Tintern Abbey Stock Photography

Tintern Abbey (Welsh: Abaty Tyndyrn) was founded by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, on 9 May, 1131. Situated on the Welsh bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire - which forms the border between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England - it was only the second Cistercian foundation in Britain, and the first in Wales. It is one of the most spectacular ruins in the country and inspired the William Wordsworth poem Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Tears, Idle Tears, more than one painting by J. M. W. Turner and a band to name themselves Tintern Abbey. The village of Tintern adjoins the abbey ruins.