Turner's 'South Wales' sketchbook, used on his tour of 1795 (T.B.XXVI, No.17), contains an itinerary, written out by a friend, mentioning Ewenny or Wonny (as it is commonly called) ... an ancient fortified ‘Priory'; and the 'Smaller South Wales' sketchbook (T.B.XXV), used on the same tour, has in it (f.11r) a summary pencil sketch of the subject of the watercolour, with a note in more detail of the effigy on the tomb of Moris de Londes which appears in the centre of the composition. The drawing was one of three important architectural interiors shown by Turner at the R.A. in 1797, and  although smaller than the others (compare Nos.13 and 15) achieves a more dramatic effect by its powerful and imaginative use of lighting. Whitley, in Artists and their Friends in England, 11, p.215, refers to a reviewer in the St. Fames's Chronicle, May 20-23, 1797, who wrote: ‘In point of colour and effect this is one of the grandest drawings we have ever seen, and equal to the best pictures of Rambrandt.' Gage (1974, p.33) suggests that it was influenced by Piranesi, especially the ‘Veduta dell'antico Tempio di Bacco' of 1767 (Hind 81). A replica by another hand is in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.