Tintern Abbey

 

There is a lot more information available for Kingswood's sister abbey than there is for the fully demolished abbey. It even has its own legend!

Twas the very next day, which was also the final day of our long weekend road trip, and following the suggestion of the friendly couple at Kingswood we went off to Wales to view Tintern Abbey for ourselves. First impressions? Mighty. These had to be the grandest and most appealing ruins we had seen since Whitby Abbey.

Tintern can be traced, in part anyway, all the way back to Saxon times, or at least a structure was there then. We know this as Fred Hando had recorded the tradition of Tewdrig where the King of Glywysing retired to a hermitage above the river at Tintern to later come out of retirement to lead his son's army against said Saxons. They were victorious at the battle of Pont-t-Saeson, however the king was killed. This seems like a very Arthurian sort of legend in the sense we don't know if it was true or not, but at any rate it is believed that there was some building of note here at Tintern during the Saxon invasion.

In 1098 at the abbey of Citeaux in France, the Cistercian Order was founded. William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester then introduced the first Cistercian monks to England at Waverley Abbey in 1128 and his cousin, Walter de Clare soon followed suit in 1131 by establishing a second Cistercian house in the country, and by default Wales, by placing them at Tintern. It looks as though Clare built the first version of the abbey for this purpose and the monks housed here came from a daughter house of Citeaux, L'Aumone Abbey. Tintern then went on to sire its own 'daughter houses' although we've been referring to them as sisters, Kingswood Abbey in 1139, and Tintern Parva in southeast Ireland in 1203.

Although some of the 'first' version of the abbey still survives today, it is very little. The abbey has faced several sets of building works over a span of 400 years, enlarging and rebuilding as the site grew. The biggest rebuild took place mostly during the 13th century, starting with the cloisters and domestic sections and ending with the church right up to 1301. Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk who was lord of Chepstow at the time even undertook the rebuilding of the church and threw a lot of money at the site which earned him recognition through the glass depicting his coat of arms in the east window. It is this church which remains today.

King Edward II stayed at Tintern Abbey for two nights in 1326 showing how elevated the site had become. It was in high stead, that was until the plague hit in 1349. Nobody was willing to become a lay brother, they couldn't recruit and therefore nothing was getting done and no money was being earnt. Due to this, they ended up tenanting out the granges during this dark period. Things got worse for Tintern during the turn of the 15th century as they were already short of money, but this got worse when the effects of the Welsh Uprising took place. Owain Glyndwr had risen against the English kings and the Welsh were in full support. Of course it was an English abbey on Welsh land so naturally the Welsh destroyed much of the abbey's property.

Sadly, things only got worse for Tintern, as of course the Big Bully King pushed his Dissolution of the Monasteries and the abbey was surrendered on the 3rd of September 1536. This brought the end of Cistercian living which had been here for 400 years. Any valuables were sent to the Royal Treasury and Abbot Wych who had surrendered the site was pensioned off. The King then gave the building to the lord of Chepstow at the time, Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester. He then sold the led from the roof and let it decline.

After the dissolution the area nearby became industrialised following the set up of the first wireworks in 1568. As the factories grew the abbey's ruins ended up being inhabited by the local workers, not to mention subjected to all the coal pollution being pumped that way adding to the decay of the site. However this didn't deter many visitors who came to sketch and paint what had become a romantic ruin. In fact, the ruins became a very popular muse for some very famous artists! By the mid 18th century the Wye Valley had become well known for its picturesque landscapes and the abbey had become quite the popular site for general tourism. 

In 1901 the Crown bought Tintern from the Duke of Beaufort and acknowledged it as a monument of national importance. Minor repairs had been made due to the tourism aspect but this new era had inspired an archaeological investigation on the site and proper maintenance then took place. 13 years later the ruins were passed to the Office of Works who made the structural repairs and then in 1984 Cadw took over. The site became Grade I listed only in 2000!

It took us ages to get through this site as we wanted to take every single little thing in. It truly is a stunning site, what with its blackened stone and beautifully gothic-esque architecture. We visited on a rainy December day and honestly that just made it, having everything seem foggy and damp and spooky, urgh it was amazing. The site is also home to some bees and the produce their own honey! The bees aren't too far from the ruins, well within the grounds, and are closer to the domestic housing than the church, but not too far from some of the graves scattered in the grounds.

We would jump back to Tintern in a heart beat, but we can't imagine travelling via train or boat like people had to when the road wasn't worthy! It is truly a stunning site and we ended our trip here at the cafe opposite and had our first proper Welsh- Welsh Rarebit! What better way is there to round off a trip to a stunning abbey?