Llanthony Abbey by Thomas Hearne engr. 1806

Description

This view also by Thomas Hearne was published in 1806. The dedication reads " To The Right Honourable Charlotte Viscountess St Asaph . This View of Llanthony Abbey is inscribed by her ladyships most obedient servants Thos Hearne and John Byrne"
Notice the substantial building beside the Abbey. This was built by Joseph Wood as a shooting lodge. However at the beginning of the 19th century Walter Savage Landor famous for his "Imaginary Conversations" and his libellous attacks had become bewitched by the valley
In 1807 he bought the Llanthony Abbey Estate from Major Wood with the intention of creating a utopian estate, including the planting of a million cedars of Lebanon, introducing sheep from Segovia and creating pioneering agricultural community. He applied to the Bishop for permission to repair part of the abbey so services could be held within the walls. He received no answer. In reply to a second appeal he was told that he would need an act of Parliament to rebuild the Abbey.
But his plans did not go well. Landor was both a man of great charm and great irascibility. He fell out with nearly everyone in the neighbourhood. He proposed himself for the role of local magistrate but was rejected by the Duke of Beaufort who suspected his political leanings. During course of local dispute he attacked and beat opposing council and was charged with assault. His relations with the people of the valley deteriorated. Colvin writing his biography reports that his sheep were stolen his walls pulled down. He then fell in to a tangle of litigation with his major tenant.
Finally Landor had to flee abroad to escape both his debtors and the court of action against him. In Foster's biography of Landor he writes;
Of the million of trees that were to have enriched the estate, but a small tithe are visible in the plantations now. The bridge built over the Hondy that crosses the river was swept away by floods. The praiseworthy design of restoring the magnificent centre nave, for which many Saxon and Norman stones were taken down and numbered, added only fresh fragments to the ruin.