Tintern Abbey excavation suggests poor people were later buried alongside lords

A five-year conservation project has been launched at Tintern Abbey in south-east Wales to protect the soft medieval stonework. Photograph: Welsh government

In the heyday of the wonderful church, it was used as the final resting place for the rich and powerful: high-ranking clergy, wealthy landowners, lords who guarded the borderlands.

But excavation work carried out at Tintern Abbey has found that after the gothic masterpiece fell into ruin following the dissolution of the monasteries, ordinary local people took advantage of the chance to bury their dead within the sacred – and beautiful – grounds.