Makeover for Llangollen's historic Valle Crucis Abbey

Sep 4 2008 By David Simister

ONE of Llangollen’s oldest abbeys will get a modern makeover later this week when a high-tech exhibition centre opens on the centuries-old site.

Valle Crucis Abbey, on the outskirts of the town, will see a state-of-the-art exhibition centre open in its grounds this Friday [September 5] to give enable visitors to see the religious building as it would have looked in its Mediaeval heyday.

"The new interpretation centre is a wonderful addition to Valle Crucis Abbey. The high tech tour is an excellent educational interactive tool for adults and children alike" said John Stephens of Cadw, who masterminded a painstaking restoration of the site earlier this year.

"I’m sure will provide an enhanced experience to the thousands who visit this well preserved Cistercian Abbey every year."

The site, which dates back to 1773, was originally built as a summer house by aristocrat Trevor Lloyd, who lived at Trevor Hall, but has fallen into ruin after several centuries of deterioration.

Cadw, the Welsh Assembly Government’s historic environment service, worked in partnership with Llangollen Museum to help bring the new centre to life, which is housed in an old cottage on the abbey grounds.

Among the attractions it will be able to offer are audio-visual tours of the site, as well as a computer generated 3D mock-up of the abbey as it would have originally looked, which visitors will be able to view through headsets.

The new exhibition centre will open this Friday [September 5] at 11.30am.