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rcta0l00ta Camlw8t». FIFTH SERIES.—VOL. IV, NO. XIII. JANUARY 1887. MARGAM ABBEY. (Read on the Spot, August 1886.) The sources from which we can gather the history of this fine old foundation are not many. The Annates de Margan, written on the spot, is a very perfect attempt at a general history of the country from 1060 to 1232 ; but the scantiness of the local information is indicated by the fact that these Annals do not even give a com¬ plete list of the Abbots who presided at Margam dur¬ ing the time of their compilation. The Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis, the various public records, and some ancient deeds in private hands, furnish us with glimpses of the life of the old monks; and most of these cross-lights have been focussed by Mr. G. T. Clark in his admirable Land of Morgan, and especially in his Contributions toiuards a Cartulary of Margam Abbey, printed in the Archmologia Cambrensis, 3rd Series, vol. xiii and vol. xiv. The question has often been and still is debated, whether Margam was a Welsh or Norman foundation ; and since the foundation-deed is lost, patriotic Welsh¬ men naturally espouse the former theory. The evi¬ dence, however, seems to be strongly in favour of the latter. Glamorgan, or, as it was originally styled, Mor¬ gan wg, after Morgan Hen (Morgan the aged), who 5th see., vol. iv. 1