Wales's mountains have many secret places, none more so than ruined Llanthony Priory, locked away in the remote Black Mountains.

Introduction
Llanthony Priory is the remains of an exquisite monastery that once housed 40 Augustinian Canons. It is blessed with the history and myths of great Welsh icons from St.David to Owain Glyndwr. Situated amongst the magnificent Black Mountains of the Brecon Beacons, its history entices the imagination as far back as the 6th Century.

You can contemplate this whilst following a number of walks around the Priory including one that leads to Offa's Dyke. The narrow lane in the Honddu Valley, which leads the visitor up to the ruins, adds to the hidden delight of finding it. Its simple isolation and the consequences of this on its history still hangs in the air.

Location
The Priory's location was once described by the distinguished Welsh writer and scholar Giraldus Cambrensis, Gerald of Wales, as being 'truly calculated for religion and more adapted to the canonical discipline than all the monasteries of the British Isles'. Indeed, on your visit to the Priory it is easy to imagine, and engage, in the deep sense of contemplation the Black Mountains still provide.

History
The origin of the name of ‘Llanthony' is a delightful hint at the Priory's past. Derived from 'Llandewi Nant Honddu' Llanthony' translates as 'the church of St David on the Honddu brook'. It is a wonderful thought to believe that Wales's Patron Saint – St. David lived here as a hermit.

Although scholars find this difficult to confirm, a Chapel was first built and named after the Saint here in the 6th Century. It was sometime afterwards that the Norman nobleman, William De Lacy, fell under the spell of this thought while he was hunting in the region around 1100.

Here he discovered the ruins of the chapel, which St. David is believed to have once occupied. The consequence of such a divine and enlightening experience was that he decided to abandon the life which was familiar to him to become a hermit there himself.

After hearing this William's former Lord, Hugh de Lacy, established a monastery and dedicated it to St. John the Baptist. A small country inn, known as the Abbey Hotel, is actually part of the original twelfth century Augustinian Priory.

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