While Tintern Abbey had already suffered the consequences of the Black Death in the 1300s, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, enacted by King Henry VIII in the 1500s in an effort to control the church completely, effectively ended the the monastery at Tintern Abbey. On September 3, 1536, Abbot Wyche surrendered the abbey. After this event, Tintern was left to fall into ruin without the monks there to keep it up. 

Left alone to rot, it wasn't until the 18th century that the abbey became popular as a tourist sight. It was considered a cultured outing for gentleman and ladies at the time, given its beautiful surrounding country and aesthetic ruined state. Artists came to sketch the ruins, while poets came to be inspired. This is the case of "A Few Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth - perhaps the most popular but definitely not the only poet to see the abbey.