Clas (ecclesiastical settlement)

A clas (Welsh () clasau) was a native Christian church in early medieval Wales. Unlike later Norman monasteries, which were made up of a main religious building supported by several smaller buildings, such as cloisters and kitchens, a clas was normally a single building. The building was run by a community of clergy and headed by an abod. Clasau were autonomous and were administered locally. Following the Norman invasion of Wales in the late 11th century, many of the clasau of south Wales became dependencies of religious houses in England. This resulted in several sites becoming part of the Benedictine or Augustinian orders, or built upon in the following centuries by Norman churches. A map of clasau that can be recognised from Welsh documentary sources was provided by William Rees in 1951. Wendy Davies, in her study of the Llandaff Charters, has identified 36 monasteries or clasau from the 7th to 9th centuries, mainly in the Diocese of Llandaff, and a further 38 ecclesiae or churches, some of which would be monastic. Davies suggests that this is likely to represent about 50 clasau in total. This would suggest that if all the Welsh dioceses were similar and we include clasau which lie outside the modern boundary of Wales in the Welsh Marches, a total of 150-200 clasau may have existed. Many of these early clasau were granted as endowments to the monasteries, particularly those of the Cistercians, founded by the Normans and the Welsh Princes. Aberdaron Abergele, now the location of St Michael's church Bangor, St. Deiniol's clas, now Bangor Cathedral. Bangor-on-Dee Beddgelert, became an Augustinian monastery St Beuno's Church, Berriew, Montgomeryshire. Founded by St Beuno, a Celtic saint who died c. 640. A life of the saint survives which recounts that he was born locally in the vicinity of the river Severn and sent to study under St Tangusius or Tatheus at the Roman settlement of Caerwent near Newport. He was then given land in Aberhiew (Berriew) by Mawn ap Brochwel, a descendant of Brochwel Ysgithrog, on which he would have founded this clas.