Tintern Abbey - II

 

From Wikipedia,

Among subsequent visitors was Francis Grose, who included the Abbey in his Antiquities of England and Wales, begun in 1772 and supplemented with more illustrations from 1783. In his description he noted how the ruins were being tidied for the benefit of tourists: "The fragments of its once sculptured roof, and other remains of its fallen decorations, are piled up with more regularity than taste on each side of the grand aisle." ..... Grose further complained that the site was too well tended and lacked "that gloomy solemnity so essential to religious ruins".^[33]

We, among the current flood of modern-day tourists, find the "tidying-up" to be just right.

There is air of seriousness about a well-maintained place. Many years ago (1988) we visited the first Cistercian Abbey in Rievaulx (in York). It was likewise carpeted with green grass, open to the sky, and quite tidy. It is this memory that I bring to this place. not the tumble down look of the 18th century, rather the well-maintained look of the 21st.

The space was built large and unbroken on purpose. The monks would divide it into smaller spaces fit for purpose using curtains moved to suit.

With the green inside and out, there is a strong sense of continuity of this building and nature. You never really feel 'inside' anything. Only in nature and among the works of men. I'm quite sure this was different when it had windows, walls, and ceiling.

We mere mortals are not allowed on the grass inside, so we confine our interior views to the stone and gravel edges where our foot traffic will do no harm. Yet still, we are afforded many sights of the Gothic arches and remnants of the great windows.

You would think that after nearly a thousand years, there would be views through the windows of modern things...car parks, paved roads, apartment blocks, etc. But here, in the Wye valley time moves slowly. Yes, those things are here, just not within easy sight distance of these windows. That is part of the magic of visiting this place.