The iron forge at Tintern, Monmouthshire

Following the writings of Rev William Gilpin, Hearne journeyed down the River Wye in the company of his patron Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827) in 1794. Gilpin in his Observations on the River Wye, 1792 wrote of the iron works around Tintern Abbey `….Within half a mile of it are carried on great iron works, which introduce noise and bustle into these regions of tranquillity’. Hearne, a sensitive antiquarian, harmonized these rustic industrial elements by tempering his finished drawing with some picturesque elements. In the present drawing Hearne has added trees around the forge and a distant view of the woodland to the right, which do not appear in his original sketch (National Library of Wales, see Thomas Hearne 1744-1817 watercolours and drawings, exhibition catalogue, 1985, p. 90, no. 78).