The Abbey was founded in 1050 by
Herluin de Conteville and his wife
Arlette, mother of
William the Conqueror. was said to have seen a vision of the
Blessed Virgin Mary who told him to take a spa treatment at the source of the Carbec stream in Grestain (
Carbec meaning "the Stream of Kari"). Cured, he decided to build an abbey in the nearby Valley of
Vilaine dedicated to the Virgin and a chapel at Carbec, a site also dedicated to the healing spring of
Saint-Méen. Herluin's son,
Robert de Mortain, half-brother of William, was the principal benefactor, endowing it with his revenues from England. In 1358, the abbey was sacked by the Anglo-Navarrais. The monks took refuge at their safe house in
Rouen, in the parish of Saint-Eloi. Between 15 November 1364 and 10 August 1365, the abbey was attacked once more. On the return of the monks, the abbey had been partly destroyed and nearly razed to the ground. The abbey was officially closed in 1757 on the orders of the bishop. The church buildings were demolished around 1766 and the rest of abbey destroyed in 1790; of these buildings, only a few ruins remain, integrated into the Château de La Pommeraye (a private property): a defensive wall, a 13th-Century portal, an 18th-Century manor with a 13th-Century floor, and remains of the church. A monument has been erected to the memory of the founders who were buried in the now defunct church: Arlette, Herluin and Robert de Mortain, as well as Robert's wife,
Mathilde de Montgomerie, daughter of
Roger de Montgomerie. ==Arms of the Abbey==