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Abbey-Cwm-Hir, a parochial chapelry in Rhayader district, Radnor; 6 miles NNW of the Central Wales railway below Penybont, and 6 ½ ENE of Rhayader. Post-town, Penybont. Acres, 10,965. Pop., 537. Houses, 96. The name signifies the Abbey of the long Vale. The surface lies along the Clywedog, a tributary of the Ithon; and is a charming, fertile bottom, environed and overhung by picturesque wooded hills. A Cistertian abbey was founded here, in 1143, by Cadwathelan ap Madoc; and destroyed, in 1401, by Owen Glendower. The property belonged, in the 17th century, to Sir Wm. Fowler, concerning whom it was said, -

“There is neither a park nor a deer
To be seen in all Radnorshire,
Nor a man with five hundred a year
Save Fowler of Abbey-Cwm-Hir.”

The abbey church was 255 feet long and 73 feet wide; but only a few fragments of it remain. The mansion of F. Philips, Esq., partly built with the stones of the church in 1816, stands adjacent. A Roman road goes up the vale past the abbey, toward the valley of the Marteg. The living of Abbey-Cwm-Hir is a p. curacy, in the diocese of St. David’s. Value, £61. Patron, F. Philips, Esq. The church was built in 1680, and contains tombs of the Fowlers.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].