More than one great artist has immortalized the secluded vale, where, on a
bend of the Wye and surrounded by wooded hills, the ruins of Tintern Abbey
stand. The somber-looking heights, which close in to the east and west,
create the atmosphere of loneliness and separation from the world so
sought after by the Cistercian monks, who doubtless found inspiration in
the grandeur of the surrounding mountains and in the peacefulness of the
sweet valley below. Tho the church of the Early English abbey is roofless
and the central tower gone, the noble structure, with its many graceful
arches, seems to attest to the spirit of religious fervor and devotion so
intimately associated with the history of its gray and lichen-covered
walls.
The finest part of the ruins is undoubtedly the church, which, with the
exception of the roof and the north piers of the nave, still stands
complete. It has a nave of six bays with aisles, a choir of four bays with
aisles, the transepts with eastern aisles having two chapels. A transverse
Galilee stood formerly beyond the western entrance. In the north transept
are remains of the dormitory stairs, and on this side the cloisters, too,
were situated. The aumbry, parlor, sacristy, chapterhouse, slype to the
infirmary, day-stairs to dormitory and undercroft were on the east side of
the cloisters; the postern and river gate, over which was the abbot's
lodge on the north side, and also the buttery, refectory, and kitchen. The
delicacy of design and execution to be seen in the ruins is unrivaled in
the kingdom--the tracery of the windows being particularly fine. The
ruined church possesses the grace and lightness of architecture peculiar
to the twelfth century, and is, even in its decay, of truly sublime and
grand proportions. Time has been unable to obliterate the skilful work of
our forefathers, for the Early English transition arches, the delicate
molding, and the exquisite stone tracery in the windows still delight the
eye. The history of Tintern is almost a hidden page in the chronicles of
time. On the surrender of Raglan Castle to the Cromwellian troops by the
Marquis of Worcester, the castle was razed to the ground, and with it were
lost the abbey records, which had been taken from Tintern when the abbey
was granted to the Marquis's ancestor by Henry VIII. It is known, however,
that the first foundation on the site was in the hands of a cousin of
William the Conqueror, Richard Bienfaite by name. He founded the abbey in
1131, and was succeeded by his nephew, Gilbert "Strongbow." His
granddaughter Isabel married the then Earl of Pembroke, and her daughter,
marrying Hugh Bigod, brought the estates to the ducal house of Norfolk.