Margam Gardens
Margam gardens and castle Margam castle After the Norman Invasion of Wales in the 11th century, Robert Consul (d. 1147), 1st Earl of Gloucester the illegitimate son of King Henry I of England, and Lord of Glamorgan, granted the lands at Margam to Clairvaux Abbey, a French order of white-robed Catholic monks founded by St. Bernard, for the establishment of a new Cistercian monastery which became Margam Abbey. Earl Robert’s bequest comprised ‘all the land between the Kenfig and Afan rivers, from the brow of the mountains to the sea’. Abbey ruins Once the largest and richest monastery in Wales, the Abbey remained an important center of significance until its dissolution at the hands of Henry VIII in the 1530s. Part of the medieval Abbey survives as St Mary's parish church, and beside the church is the Margam Stone Museum, with pre-Norman and medieval carved stones from the area. Orangery By 1727 the estate had established a reputation for citrus fruit with over 50 lime, lemon, and or