PEMBROKE and Monkton Local History Society welcomes John Brandrick to Pembroke Town Hall on Saturday, February 7 for a talk on Whitland Abbey.

This important Cistercian Abbey was founded in 1151. It developed a strong Welsh cultural identity under the patronage of powerful Welsh princes and grew in importance to become the motherhouse of the Cistercian order of monks in Wales. Several daughter houses were established including Strata Florida, Strata Marcella, and Cwmhir. The Abbey thrived during medieval Wales but it gradually declined in its later years until its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539.

John Brandrick is a retired Engineering Draughtsman, whose main interest now is illustrating and researching Whitland Abbey as well drawing the machinery in wind and water mills throughout Wales and the rest of the world to provide a record for the future.

His talk, ‘The Foundation, Development and decline of Whitland Abbey’, is a highly detailed and illustrated presentation, which covers who the Whitland Abbey monks were and where they came from; how the abbey was built and interfaced with the nobility and how it fared with the upheavals of the period from 1150 until the dissolution.

Visibly lost over the course of subsequent centuries, John then tells of the Abbey’s rediscovery in the 1800s and of the excavations, which have taken place since then until now, and of its future. John is a member of the Friends of Whitland Abbey, a voluntary group that takes care of the Abbey site, which is open to the public at all times.

As usual, Pembroke Town Hall opens at 10am for the Coffee Morning followed by the Talk at 11am. Open also for the event will be Pembroke Museum and Council Chamber, which are situated on the first floor of the Town Hall. A lift is available for disabled access. All are welcome to attend and entry is free.

For more information, visit www.pembrokeandmonktonhistory.org.uk and keep up to date with the society on Facebook. Contact [email protected] for any queries.