County: Wexford Site name: TINTERN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: A. Lynch, OPW
Site type: Religious house - Cistercian monks
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 679433m, N 610053m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.236479, -6.837032
The results of major excavations, carried out in advance of conservation works, can be summarised as follows:-
1) Traces of the original 13th-century buildings were uncovered. A large stone-built drain skirting the south wall of the reredorter was constructed in the mid t3th century but by the early 14th century demolition rubble from the reredorter had been used to backfill it. Foundations of an earlier structure underlay the south transept chapels and these may also be assigned to the 13th century.
2) The bulk of the standing remains at Tintern belong to the 14th century. It is argued on the basis of the excavation results, that a north aisle and north transept may never have been built. A short section of the east cloister-arcade wall was exposed and two phases of building were evident.
3) The nave, chancel and south transept of the abbey church were used as burial grounds in the 16th century, particularly in the period after the dissolution of the abbey in 1536 and before the abbey and its lands were granted to Sir Anthony Colelough in 1576.
4) The Colelough family resided at Tintern until 1963 and converted the crossing tower, chancel and nave into domestic quarters at various stages. These renovations in addition to the extensive burials meant that few medieval features had survived within the church.
