Major conservation works underway at historic Tintern Abbey

Tintern Abbey is one of Cadw’s finest monuments with its ancient ruins standing on the banks of the River Wye. Cadw’s specialist masons have worked on the Abbey for the last forty years to conserve it for future generations to enjoy. There have been many campaigns to address the deterioration of the stone due to hotter summers and wetter winters, as well as original stones being put in the wrong way.

With the completion of scaffolding, conservation work at Tintern Abbey has started and includes brushing off loose and flaking stonework to expose sound underlying surfaces.

Loose mortar will be removed from the joints and vegetation carefully picked out so as not to leave any roots. Fragile stones will be consolidated using a weak, lime-rich mortar before they are pinned together and then back to the surrounding masonry. The old copper straps – originally designed to hold stones in place – have decayed so will be removed once the new pins are in place. The masons wrap the completed work in wetted hessian to try and control the drying out of the new mortar.

Cadw appointed Ferrier Hart Thomas and David Odgers Conservation to survey, provide design information and specify in detail the works stonemasons need to carry out. The extensive survey took almost a year to complete and included archaeological investigation of the floors within the church and directly outside its walls.

The works are being carried out by Grosvenor Construction Ltd, a specialist conservation contractor from north Wales who have recently completed the exciting redevelopment project at Kings Gate, Caernarfon Castle.

Gwilym Hughes, Head of Cadw, said:

“For nearly 900 years the abbey has been welcoming worshippers, wealthy patrons and visitors to this tranquil location, and once again it requires some attention.

“It’s fantastic to see this work beginning so generations to come can enjoy this iconic historic site.”

This is the first of five phases of conservation works. You can follow its progress through the Tintern Abbey conservation timeline and on social media.