Penrhys

Looking today at the hilltop of Penrhys dominated as it is by a 1960's council housing development and the greens and fairways of the Rhondda Golf Club it is difficult to imagine the richness of history and legend connected with this small part of the Rhondda. No other part of the Rhondda can compare in this manner to that of Penrhys. Some indicators of that richness of heritage remain in the small brick building that houses Mary's Well and in the statue of Mary that looks out over the Rhondda Fawr. However of the medieval monastery and buildings that once dominated the hilltop there is barely a trace. Despite the fact that as late as the 1840's some portions of the monastery still existed, though in large part incorporated with buildings of the farm that then existed on the site. The farm had largely used materials from the monastery's remains in its construction. In particular in its barn was found, during an excavation in 1912, a 30 foot intricately carved beam which had come from a building of 'some prominence'.

Early legends tell of a Franciscan monastery at Penrhys, built on the site as a memorial to the Welsh Prince Rhys Ap Tewdwr, who was said to have been beheaded near there. Legends tell how Rhys fought a battle with Iestyn Ap Gwrgant who was supported by the Normans. After being defeated Rhys fled, but was overtaken and taken prisoner and beheaded. Later his grandson, Robert of Gloucester, a donor to abbeys at Margam and Neath was said to have founded the monastery ay Penrhys in Rhys' memory, during the reign of Henry I between 1130 and 1132. Later historians have cast doubts upon this version of events, claiming Rhys' death did not in fact take place at Penrhys. Also at the date of the death of Robert Consul, the Franciscan Order had not been founded. In actuality the monastery was most probably a possession of the Cistercian monks at Llantarnam Abbey in Monmouthshire.

However it was founded, what is clear is that the monastery existed and thrived on the site for the next 300 years, and the estate even boasted a 'taverne house', no doubt to cater for the pilgrims visiting it's shrine. It is said that the monastery was dissolved and its possessions were sold by Henry V, as a punishment for supporting the cause of Owain Glyndwr in the 15th Century. Owain himself, so legends tell, presided at an eisteddfod at the site in the early fourteen hundreds. If so the site must have been soon restored as a place of worship and pilgrimage. For in 1538, during the dissolution of the monasteries, the Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell, specifically earmarked the statue of Mary at the shrine for destruction along with other important religious statues such as the ones at Walshingham.

The original statue at Penrhys was said to be 'indescribably beautiful', and contained 'Mary nursing Jesus for a kiss'. Much smaller that the statue that currently resides at Penrhys it was thought to have originally been placed in an alcove at the small well chapel. Legends tell that the original statue was a gift from heaven, which miraculously appeared in the branches of an oak tree at the site. The statue, it is said, resisted all attempts to move it from the tree so that, 'eight oxen could not have drawn the Image of Penrhys from its place in the tree'. The statue only allowed itself to be moved when a shrine and chapel were built to house it. The original statue survived at Penrhys until the 1500's, and Henry Viii's dissolution of the monasteries. At this time Bishop Latimer wrote to Thomas Cromwell suggesting the destruction of a number of Shrines of Our Lady, believing them to be a focus of idolatry, and thus 'the devil's instrument'. The statue at Penrhys at this time was obviously an important one as it, alongside others such as the one at Walsingham and Ipswich, was mentioned by name in this letter

Thus it is said the statue was removed from the shrine secretly at the dead of night to prevent any local unrest. From here it said the statue was removed to Thomas Cromwell's home in London, and after being thrown from the West window of St. Paul's by Bishop Latimer, it along with many other images of Mary was burned publicly.
When Ferndale church was built a Miss M.M. Davies of Llantrisant procured for the church a replica of the original statue, carved in oak standing in a tree trunk.
The statue that currently stands on the hillside at Penrhys was erected in 1953, and blessed by Archbishop McGrath on the 2nd July that year. The statue was carved out of Portland stone and designed, using the many description of the original statue contained in medieval welsh poetry, to resemble the original as closely as possible.