Neco Williams
Dreigiau Cymru
The Football Association of Wales has teamed up with Cadw to represent each of the 26 players in the Cymru squad for UEFA EURO 2020 at historic sites across the country.
Celebrate Cymru at EURO 2020 by grabbing a selfie at these locations to share on social media using our #DreigiauCymru hashtag.
You can also scan the QR code on each Dreigiau Cymru to log the visit in your personal digital sticker book right here on TogetherStronger.Cymru. How many digital player stickers can you collect from visiting Cadw sites across Wales?!
Castle History
Majestic medieval abbey was legendary for its lavish feasts
Valle Crucis was truly Welsh from the moment it was founded in 1201 by Prince Madog ap Gruffydd and the ‘white monks’ of the Cistercian order.
Its Latin name (Valley of the Cross) refers to the nearby ninth-century Pillar of Eliseg, erected for the glory of a Welsh chieftain. Monks had names like Tudur and Hywel.
Such home-grown sympathies might well explain the damage suffered during the wars of the English king Edward I and the uprising of Owain Glyndŵr. But it remains one of our best-preserved and most atmospheric medieval abbeys.
Valle Crucis began in austerity but was later celebrated by poets for its lavish hospitality – meals served in silver vessels and ale ‘flowing like a river’. In Wales only Tintern Abbey was richer when it was dissolved by royal decree in 1537.
You’ll believe it when you first glimpse the majestic west front of the abbey church. Elsewhere among the romantic ruins painted by Turner are the rib-vaulted chapter house and the only surviving monastic fishpond in Wales.
