Yesterday my dear wife Jane and I visited Tintern Abbey, one of the first Cistercian monasteries ever established in Britain. Today, it is known as one of the Great Monastic Ruins of Wales. It is situated not far from the A466 and the A 48, south west of the Forest of Dean; frankly, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen within the United Kingdom (with the possible exception of the Highlands of Scotland). It takes about 45 minutes to get there from our house in Drybrook, Gloucestershunt.
It was a gloriously sunny day yesterday, and I had promised my wife that we would go somewhere local, which would mean that the journey was short and therefore not too painful for my medical condition. I drove, which is painful for my leg but better than the pain of going over an unexpected bump in the road - at least I have some control knowing when the bumps are about to hit.
Anyway, back to the Abbey. According to Wikipedia, the Abbey was founded on 9 May 1131, by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow. It is the inspiration of poetry by scribes as diverse as William Wordsworth, Alfred 'Lord' Tennyson, and Allen Ginsberg. It is only the second Cistercian foundation in Great Britain, and the first in Wales, the first British one being from Waverley, Surrey, in 1128. It is an extraordinarily beautiful place, but not a great deal of the original buildings remain. Most of what we see today dates from the 14th Century, including the magnificent Abbey building that is the centrepiece of the present-day site. Unfortunately Tintern, as did every other monastery in Great Britain, fell victim to Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, which began in 1536, in which all the monasteries were disbanded, their buildings and assets sold off, and an eventual whopping total of (in 2012 financial terms) almost £500 million was raised for government (and therefore the King's private) funds.
Nevertheless, Henry VIII could not destroy the building itself, which, although left to ruin, has lost none of its magnificent power. The Cistertians could not have chosen a better site. The surrounding forestry is beautiful, and the subsequent village is also a beautiful one. The River Severn flows nearby, and Jane spent a wonderful 20 minutes or so sat on a wall just enjoying the sound of the river flowing behind her. Next, we went for a tour of the building. Oh, and the car park machines were not working (I suspect these machines date from a later period than the Cistercians), so we got free parking, and through my disability got free entry as well. So all in all it cost us - nowt!
Upon entering the site, the first areas you pass through are the more 'domestic' ones. These include the kitchens, the servery and the 'latrines.' Few of the walls remain, but there is a lovely serving hatch still there which gives a vivid reminder that real people once lived here. It is a favourite habit of mine, when going through historic sites of any kind, to imagine myself with those whose habitation this once was. Actually being there at the time that the site was active, so to speak. And it is usually little things like serving hatches that help to bring places like Tintern to life. What was once the kitchen is now nothing more than a cement floor, all but the wall with the serving hatch are now gone. Other non-religious parts of the Abbey include the monks' Dayroom, which still shows the bases of four stone pillars that apparently once supported a vault.
To the church itself. Well, as a non-religious person, I can only say that it is one of the most beautiful ruined churches that I have ever seen. Jane was concerned for the health and safety of those who had built it, given that the roof of the church would have been so high (there is nothing of the original church roof left). What is amazing is that a building such as this was ever left to ruin. Many of the building's original window frames are still in place, but not the glass.
