Standing on the Welsh bank of the River Wye between Monmouth and Chepstow, with steep wooded slopes rising up on either side, the setting of Tintern Abbey is almost too perfect to be true. Much of the central church remains intact, surrounded by the less complete ruins of the ancilliary buildings. This Cistercian abbey, founded by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, in 1131, received generous endowments and prospered until dissolution in 1536.