Major Conservation Project at Tintern Abbey
(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 09, 2001 ) Cardiff, Wales
A team of expert stone masons has begun work on a major conservation programme at one of Britain’s best known monastic sites, Tintern Abbey in the Wye Valley.
As part of the project, the south aisle of the abbey nave is to undergo intensive consolidation work, with masons repairing and restoring stonework, and, where necessary, replacing damaged and eroded masonry with new stone.
Restoration work will also focus on the nave’s twelve arched windows, with masons carefully conserving the range of carved details and moulding profiles that act as ‘signatures’ of the original masons involved in the construction of the abbey.
Founded by Cistercian monks in the twelfth-century, Tintern was the first abbey of the order to be built in Wales, and was the first great medieval monument in the UK to be brought into state care, almost a hundred years ago.
The site is now the responsibility of Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments, the National Assembly agency responsible for Wales’s built heritage, and masons working at Tintern are members of Cadw’s works branch, Cadwraeth Cymru.
Special barriers are to be erected enabling members of the public to observe the work safely, while the project will take two years to complete. The new work is designed to have a minimum life of 75 years.
Rick Turner, inspector of ancient monuments at Cadw, says, “Tintern Abbey is a magnificent Gothic complex. Its cathedral-style church – which was built in the emerging Decorated style gives us the best idea of what the original St Paul’s Cathedral would have looked like before it was destroyed by fire.
“In later times Tintern Abbey provided a key focus in a landscape of great importance in the Pictureseque movement, and was a popular inspiration for artists such as J M W Turner and poets like William Wordsworth. The abbey lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and within the Lower Wye Valley, an area included in Cadw’s Register of Landscapes of Outstanding Historic Interest in Wales.
“The work being undertaken at Tintern forms the first phase of an ongoing programme of restoration, necessary to maintain and conserve such an important ancient monument for the enjoyment and education of visitors for generations to come.”
Alan Cornish is heading the team of stonemasons at Tintern. He adds, “Where feasible, we will retain as much of the original fabric of the abbey as possible, re-using the original Devonian sandstone used to build the complex, which was quarried locally.
“As it is impractical to re-open any of the original quarries as a source of replacement stonework, we have had to source stone from a number of quarries throughout the UK in order to match the original as closely as possible. We will also be using traditional lime mortars.”
Ends
Editor’s notes:
The lay brothers, the ‘conversi’, would have worshipped in the nave. Although generally illiterate men, they took religious vows and wore the habit.
Tintern was disbanded in the 1530s as a result of Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.
For further information contact:
Hannah Thomas, Cadw Information Officer
44 29 2082 6178
A team of expert stone masons has begun work on a major conservation programme at one of Britain’s best known monastic sites, Tintern Abbey in the Wye Valley.
As part of the project, the south aisle of the abbey nave is to undergo intensive consolidation work, with masons repairing and restoring stonework, and, where necessary, replacing damaged and eroded masonry with new stone.
Restoration work will also focus on the nave’s twelve arched windows, with masons carefully conserving the range of carved details and moulding profiles that act as ‘signatures’ of the original masons involved in the construction of the abbey.
Founded by Cistercian monks in the twelfth-century, Tintern was the first abbey of the order to be built in Wales, and was the first great medieval monument in the UK to be brought into state care, almost a hundred years ago.
The site is now the responsibility of Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments, the National Assembly agency responsible for Wales’s built heritage, and masons working at Tintern are members of Cadw’s works branch, Cadwraeth Cymru.
Special barriers are to be erected enabling members of the public to observe the work safely, while the project will take two years to complete. The new work is designed to have a minimum life of 75 years.
Rick Turner, inspector of ancient monuments at Cadw, says, “Tintern Abbey is a magnificent Gothic complex. Its cathedral-style church – which was built in the emerging Decorated style gives us the best idea of what the original St Paul’s Cathedral would have looked like before it was destroyed by fire.
“In later times Tintern Abbey provided a key focus in a landscape of great importance in the Pictureseque movement, and was a popular inspiration for artists such as J M W Turner and poets like William Wordsworth. The abbey lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and within the Lower Wye Valley, an area included in Cadw’s Register of Landscapes of Outstanding Historic Interest in Wales.
“The work being undertaken at Tintern forms the first phase of an ongoing programme of restoration, necessary to maintain and conserve such an important ancient monument for the enjoyment and education of visitors for generations to come.”
Alan Cornish is heading the team of stonemasons at Tintern. He adds, “Where feasible, we will retain as much of the original fabric of the abbey as possible, re-using the original Devonian sandstone used to build the complex, which was quarried locally.
“As it is impractical to re-open any of the original quarries as a source of replacement stonework, we have had to source stone from a number of quarries throughout the UK in order to match the original as closely as possible. We will also be using traditional lime mortars.”
Ends
Editor’s notes:
The lay brothers, the ‘conversi’, would have worshipped in the nave. Although generally illiterate men, they took religious vows and wore the habit.
Tintern was disbanded in the 1530s as a result of Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.
For further information contact:
Hannah Thomas, Cadw Information Officer
44 29 2082 6178
Contact Information:
Cadw - Welsh Historic Monuments
cambrensis communications
Tel:
Email us
This is a press release. Press release distribution and press release services by EmailWire.Com: http://www.emailwire.com/us-press-release-distribution.php.
Cadw - Welsh Historic Monuments
cambrensis communications
Tel:
Email us
This is a press release. Press release distribution and press release services by EmailWire.Com: http://www.emailwire.com/us-press-release-distribution.php.
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