Strata Marcella (Wynnstay Estate Records)

Although there are few visible remains today of the Cistercian abbey of Ystrad Marchell near Welshpool, the evidence of the charters reveals it to have been a religious house of some wealth and importance within medieval Powys.

Forty-nine original charters drawn up in favour of or issued by the abbey from the time of its foundation to its dissolution in 1536 have survived. By far the largest group is that of thirty-five charters preserved among the Wynnstay Estate Archives. As an archive containing original charters granted by native Welsh princes, the Wynnstay group has no equal; as an archive of surviving charters of a Welsh abbey, it is only surpassed by that of Margam Abbey, Glamorgan.

The charter shown here is a confirmation of gift of lands to the abbey of Strata Marcella by Hywel ap Hywel.