of working against English rule in Wales; he evicted all the Welsh monks, sending them to English houses, and replacing them with English monks from Buildwas Abbey in Shropshire. Owain Glyndŵr During the Owain Glyndŵr rising at the beginning of the 15th century the buildings were heavily damaged and the monastery never completely recovered. The Dissolution The abbey was finally closed in 1536 at the dissolution of the monasteries in England and Wales, when its income was valued at no more than £64 a year. At that time there were only four monks at the abbey and Edward Grey, the third Baron Grey of Powis, had already purchased the site and had removed everything of value. The stone from the buildings was sold and used to build several local churches, including a capital in the church of All Saints at Buttington. Today the only visible remains are a few courses of stones from the church and cloister in a meadow beside the infant River Severn. Excavations The site was excavated in 1890 by Stephen W. Williams for the Powysland Club. The church had an overall length of 273 feet, with an aisled nave 201 feet long, transepts were 96 feet long with a short rectangular chancel, and a 30 ft square tower at the crossing. The long period of building was from c. 1190 till the early C14. There were buttresses, including clasping buttresses at the west end. The red sandstone columns of the ten-bay nave had the Early English pattern of shafts clustered on piers. Transitional and stiff-leaf capitals of great beauty reflect the sculptural developments between c. 1190 and c. 1210. Much of this space was occupied by two monks' choirs. It seems that the elaborate doorway to one of these may have been the original west doorway. Pier stones with 14th century wavy mouldings were found on the site of the tower. The cloister on the south was not excavated. Finds, including 13th century tiles and stone fragments, are in the Powysland Museum, Welshpool. Recently, the site of Strata Marcella has been resurveyed by Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust and this has modified some of Stephen Williams' findings. Literature Silvester, R. J., Hankinson, R., Owen, W. and Jones, N. (2011) Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Monastic and Ecclesiastical Sites in East and North-East Wales:The Scheduling Enhancement Programme. Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust Report No 1090. Scourfield R. and Haslam R. (2013) The