Tintern Abbey

Tintern Abbey, perhaps the most beautiful ruin in England, on the right bank of the Wye, in Monmouthshire, about 5 miles above Chepstow. The abbey was founded in 1131 for Cistercian monks, but the church, the finest part of the ruins, dates from the end of the following century. The length of the building is 228 feet; the style of architecture a transition from Early English to Decorated; the window-tracery is especially fine. But the greatest glory of Tintern Abbey is that its name is associated with Wordsworth's noblest poem, Lines composed a few Miles above Tintern Abbey—though, as every reader knows, the abbey itself is not mentioned in it. See works by C. Heath (1793), G. Cooper (1807), and W. H. Thomas (2d ed. 1845).