadw names a car park for about 30 cars with no dedicated disabled spaces, about 100 m from the ruins, but publishes no charge or free statement, so the status is recorded as unknown; Visit Monmouthshire describes free parking there. Public toilets stand by the car park. The bar and food in the priory's west range belong to the private hotel, open Tuesday to Sunday.

Driving pin: the car park on the left on arrival in Llanthony, 92 m east of Cadw's marker on the ruins. By road: the A465 north from Abergavenny, left at Llanfihangel Crucorney where signed to Llanthony and the Priory, left again in the village. By rail: Abergavenny, 14.5 km; no bus serves the valley. National Cycle Network route 42 passes 160 m away; bike storage at the car park.

About

Llanthony Priory, Priordy Llanddewi Nant Hodni, is a timeless treasure in the remote Vale of Ewyas beneath the Black Mountains, a spot the 12th-century traveller Gerald of Wales found truly suited to the monastic life, in a wilderness far removed from the bustle of mankind. The Norman knight William de Lacy founded a hermitage here when he abandoned war for religion, and by 1118 it had become a monastery of Augustinian canons, which continued until it was suppressed in 1539. The 900-year-old ruin has richly decorated red stonework and a superb row of pointed archways along the nave below the crossing tower; the chapter house survives beside it. The south-west tower and west range are now a privately run hotel and bar, beside the parish church of St David. Reviewers end a day on the hills with a drink among the ruins. One tip from visitors: pet dogs must wait outside the gates, as only assistance dogs are admitted.

Check today’s timesPick a day for times and prices

Llanthony Priory is currently closed due to poor weather conditions. We are monitoring the situation and will update you when it is safe for you to visit. Thank you.

Today, Saturday 24 October

Llanthony Priory10:00 – 16:00last admission 15:30

Free entry

Opening times may change at short notice.

Open 10am to 4pm all year, last admission 30 minutes before closing; closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January. No admission charge. The hotel in the priory buildings can arrange visits to the ruins outside these hours for stargazing, the priory being one of the national park's top dark-sky sites. Cadw may close monuments at short notice in extreme weather.

Terrain level 1, accessible, with limited wheelchair access: the majority of the site is flat, with a flight of small wooden steps without a handrail to the furthest side, low stone remains to trip over and grass that is muddy when wet. Assistance dogs only within the monument. Public toilets by the car park; no cafe or shop of Cadw's. Drones are not permitted.

Photo: The row of pointed arches of Llanthony Priory's nave arcade, framing the wooded slopes of the Vale of Ewyas. John Lord, CC BY 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Llanthony_Abbey_(29883956103).jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.