Tintern Abbey

Here sinking spaces with dark boughs o'ergrown,

And there the naked quarries look a town,

At length our pilgrimages home appears,

Tintern her venerable fabric rears,

While the sun, mildly glancing in decline,

With its last gilding beautifies the shrine:

(A voyage to Tintern Abbey. Rev Dr Syned Davies. 1789)

A more pleasing retreat could not easily be found. The woods and glades intermixed: the variety of the ground; the splendid ruin, contrasted with the objects of nature; and elegant the line formed by the summits of the hills, which included the whole; making all together a very inchanting piece of scenery.

(William Gilpin 1782)