Tintern Abbey, County Wexford

Tintern Abbey was a Cistercian abbey located on the Hook Peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland.

Tintern Abbey
Mainistir Thinteirn
Southern face
Tintern Abbey, County Wexford is located in Ireland
Tintern Abbey, County Wexford
Location within Ireland
Monastery information
Other namesTintern de Voto
OrderCistercians
Establishedc.1200[1]
Disestablished25 July 1539
Mother houseTintern Abbey, Monmouthshire
DioceseFerns
People
Founder(s)William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Architecture
Functional statusAbandoned
StyleCistercian
Site
LocationHook Peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland
Coordinates52°14′13″N 6°50′17″W / 52.237°N 6.838°W / 52.237; -6.838
Public accessyes
Official nameTintern Abbey
Reference no.506 & 614[2]

The Abbey – which is today in ruins, some of which have been restored – was founded in c.1200 by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, as the result of a vow he had made when his boat was caught in a storm nearby.[1] While the specific date of foundation is unconfirmed in some sources, in a 1917 analysis for the Royal Irish Academy, church historian J. H. Bernard suggests a foundation date of 3 December 1200.[3]

Once established, the abbey was colonised by monks from the Cistercian abbey at Tintern in Monmouthshire, Wales, of which Marshal was also patron. To distinguish the two, the mother house in Wales was sometimes known as "Tintern Major" and the abbey in Ireland as "Tintern de Voto" (Tintern of the vow).[4][5]

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the abbey and its grounds were granted firstly to Sir James Croft, and then in 1575 to Anthony Colclough of Staffordshire, a soldier of Henry VIII. His descendants became the Colclough Baronets. The final member of the Colclough family to reside at Tintern was Lucey Marie Biddulph Colclough and, after she left in 1959, the Irish state started conservation and consolidation works on the site.[6]

Between 1982 and 2007, the National Monuments service of the Office of Public Works undertook a number of excavation and heritage development efforts at the abbey,[7][4] including special conservation measures for local bat colonies.[8] Additional works were undertaken after a fire in the site's visitor centre in 2012, which damaged part of the 19th century outbuildings on the abbey's grounds.[9][4]

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Churches, Abbeys and Monasteries - Tintern Abbey". discoverireland.ie. Fáilte Ireland. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  2. ^ "National monuments - Wexford" (PDF). National Monuments in State Care: Ownership & Guardianship. National Monuments Service. 4 March 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  3. ^ Bernard, J.H. (March 1917). "Foundation of Tintern Abbey (Co. Wexford)". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. XXXIII (17). Hodges, Figgis & Co. Ltd (Dublin): 528.
  4. ^ a b c "Tintern Cistercian Abbey". Monastic Ireland. The Discovery Programme. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  5. ^ The 'vow' in question being Marshal's vow (to build the abbey if he survived the storm)
  6. ^ "Tintern Abbey". wexfordweb.com. Wexford Web. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  7. ^ "Abbey loses one set of visitors and gets ready for another". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. 11 February 1998. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Abbey permits special access for bats". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. 14 July 1999. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Fire at Tintern 'may have been arson'". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
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