[4]: 52  Twenty years later, the monks of Basingwerk challenged their subjection to Buildwas, but Savigny found against them and sent a letter notifying their decision to the abbot of Cîteaux, the head of the Cistercian order.

The Monks' Road and the Abbot's Chair near the town are a reminder of the Abbey's efforts to administer their possession.

The monks harnessed the power of the Holywell stream to run a corn mill and to treat the wool from their sheep.

The monks sided with the English in Edward I's late 13th century conquest of Wales, for which they were rewarded with permission to hold a market and fair at Holywell.

The increasing worldliness of the abbey by this time can be seen in the rebuilding of the domestic buildings to make them more comfortable, and in the abbot's patronage of bards like Tudor Aled.

[9] At the Valor Ecclestiasticus survey of 1535, Basingwerk was assessed at £150, putting it among the smaller houses that were earmarked for closure.

It did: when the abbey was sold, the parts of the roof went to St Mary's Church in Cilcain below the slopes of Moel Famau.

Another section of roof was reportedly given to the Collegiate and Parochial Church of St Peter at Ruthin, where it still covers the North Nave.

This is a 12th century room, to which a vaulted eastern section was added, divided by an arcade of two round arches which still stands.

[7] This end of the range was heavily rebuilt in the later middle ages, with the vault being removed and a new hall and chamber built.

[10] Over this range stood the monks' dormitory, of which part of the side walls still stand, with lancet windows.

It was a high-quality chamber, and elaborate lancets with Early English shafting survive in the west wall, along with the reader's pulpit and the hatch to the kitchen.