The dissolution and later history of the abbey.
Despite the undoubted improvement, the monastic, life at St. Dogmaels remained a pale reflection of that to which the early monks had aspired. The end came in 1536 when, along with hundreds of other houses throughout England and Wales with an annual income of less than £200, the abbey was suppressed by King Henry VIII. The abbot and his eight monks had already acknowledged the king's supremacy in 1534 and no attempt was made to stem the tide of change. The assessed annual value of the monastery at the dissolution was £87 8s.6d., and its rentals and tithes were assessed in 1537 to be £140 8s. 8.5d.
The major part of the abbey's possessions, including Caldey and Fishguard were leased to John Bradshaw of Presteigne, in Radnorshire. A few years later, in 1543, Bradshaw was able to purchase the properties which he already had on lease. He built a mansion for himself, probably within the abbey precinct, and no doubt used stone from the abbey buildings for its construction. Subsequently, Bradshaw's mansion was allowed to fall into decay and today no remains of it are visible unless the later alterations and additions at the end of the west range belong to that building. Bradshaw was excused from keeping the chancel in repair, possibly because it had already been stripped of its lead. At the beginning of the seventeenth century George Owen described it as a ruin. In 1646 the site was bought by David Parry of Neuadd-Trefawr, near Cardigan, but neither he nor his descendants appear to have lived there.
The blocking of the nave at its western end to form a vestibule suggests that this part of the abbey church was later altered for parochial use. If so, it must have replaced the existing parish church of St Thomas the Apostle which stood on the opposite side of the stream, at the corner of Shingrug and David Street. According to witnesses in a dispute, the old parish church was still in use during the first half of the seventeenth century. It is unlikely, therefore, that the alterations to the monastic nave could have been made earlier than about 1640. The north transept is divided from the rest of the abbey church by the base of a late wall, suggesting that it was walled off for use as a private chapel, perhaps for the same family that might have earlier paid for its elaborate rebuilding in the sixteenth century.
Early in the eighteenth century, a new parish church was erected alongside the old abbey church. A century later, in 1847, this was replaced by the church which now stands on the site. Initially, in 1866, the vicarage and its coach house, were built with materials from the old abbey buildings.
In 1934 the remains of the abbey were placed in State guardianship by the Representative Body of the Church in Wales. The site was cleared and the masonry consolidated between 1947 and 1968 and the ruins are now maintained by Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments.(CADW 1992)
