Tintern Abbey

9.30am – 5pm daily -Last admission 30 minutes before closing-£5.80-Postcode NP16 6SE.

The Cistercian abbey of Tintern is one of the greatest monastic ruins of Wales. It was only the second Cistercian foundation in Britain, and the first in Wales, and was founded on 9 May 1131 by Walter de Clare, lord of Chepstow. It soon prospered, thanks to endowments of land in Gwent and Gloucestershire, and buildings were added and updated in every century until its dissolution in 1536. However, it was never very large and important, and its history was relatively uneventful. Its position well away from the Welsh heartland meant that, unlike Margam, Neath and Llanthony, it suffered little in the periodic Welsh uprisings of the medieval period. Part of what makes Tintern so special is its picturesque setting. Founded by 12th century Cistercian monks, the abbey sits serenely amid the hills of the Wye river valley. Framed by rolling green hills on all sides, Tintern is easily the most beautifully situated of the abbeys we visited. The village of Tintern is tiny. A few small shops, alpine-like cottages and a small church lie close to the abbey. The river Wye runs directly behind the abbey and played an important role in sustaining its occupants. The surrounding countryside is broken only by an occasional hiking trail. The peaceful setting gave us a feeling of isolation different from the other abbeys we visited.
The abbey and grounds are surrounded by a 4ft stone fence. At the front of the grounds next to the road, grazing cattle seem oblivious to the imposing structure dominating their pasture. Although smaller than Fountains, the wide-open interior spaces of the chapel and nave at Tintern are more captivating. The great lancet windows at each end of the chapel serve as breathtaking picture frames for the green hills beyond. The floor of the chapel is covered in a carpet of tall green grass, broken by tall, decorated columns reaching toward the sky. The floor is also dotted with giant corbels that once adorned the tops of Tintern's massive pillars. The highly decorated corbels now mark the places missing columns once stood, and are one of the abbey's unique features. The corbels and surviving columns set against the wide-open spaces of the chapel floor, are a marvel to behold. While walking the floor of the chapel the symmetry and spacing of these huge pillars create vast sectioned views of the interior, making this part of the abbey the most memorable.
Tintern also has an abundance of delicate window tracery work still in evidence. The North Transept, Great East Window, and West Front Window all retain some degree of this finely carved work, reminding visitors of the abbey's former days of glory, when huge panes of stained glass filled these giant windows. Another fine example of window tracery is found in the Monk's Dining Hall, a large room next to the main chapel. An enlarged photograph I took at here on our 1992 trip to Britain, reveals the subtle attention to detail that make these series of smaller windows one of the abbey's best surviving features. There are also extensive support building foundations to explore at Tintern, but these never seem to be as interesting as the abbey itself. I usually devote most of my time to wandering the great spaces of the main sanctuary.
Tintern strikes me as the perfect ruined abbey. It's the right combination of size and beauty. I was not concerned that we had visited Tintern just a year and a half earlier. I remembered how absolutely awestruck I had been upon first setting foot in the immense open spaces of the chapel, viewing those massive pillars for the first time. I knew that another visit so soon would not disappoint, and therefore did not hesitate to add Tintern to our 1994 agenda. Tintern Abbey, Chepstow Castle, and Raglan Castle, all lie within twenty miles of one another, and together make a powerful argument for not overlooking this part of Wales.

According to the legend, a group of young men had come to see the Abbey and decided to employ several laborers to dig in the orchard that adjoins the Abbey to see if they could discover some antiquities. They apparently discovered the remains of two human skeletons and decided to celebrate their discovery by having an evening feast held within the ruins of the Abbey (Beattie 108). As the men seated themselves on the grass within the Abbey and began to make jokes about what the monks rising from their graves would think of their revels, there appeared rapidly darkening skies with lightening striking all around followed by thunder that seemed to shake the surrounding hills (Ross 23). It grew darker and a mist seemed to shroud the ruined walls, columns, and empty windows of the Abbey. The men saw a gleam of light in the mist that appeared at the entrance to the choir; as it seemed to grow in size, it assumed the outline of a mail-clad knight with the visor of his helmet raised (Ross 24). Slowly hazy figures of cowled monks and mitered abbots began to take shape around the knight as the revelers sat frozen on the grass in horror. Each man there knew in his heart that he had disturbed the rest and peace of "Strongbow," (Gilbert fitz Gilbert de Clare, earl of Pembroke), and of the Cistercian monks who had been granted Tintern Abbey by Walter de Clare in 1131 (Cooke 667).
Suddenly, there was a pause in the storm raging over the Abbey. The mailed figure of "Strongbow" fixed his eyes on the petrified strangers, slowly raised his gauntled hand, and pointed to the doorway of the Abbey with his sword (Ross 24; Beattie 110). The previously daring and jovial adventurers sprang from the grass and fled from the Abbey in all directions. As they ran, they saw behind them a small whirlwind that seemed to swoop over the ruined walls, gather the remains of their feast from the grass, and fling it far and wide beyond the Abbey ruins (Ross 24; Beattie 110).
There does not appear to be any written record of when or where this legend began; it is simply a part of the folklore that is attached to Tintern Abbey. It could possibly date back to Elizabethan time or be as recent as the 1700s or 1800s. Whatever the origin of the story, it is not difficult to imagine a group of young men, somewhat in their cups, thinking that it would be a lark to have a convivial feast on the remains of the floor of an ancient monastery. Nor is it difficult to "see" that the spectral figure of a mailed knight appearing from the rain and mist would instantly restore sobriety and instill fear and respect in that group of revelers. This tale-whether based on a true incident or merely folklore-adds a touch of whimsy to the history of the beautiful Abbey of Tintern.

Destroying an abbey, creating an icon-

The date 3 September might not be one that is immediately recognisable, at least not to most people, but it is a significant one, both in the history of Wales and in the subsequent development of 19th century tourism.

On 3 September 1536 the great abbey at Tintern on the Welsh bank of the River Wye was dissolved by the commissioners of Henry VIII.
The destruction of the abbey was part of Henry's dissolution of the monasteries following his break from Rome. It was also part of an enormous money-making scheme that brought wealth and land to the monarchy.

Tintern Abbey had been founded by Walter de Clare in May 1131, the first Cistercian establishment in Wales and only the second in the whole of Britain. In the years after its foundation the abbey prospered, benefiting enormously from endowments of land in Gloucestershire and Gwent. The lords of nearby Chepstow were particularly generous benefactors, especially Roger Bigod III.

Bigod was the man who undertook much of the rebuilding of the abbey church in the late 13th century and, while he undoubtedly believed that he would reap his rewards when he entered through the gates of heaven, he was also graced with the earthly benefit of having his coat of arms enshrined in the glass of the eastern window of the church.
Tintern was not a large establishment, at least not when compared to other monastic foundations of the middle ages and there were probably fewer than 400 monks in the monastery at any particular time, all worshipping and carrying out good deeds in the immediate vicinity.
The monks of Tintern, like those throughout Britain, suffered grievously when the Black Death hit the country in 1349. These were the men who tended to the plague victims, with little thought to their own safety, and of course they died in their hundreds.
Tintern's crowning glory is undoubtedly the great church which Bigod built between 1269 and 1301. But there were also cloisters and other buildings grouped around the site. In the f14th and 15th centuries these buildings would have teemed with life, with the call of monks and ancillary staff and the resonant peeling of the church bells.
There had been much debate and opposition to the plans of Henry VIII – in some cases even open rebellion. But on 3 September 1536 Abbot Wyche meekly surrendered the abbey and monastic life at Tintern came to an end. The abbot was lucky, he was pensioned off, but most of the other monks were tossed carelessly onto the scrapheap. They were shown the door and left to make a living as best they could.
Henry quickly pocketed the money that dissolving the monasteries brought, appropriating the abbey lands and selling them on to private ownership. Often these lands were sold for a pittance that must – if it were possible - have left the early benefactors like Roger Bigod turning in their graves.
And the abbey buildings themselves? Following the dissolution, Tintern – along with many similar religious houses across Britain – was allowed to fall into a state of decay. The lead was stripped from the roof of the buildings and soon even the stone was being carried away for building purposes.
Over the next two or three hundred years Tintern Abbey came to resemble the ruins that we see today. It was only in the late 18th century that the place began to find popularity with tourists and visitors.
The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars of the 1790s and early 1800s effectively closed off the continent for British aristocracy intent on enjoying their “grand tour.” They now had to look closer to home for their enjoyment and the Welsh hills were a sudden and obvious draw.
The ruins of Tintern Abbey, imposing and spectacular against the fertile green valley that surrounds it, provided a superb sight for cultured ladies and gentlemen who would pause in their carriage ride to sit and stare and maybe even stroll around the remains for an hour or so.
By the middle years of the 19th century the old abbey was one of the most popular tourist spots on the Welsh border. People journeyed to Tintern to draw and sketch, even to write poems about the place.
The poet William Wordsworth came and wrote his famous "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey" about what he saw and felt. But other poets came, too. Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote Tears, Idle Tears during a visit and even the more modern, beat poet Alan Ginsberg put pen to paper and wrote Wales Visitation after seeing the abbey ruins.
JMW Turner painted Tintern on more than one occasion and the heavy metal rock band Iron Maiden once made a video featuring the ruins.
Tintern Abby is now in the care of Cadw. It remains a magnificent sight, one of the great ruins of Wales, visited by thousands every year. Henry VIII did not know what he was creating when he dissolved the foundation on 3 September 1536.