Tintern Abbey is a ruined Cistercian abbey on the Welsh bank of the River Wye. Walter de Clare founded it on May 9, 1131, the first Cistercian foundation in Wales. The article names no architect. Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk, funded the rebuilding of the church from 1269 to 1301, and the first mass in the rebuilt presbytery was recorded in 1288. The church was consecrated in 1301.
The article calls the church Decorated Gothic. It has a cruciform plan, an aisled nave of six bays and a great east window originally of eight lights. It is built of Old Red Sandstone and is 228 feet long.
After the Dissolution in 1536, the lead was sold and decay set in. A wireworks opened in 1568. The Crown bought the abbey in 1901 for £15,000, and major repairs began in 1914. Cadw has managed it since 1984, and about 70,000 people visit each year.
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