{"id":785,"date":"2020-03-31T08:23:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T07:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/?p=785"},"modified":"2020-03-31T08:23:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T07:23:48","slug":"inside-neath-abbeys-secret-800-year-old-chamber-thats-been-off-limits-for-years-its-described-as-a-hidden-gem-from-wales-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/inside-neath-abbeys-secret-800-year-old-chamber-thats-been-off-limits-for-years-its-described-as-a-hidden-gem-from-wales-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Neath Abbey&#8217;s secret 800-year-old chamber that&#8217;s been off limits for years It&#8217;s described as a hidden gem from Wales Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It has a fascinating history and has been closed off to the public for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now the secret 800-year-old chamber in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/neath\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Neath<\/a>&nbsp;Abbey and Gatehouse will soon be open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The undercroft \u2014 which is a recently refurbished chamber &#8211; has been inaccessible for several years due to ongoing conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The access to the chamber is normally restricted to the public due to how fragile the site was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Founded in 1130, the Abbey, which has housed Cistercian monks, boasted Tudor splendour and seen thriving industry over the centuries, has benefited from significant interpretational and structural improvements over the last decade \u2014 with critical work on the undercroft just completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk\/incoming\/article16834345.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_JMP_SWA_290819_Neath_Abbey_035JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><strong>Neath Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Jonathan Myers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk\/incoming\/article16834344.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_JMP_SWA_290819_Neath_Abbey_019JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><strong>The door which leads to the 800-year-old chamber<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Jonathan Myers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As you head off the A465 towards the main road you will find Neath Abbey just off an industrial estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you enter the site, just at the back you will find the secret chamber.&nbsp; Inside, you will find fascinating artefacts and impressive monastic remains from the Abbey&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk\/incoming\/article16834341.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_JMP_SWA_290819_Neath_Abbey_007JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><strong>Inside the undercroft<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Jonathan Myers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk\/incoming\/article16834449.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_JMP_SWA_290819_Neath_Abbey_014JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><strong>It features artefacts and impressive monastic remains from the Abbey&#8217;s history<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Jonathan Myers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk\/incoming\/article16834342.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_JMP_SWA_290819_Neath_Abbey_010JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>(Image: Jonathan Myers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The space in the undercroft was once used as the monastic day room where the monks worked and after the suppression of the monastery it was the servants\u2019 hall in the Tudor house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bill Zajac, Cadw historian and expert on Neath Abbey&nbsp;<strong>,<\/strong>&nbsp;will be the tour leader when the doors open to the public on&nbsp;<strong>Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September 29<\/strong>&nbsp;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">READ MORE<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/whats-on\/family-kids-news\/neath-great-fair-2019-road-16786042\">Neath Great Fair 2019 road closures, line up, parking and everything else you need to know<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>He describes the undercroft as &#8220;a wonderful chamber&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk\/incoming\/article16834339.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_JMP_SWA_290819_Neath_Abbey_041JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><strong>Bill Zajac, Cadw historian and expert on Neath Abbey<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Jonathan Myers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk\/incoming\/article16834475.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_JMP_SWA_290819_Neath_Abbey_017JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><strong>Funded and organised by Cadw, more than 200 of Wales\u2019s most iconic landmarks and historic attractions will welcome visitors in September<\/strong>&nbsp;(Image: Jonathan Myers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The undercroft is filled with some of the finest artifacts in Neath Abbey. It&#8217;s a large chamber with a beautiful vaulted roof, carried on a series of piers that are running down the centre of the room.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked why the undercroft is a hidden gem, Mr Zajac said that so many people don&#8217;t know that it is in Neath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">READ MORE<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/whats-on\/whats-on-news\/big-autumn-2019-events-wales-16817484\">The big autumn 2019 events in Wales that&#8217;ll stop you mourning the end of summer<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: &#8220;It&#8217;s a remarkably unknown site for a lot of people and even people in the immediate area don&#8217;t know that Neath Abbey is here.<a><\/a>138254603774<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s special because it illustrates so many important episodes from the history of Wales, right from it&#8217;s foundation in 1130 to the industrial revolution of the 18th centary.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Funded and organised by Cadw, more than 200 of Wales\u2019s most iconic landmarks and historic attractions will welcome visitors in September as part of the Wales-wide heritage festival, Open Doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about the free tours you can visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cadw.gov.wales\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cadw&#8217;s webiste<\/a>&nbsp;.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has a fascinating history and has been closed off to the public for years. And now the secret 800-year-old chamber in&nbsp;Neath&nbsp;Abbey and Gatehouse will soon be open to the public. The undercroft \u2014 which is a recently refurbished chamber &#8211; has been inaccessible for several years due to ongoing conservation. The access to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toursofwales.co.uk\/wandering-bard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}