Exploring St. Mary’s Church- a Ruin at Tintern in Wales

St. Mary’s Church at Tintern

A few hundred metres from Tintern Abbey sits St. Mary’s Church, a religious ruin in an idyllic spot.

The building is enchanting and the location offers some spectacular views of the Abbey and valley below. Its quite a steep walk up to the church but it is well worth a visit.

Script line 1. Standing on a hill overlooking Tintern Abbey is St Mary’s Church. Little is known of this burnt out husk of a building, but it is thought that it is 14th to 15th century in origin due to the medieval materials that can be found in the eastern end.
Script line 2. It was almost completely rebuilt in 1866 by John Prichard, a welsh architect whose work largely consisted of restoration commissions, such as Llandaff Cathedral. It’s because of his work that the church received a Grade II listing status despite the fire, which completely gutted it, because the church is of architectural interest. The church fell out of use in 1972, and some of its contents were sold to clearwell castle. CU of the reckage ruin, Ivy and wildlife (if any found)
Script line 3. Made of random limestone rubble with Bath stone quoins and dressings, it’s a nave and chancel are still standing. Only the tower is still roofed with stones slates, but it still has its
Script line 4. The church is now privatly owned, although the graveyard is still owned by the church.
Script line 5. The churchyard also contains several interesting early 19th century grade II listed monuments.
Script line 6. This Neo classical Tomb with Pyramid has been dated to around the 18th or 19th century.
Script line 7. And finally the Tomb of JS Smith, who died in 1841, is listed as a fine and rare example of an early 19th century neo classical tomb.