Tintern Abbey - III

In our last installment on the Abbey, we say goodby to the interior spaces and head back outside.

It is and was an imposing building. Certainly, there were many people here at the peak times so it was built to anticipate the growth of the church. But it was also a bastion to represent God and the Church to the world around it and here also, size matters.

But we know that it was not always thus.

In the reign of Henry VIII, the Dissolution of the Monasteries ended monastic life in England, Wales and Ireland. On 3 September 1536, Abbot Wych surrendered Tintern Abbey and all its estates to the King's visitors and ended a way of life that had lasted 400 years. Valuables from the Abbey were sent to the royal Treasury and Abbot Wych was pensioned off. The building was granted to the then lord of Chepstow, Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester. Lead from the roof was sold and the decay of the buildings began.

Surprisingly, the appearance of the stone walls is hardly different from that of a currently functioning church. This is what the British weather does to stone.

Against the gradually clearing sky, the buttresses and wall stand as a reminder of ages pasts and times when the world was indeed a very different place.

And so I leave you with this panorama of the Abbey. It is always good to get a sense of scale and perspective. Visiting here does a good job of doing this for the mind and body.