Historic environment and heritage management projects, resources, commentary and analysis by Professors Ian Baxter (Heriot-Watt University) & David Gill (Kent/UEA)
The Cistercian abbey at Tintern on the river Wye (in south-east Wales) was founded on 9 May 1131. This was shortly after the foundation of Waverley Abbey in Surrey (1128).
The abbey had been placed in the care of the Office of Works just before the First World War, and the first guidebook was prepared by Harold Brakspear in 1919, and revised in 1929 and 1934. This was replaced in 1956 by a guide written by O.E. Craster. A more informal guidebook appeared in 1960 with a second edition in 1964. This contained a ‘tour’ of the abbey as opposed to the description in the formal guidebook.