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Monastery

The field known as Culvery (or Calvary) Fields, immediately south of Church of Saint Cadoc, is traditionally identified as the site of the early monastery of St Cadoc, who is believed to have established a religious community at Llancarfan during the 5th or 6th century. By the 7th century Llancarfan was an important ecclesiastical centre, and by the 9th century its clas — a community of clergy — had become one of the leading centres of learning and Christianity in south-east Wales. The monastery was reportedly devastated by the Danish raids of 998, but recovered and remained an important ecclesiastical centre until the Norman conquest brought its independence to an end.

The precise location of the earliest monastery, however, remains an intriguing archaeological question. Excavations in 1964 within Culvery Fields uncovered substantial mortared foundations, occupation deposits and fragments of 13th- and 14th-century pottery and roof tiles, confirming that important medieval buildings stood here. The site is now a Scheduled Monument because of its archaeological potential. Cadw notes that the surviving low mound and buried structures may preserve evidence of medieval ecclesiastical organisation and building techniques. Some archaeologists favour the large churchyard around St Cadoc's as the original early-medieval enclosure, while the Culvery Fields site may represent a later medieval complex built on or close to the former monastic site.