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Tours > Wales > Tintern Abbey
Tintern Abbey
 Among the most photographed ruins in Britain, those of Tintern Abbey nestle snugly on the banks of the Wye below those wooded hills made famous by poet William Wordsworth. Originally built by the Cistercians in 1131, Tintern is the most complete of the ruined abbeys of Wales. Much of it was rebuilt in the 13th to 15th century at which latter time it was the largest and wealthiest monastic foundation in the principality.
After 400 prosperous years at Tintern, the Cistercians left the Abbey at its dissolution in 1536 at which time all articles of value were catalogued, weighed, and sent to King Henry VIII's treasury. The ruins decayed in magnificent obscurity until 1782, when the publication of the Reverend William Gilpin's Observations on the River Wye began the trickle of visitors to Tintern that became a flood after the paintings of William Turner and the writings of William Wordsworth had made the ruined Abbey known throughout Britain.
 Today's visitors come to admire the great decorated church and the exquisite tracery of its windows. Little known is that William Herbert, the first Welshman to have addressed the House of Commons, wanted to establish a college in the Abbey in the 1590's shortly after the Dissolution. The area was also the site of a wire works that lasted from its founding in 1566 right up to 1900.
As you enter Wales over the Severn Bridge, Tintern is reached on the A466 via Chepstow. From Hereford, take the A49 south to A40 at Monmouth and then A466 south.
Next Stop: Chepstow Castle
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