Situated on a slight outcrop of rock in the vale of Neath, the Abbey owes its beginnings to Richard de Granville.

In 1130 a small group of monks from Savigny in western Normandy arrived in the valley to colonise the site. Immediately they began the construction of a stone church and by the time the Savigniac monks were absorbed into the Cistercian order in 1147, it was completed.

Good economic management of the abbey, meant that soon Neath became a wealthy house. It had owned extensive estates in Glamorgan, Devon and Somerset. However, expansion of its Glamorgan estates led to a bitter dispute with the neighbouring abbey of Margam.

Rapid expansion however, meant that by the end of the twelfth century the abbey could not accommodate all the monks, so a programme of reconstruction was began. However, the community continued to expand at such a rapid pace that it was not until the end on the 14th century that the rebuilding work was finally completed.

The west range, which dates from 1170 - 1220, was first occupied by the lay brothers who did much of the manual work on the abbey's estates. Work which included both field and construction endeavours.

As were other religious places, the abbey was dissolved in 1539 by the orders of Henry VII and in 1542 passed to Sir Richard Williams,