by In the green hills of Monmouth County, near the market town of Finland, there is a whitewashed stone monastery, built in the 19th century. This is Chapel-y-Ffin Abbey, set around a central square courtyard and surrounded by eight acres of gardens and grounds. Outside, there is a white statue of the Virgin Mary and the stone ruins of a former church, which are now part of the green.
If you’ve ever dreamed of enjoying the tranquility of a monastery – without committing to the monastery lifestyle – here’s your chance. Capel-y-Ffin is for sale with Fine & Country for £1.5 million.
The abbey, now listed at Grade II, was designed by Charles Buckeridge, a Gothic revival architect who trained under Sir George Gilbert Scott. It was built in 1870 by Joseph Leycester Lyne, known as Father Ignatius, a Church of England monk and preacher who tried unsuccessfully to reintroduce the monastic tradition into the Anglican church.
Capel-y-Ffin (“the end chapel”) was a functioning monastery for over 40 years. After Lyne’s death in 1908, it was moved to two other monastic communities, before being bought in 1924 by Eric Gill, a controversial sculptor, letter-cutter and designer of the Gill Sans and Perpetua typefaces, who was later found to have sexually abused members of. his family.
Gill intended to establish a Roman Catholic community in the then disused Capel-Y-Ffin Abbey. “Capel-Y-Ffin is the name and describes it, 2,000 feet of mountain wall on both sides and north of it – no outlet but south,” he wrote in a letter about his plans to buy the abbey. “Sheep run on mountains and stone abounds, for carving and building, no extra charge.”
Among Gill’s regular visitors were the artist Edgar Holloway, and the poet, artist and Catholic priest, Desmond Chute. David Jones, the modernist painter and poet, found inspiration in Capel-Y-Ffin and the surrounding Black Mountains, describing his time there as a “new beginning” for his work.
Gill and his family moved to High Wycombe after four years, although he continued to visit until his death in 1940. It was a school, run by Gill’s daughter, and later a guest house – both of them very little. success — before it became his family home.
The current owners bought the property in 1985, after inheriting it from their parents. The couple used Capel-Y-Ffin as the family home, restoring the property to its current condition and letting out parts of the 7,807 sq ft property as self-contained holiday rentals.
Organized over three floors, there are 14 bedrooms, five bathrooms and five reception rooms. There are three apartments for rent, each with its own kitchen and reception spaces, and can sleep up to 14 people.
Upstairs, down a wood-panelled hall, are most of the property’s bedrooms, with arched Gothic windows and wooden rafters. On the ground floor, there is a chapel, and long dining and reception rooms with dramatic entrance arches leading to the outside courtyard. “If the sun is right when you go out that door, it’s great,” says Fine & Country agent Ben Watkins.
Further self-catering accommodation, a large utility room and carport are available on the lower ground floor.
“On a very sunny day, the entrance up the drive is very wide. The way the property approaches you is great, in a nice way, but you have a great view to the left of the mountains,” says Watkins. “If the weather is right, it’s idyllic – a term used far too much, but it fits.”
Now, after nearly 40 years in their unique home, the owners of Capel-Y-Ffin are looking to downsize. “It’s a big property for two people,” says Watkins, who says this is the first monastery listed by the office.
Monks, artists and poets lived there – but what kind of merchant is likely to take over the monastery next? “One of two groups: a large, multigenerational family — someone who’s looking for that sedentary country lifestyle and putting two funds together to build it — or someone who wants to turn it into an event center,” says Watkins .
So far, Capel-Y-Ffin has attracted international interest and some viewing. Watkins has had potential buyers considering the abbey as a place to host Pilates, walking and outdoor retreats, due to its location in the Brethren Beacons National Park, and believes it could continue to be used as a holiday let, or wedding venue.
“It needs the right kind of buyer,” says Watkins. “I think as long as someone is able to take it and look after it, the owners would be happy with that.”
