 Neath Abbey was established in 1129 AD when Richard I de Grenville (d.post 1142), one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, gave of his estate in Glamorgan, Wales, to Savigniac monks from western Normandy.The first monks arrived in 1130.Following the assumption of the Savigniac order into the Cistercian order in 1147, Neath Abbey also became a Cistercian house.