Time to talk of other things ...

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

Kenfig Nature Reserve Founded by Robert Earl of Glouchester, Kenfig in South Wales was once a thriving town of between 700 and 1000 residents that was unfortunately regularly attacked by Vikings between 1167 AD and 1321 AD. Wild storms and huge tides around circa 1433 AD, caused by a natural alignment of the sun and moon that occurs once every 1700 years, were mainly responsible for creating the expansive dune system that once stretched along the coastline of southern Wales from the Ogmore River to the Gower peninsular. In 1440 AD the Abbot of Margam reported unusual flooding from the sea, a full four miles inland! Over the next 700 years, Kenfig is all that remains of this unique ecosystem, making it Wales's best sand-dune reserve and Europe's largest active sand-dune system. The only trace left today of the ancient borough is the castle keep which rises out of the sand to the North. It is one of the UK’s most important wildlife conservation sites. The 1,300 acres area is mana