Tintern Abbey

Executive summary by darmansjah

Tintern Abbey was founded by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, on 9 May 1131. It is situated in the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye which forms the border between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England. It was only the second Cistercian foundation in Britain, and the first in Wales. It inspired William Wordsworth's poem "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey", Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Tears, Idle Tears", Allen Ginsberg's "Wales Visitation", and more than one painting by J. M. W. Turner. The village of Tintern adjoins the abbey ruins which are Grade I listed as of 29 September 2000.

The Ruins

In the next two centuries little or no interest was shown in the history of the site. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the ruins were inhabited by workers in the local wire works. However, in the mid eighteenth century it became fashionable to visit "wilder" parts of the country. The Wye Valley in particular was well known for its romantic and picturesque qualities and the ivy clad Abbey was frequented by "romantic" tourists. After the publication of the book Observations on the River Wye by the Reverend William Gilpin in 1782, tourists visited the site in droves. The importance of the abbey and its surroundings for later visitors is also reflected in Wordsworth's famous poem cited above, written in 1798. The site was best approached from the river until 1822, when a new turnpike road, now the A466, was opened through the valley, cutting through the abbey precinct. An engraving of Tintern Abbey was among the decorations of Fanny Price's sitting room in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

In the 19th century ruined abbeys became the focus for scholars, and architectural and archaeological investigations were undertaken. In 1901 the Abbey was bought by the crown from the Duke of Beaufort for £15,000. It was recognised as a monument of national importance and repair and maintenance works began to be carried out. In 1914 the Office of Works was passed responsibility for Tintern, and major structural repairs and partial reconstructions were undertaken — the ivy considered so romantic by the early tourists was removed.

American poet Allen Ginsberg took an acid trip at Tintern Abbey on July 28 1967, and wrote his poem Wales Visitation. In the poem, about nature, he wrote: "...the lambs on the tree-nooked hillside this day bleating/ heard in Blake's old ear, & the silent thought of Wordsworth in eld Stillness/ clouds passing through skeleton arches of Tintern Abbey-/ Bard Nameless as the Vast, babble to Vastness!"