Tintern Abbey to the Devil's Pulpit

Peter Salenieks

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Whilst Tintern is best known for its abbey, there is evidence of earlier settlements dating back to the Bronze Age. The name 'Tintern' is derived from Dyn Teryn (or King's Fort). It is where King Tewdrig chose to live as a hermit in the 6th Century, before defeating the Saxons in his final battle at nearby Pont y Saeson. The abbey was built on the ruins of Tewdrig's hermitage in 1131 and became the first Cistercian Abbey in Wales. It was rebuilt between 1270 and 1301 to reflect the growing wealth and power of the Cistercian order and it continued to prosper until 1536, when King Henry VIII dissolved the abbey.

The opening of the Wye Valley Railway in the 1870s hastened the growth of Tintern and the Wye Valley as tourist attractions, prompting some restoration of the abbey ruins. Poets and artists, including Wordsworth and Turner, visited them. William Wordsworth first visited Tintern in 1793 and returned five years later, when he wrote the poem Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, saying that "no poem of mine was composed under circumstances more pleasant for me to remember than this".

This linear walk starts at Tintern Abbey and follows the western bank of the River Wye towards Tintern, where gifts, refreshments and accommodation are available. After crossing the river, wooded paths lead uphill to Offa's Dyke Path, which is followed to the Devil's Pulpit. This is a small limestone rock that juts from the cliffs. It looks down over Tintern Abbey from the hills beside Offa's Dyke on the eastern side of the River Wye. Local legend has it that the devil stood upon the Devil's Pulpit to preach to the monks below, tempting them to desert their order.

Wales - South Wales - Monmouthshire - Wye Valley