The Holy Grail
The Holy Grail?
(The Nanteos Cup)
Nanteos Mansion was the resting place for over 300 years for the,
so called, Grail Cup. The Cup which was the same one used in the Last Supper,
made of olive wood.
Legend tells that Joseph of Arimathea brought the Cup to Glastonbury
where it remained until the 16th century when the seven Monks of Glastonbury
at the Dissolution escaped with it and left it in the safe keeping of the Cistercian Monks of Strata Florida. It was then given to the Stedman Family by the last remaining monk
when they escaped to the original house, Nant Eos and were looked after until,
one by one, they died.
Later Stedman married into the Powell family who built Nanteos Mansion in the 1730's.
Strangely, Richard Wagner was a visitor to Nanteos Mansion and it was from this place that the opera 'Parsifal' was originally
conceived.
The cup is now held in the museum in Aberystwyth.
Nanteos: the name consists of two Welsh words meaning "stream of the nightingales."
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