Abergavenny recently welcomed a visitor celebrating a French connection with St Mary’s Priory that dates back nearly a thousand years.

St Mary’s was founded by Hamelin de Ballon with twelve monks and a Prior drawn from the Benedictine Abbey of St Vincent in Le Mans.

Close to William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, Hamelin also constructed the first wooden motte and bailey castle and was made first Lord Baron of Abergavenny.

Several documents, cartularies and other charters, give a precise description of Hamelin’s activities in Abergavenny.

He travelled back and forth between Ballon and Abergavenny several times during his life, presumably finding material and spiritual enrichment in both places.

On a recent visit to Abergavenny the current owner of the Donjon de Ballon, Emmanuel Gueroult, toured the church with the Chair of St Mary’s Priory Development Trust.

Afterwards he said, "I would urge everyone to go there. It has been magnificently restored over the last 20 years under the active support and leadership of a trust chaired by Sir Trefor Morris whose enthusiasm is infectious.

“The collection of medieval tombs, is unique. The whole reordering of the church has been done in a very delicate and subtle way, mixing old and new ornaments."

Welcoming the news of the reconnection with Ballon, the Vicar of Abergavenny, Canon Mark Soady said, "We owe a lot to Hamelin for founding us and establishing us as a Benedictine Priory. It was after all his inspiration that our predecessor Priors and monks followed the Rule of St Benedict which has blessed us and upheld us for nearly 1,000 years.

“I shall look forward to much closer relations with the current Donjon de Ballon in the near future."

* Ballon, formerly a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France, was merged into the new commune of Ballon-Saint-Mars on January 1 this year.