The ruin that inspired many a Romantic poet spent most of its history as a holy place until the reign of King Henry VIII. Walter fitzRichard de Clare, the Norman Lord of Chepstow, donated the land to the Cistercian order in the year 1131. Monks from the order moved to the area from L’Aumone in north-central France shortly thereafter. The first buildings at Tintern Abbey were built starting around five years later in 1136. The community of monks, numbering around twenty monks and another fifty lay-brothers, had quite the beneficial effect on Chepstow thanks to the Cistercian farms.

The original stone church constructed by the monks was a simple building, much different from the ruins for which it is now known. Around 1220, the cloisters and domestic ranges were improved upon and rebuilding continued until the new presbytery was completed in 1301 with its consecration. By that point, Roger Bigod, the Fifth Earl of Norfolk, had become the Abbey’s primary benefactor, and the monks put his coat of arms on the glass of the east window in gratitude to his work rebuilding the church.

The new Gothic church had a cruciform design with an aisled naïve, two chapels in each transept, and a square-ended aisled chancel. Cistercian rules and liturgy determined that various parts of the church’s interior were separated, with the aisles walled off and three cross-walls splitting the building into two sections—the nave for the lay brothers, and the choir and presbytery for the monks. Much of these divides have since been removed or worn away over the years. Additional buildings constructed during this time included the guest house, chapter house, the gate leading towards the ferry, library, infirmary, refectory, and the gatehouse chapel, the last of which has since been converted into a home.

After the completion of the new church building, life changed dramatically at Tintern Abbey over the next 200 years. With the coming of the Black Death to the United Kingdom in 1348, the number of new recruits to the lay brothers dropped significantly and with fewer people to work the land, outlying parts of the Abbey were leased and the Cistercian ideals were followed less stringently. Owain Glyndwr’s Welsh Uprising of 1400-1415 also affected Tintern Abbey as rebels destroyed various parts of the grounds, further hurting the monks’ ability to provide for themselves.

The death knell for Tintern came in the 16th Century after Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church after Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry then proclaimed himself head of the Church of England, conducted an inventory of all the Catholic Church’s holdings in his kingdom, and then used a fairly thin excuse to confiscate all of the property in what became known as the “Dissolution of the Monasteries”. Tintern Abbey was dissolved in 1537 and its lands granted to the then Lord of Chepstow, Henry Somserset, 2nd Earl of Worcester. Somerset sold the Abbey’s tin roof and further leased out many parts of its lands, allowing the church and surrounding buildings to fall into ruin.

By the 17th Century, the Wye Valley had become a travel destination for many due to its natural beauty, and this ultimately attracted many artists and writers from the Romantic period. Edward Dayes, JMW Turner, Samuel Palmer, and William Havell all used the Abbey as a source of inspiration for their paintings. William Wordsworth’s “Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey” is often tied to the site due to the title, but Wordsworth doesn’t actually mention the building in his work. Tennyson’s “Tears, Idle Tears” was also inspired by his visit there, though it also does not receive an express reference in the poem. Poems by Edward Jerningham and Edmund Garner use the Abbey as a symbol for time and mortality.

By the 19th Century, the Tintern Abbey’s ruins were a major tourist spot and it started to create problems as many visitors would take pieces home with them as souvenirs. The problem prompted the Crown to purchase the property in 1901 for its preservation. The restoration began that same year and continued through 1928, helping to fix any structural issues, which included removing the ivy that had attracted so many of the Romantics and visitors. Cadw took over the site in 1984 and in 2000, it became a Grade I listed site. While restoration is ongoing, visitors can still travel to Tintern Abbey today and enjoy the beauty of this once and still great ruin.