Mom and I took a boat from Tenby to Caldey Island, a tiny speck of an island in the bay which has been home to a monastery since early Celtic times.
The current Caldey Abbey was built in 1910. This is what an abbey from 1910 looks like:
To support themselves, the Cistercian monks of Caldey Abbey (and yes, they wear robes) manufacture chocolate, shortbread and perfume. I can’t speak to the quality of the chocolate because I haven’t tried it, though Mom bought a bar for David; and we never did manage to find the shortbread; but the island gorse-scented perfume is quite lovely.
The Celts were Christianized long before the Saxons, so there’s been a monastery on the island since probably the 5th or 6th century. When the Normans got hold of Wales, the local Marcher Lord booted out Caldey Island’s Celtic monks and transplanted an abbey of Norman monks from his home province, at which point the island traded Celtic Christianity (a distinct tradition marked by its simplicity) for the gaudier and more convoluted Roman Catholic form. About five hundred years later Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and the island was more or less abandoned till the current monks, Cistercian Trappists, came along and erected the current buildings.
The Celtic monks suffered Viking raids. I wonder how the modern monks feel about tourists.
Mom wanted to know whether the monks took a vow of silence, so of course, we had to find a monk to say hello to. He said hello back, so that answers that.