Monmouthshire
- Eleanor Conlon
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Where is Monmouthshire?
In our episode about the historic Welsh county of Monmouthshire, we talked about lots of interesting places and things, so here are some links and pictures if you're interested in finding out more!
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( c. 1095 – c. 1155) was a Christian cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the popularity of tales of King Arthur.
He is best known for his chronicle The History of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae)which was widely popular in its day, being translated into other languages from its original Latin. It was given historical credence well into the 16th century, but is now considered historically unreliable.
Tintern Abbey
Tintern Abbey is a national icon — still standing in roofless splendour on the banks of the River Wye nearly 500 years since its tragic fall from grace.
It was founded in 1131 by Cistercian monks, who were happy to make do with timber buildings at first. Abbot Henry, a reformed robber, was better known for his habit of crying at the altar than for his architectural ambitions.
A simple stone church and cloisters came later. But then, thanks to the patronage of wealthy Marcher lords, the white-robed monks began to think bigger.
In 1269 they began to build a new abbey church and didn’t stop until they’d created one of the masterpieces of British Gothic architecture. The great west front with its seven-lancet window and the soaring arches of the nave still take the breath away.
So grateful were the monks to their powerful patron Roger Bigod that they were still handing out alms on his behalf in 1535. But by then King Henry VIII’s English Reformation was well underway.
Only a year later Tintern surrendered in the first round of the dissolution of the monasteries — and the great abbey began slowly to turn into a majestic ruin.
Gwent Levels
The Gwent Levels are an inter-tidal zone of saltmarshes, mudflats and sands, revealed to keen eyes at low tide along the northern coastline of the Severn Estuary. The low horizon, flat landscape, and big skies (often enhanced by dramatic cloudscapes, sunrises and sunsets) give the Levels a unique ethereal quality.
This man-made landscape started taking shape in Roman times, with the majority of the area created in the Middle Ages by the monks of nearby Goldcliff Priory and Tintern Abbey. The network of fertile fields and historic watercourses, known locally as reens, provides a diverse range of habitats for rare plant and animal species of national special scientific interest.
Skirrid Fawr
Skirrid Fawr (Welsh: Ysgyryd Fawr), often referred to as just the Skirrid, is a traditional Christian pilgrimage site and an easterly outlier of the Black Mountains in Wales. It forms the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The smaller hill of Ysgyryd Fach or "Little Skirrid" (270 metres or 890 feet) lies about 4 kilometres)south.
It is 486 metres (1,594 feet) high and lies just to the north-east of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, about ten miles (16 kilometres) from the English border. The Beacons Way passes along the ridge.
Roman Baths, Caerleon
Life was hard for a Roman legionary in first-century Wales. When he wasn’t cooped up in his barracks or being barked at by a centurion he was out risking his life in skirmishes with ancient Britons.
But here in Isca, one of just three permanent legionary fortresses in Britain, there were compensations. He could always hang out with his friends at the fortress baths – or take a stroll to the amphitheatre to watch the gladiators.
Inside a modern covered building in today’s Caerleon you can still explore the remains of the immense natatio, or open-air swimming pool, that once held more than 80,000 gallons of water. Thanks to the wonders of film projection you’ll glimpse a Roman soldier still diving the depths today.
You can also see the cramped rooms where the men slept and stored their weapons – the only Roman legionary barracks still on view in Europe.
And you can walk through the great north entrance into the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain and imagine the din of 6,000 people baying for blood.
Chepstow Castle
Chepstow Castle (Welsh: Castell Cas-gwent) at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. Located above cliffs on the River Wye, construction began in 1067 under the instruction of the Norman Lord William FitzOsbern. Originally known as Striguil, it was the southernmost of a chain of castles built in the Welsh Marches, and with its attached Lordship of Striguil took the name of the adjoining market town in about the 14th century.
In the 12th century the castle was used in the conquest of Gwent, the first independent Welsh kingdom to be conquered by the Normans. It was subsequently held by two of the most powerful Anglo-Norman magnates of medieval England, William Marshal and Richard de Clare. However, by the 16th century its military importance had waned and parts of its structure were converted into domestic ranges. Although re-garrisoned during and after the English Civil War, by the 1700s it had fallen into decay. With the later growth of tourism, the castle became a popular visitor destination.
Raglan Castle
Raglan Castle (Welsh: Castell Rhaglan) is a late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th centuries, when the successive ruling families of the Herberts and the Somersets created a luxurious, fortified castle, complete with a large hexagonal keep, known as the Great Tower or the Yellow Tower of Gwent. Surrounded by parkland, water gardens and terraces, the castle was considered by contemporaries to be the equal of any other in England or Wales.
During the First English Civil War, Raglan was occupied by a Royalist garrison on behalf of Charles I but was taken by Parliamentarian forces in 1646 and its walls slighted, or deliberately put beyond military use. After the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the Somersets declined to restore it and it became first a source of local building materials, then a romantic ruin. It is now a tourist attraction.
Monnow Gate and Bridge
Monnow Bridge in Monmouth, Wales, is the only remaining medieval fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower still standing in place. These used to be common across the country, but time and changing use means this is the only one left. Originally built with a portcullis, it's primary use was for defence, but over the years it developed into a toll collection point, a jail and even a home!
Now it remains standing guard over the River Monnow at the bottom of Monmouth's high street. You used to be able to drive over, but since the new bridge was built a bit further downstream it has been pedestrianised, meaning you can walk across at your own leisure. It's great for taking pictures, and watching the bird life that flocks around and below.
The Sugarloaf
The Sugar Loaf (Welsh: Mynydd Pen-y-fâl) is a hill situated two miles (3.2 km) north-west of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales, within the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is the southernmost of the summit peaks of the Black Mountains, and rises to 1,955 feet (596 metres).The Sugar Loaf was gifted to the National Trust by suffragette Lady Rhondda.
The mountain was originally known as Y Fâl ("the peak"), while its distinctive summit was known as Pen y Fâl ("top of the peak"). The modern Welsh name is Mynydd Pen-y-fâl, meaning "mountain of the top of the peak". The name Sugar Loaf first appears in the 18th century.The mountain shares this name with various others in Great Britain and elsewhere, all named for their perceived resemblance to sugarloaves.
Virtuous Well, Trellech
The Virtuous Well in Trellech was once known as St. Anne’s Well and famous for its cures. It was visited by many pilgrims as late as the Seventeenth Century. It is said to be four separate springs, three containing iron and each curing a different illness. Its niches held offerings and cups while stone seats gave rest to the weary travellers.
A Chalybeate spring bubbles up into a stone basin set into an arched recess in the rearstone wall of a horse-shoe shaped structure partly sunken into the meadow. Steps lead down into a paved area with a stone benched seat on either side, although in recent years a rise in floor level has made sitting in here difficult. There are two squared niches in the rear wall, possibly for drinking vessels or votive offerings. Today offerings are also frequently placed on the ledge around the inside of the arched recess, while the hedgerow trees behind the well are festooned with strips of white cloth and ribbons, reflecting a continuing belief in the medicinal properties of the spring water. Tradition had it that if you dipped a piece of your garment in the healing water, as the fabric rotted away, so your symptoms would disappear.
The name 'virtuous' well does in fact refer to its medicinal qualities and not to any moral virtues supposedly endowed upon those who partake of its iron-impregnated waters. According to an ancient Welsh manuscript, the healing water of the Bards ran beneath the Caer of the Three Stones and it has been suggested that the existence of this well was associated with the choice of Trellech for mystical Druidical rites.
Many pilgrimages were made here over the centuries. An inscription on the Sundial in Latin describes Trellech as being 'greatest because of its well'. In the 18th and 19th centuries the unpleasant-tasting water was considered especially beneficial for eye ailments and 'complaints peculiar to women'.
Like many other holy wells, St Anne's well was also used as a wishing well. To make a wish one threw into the water a small metal object. Many bubbles arising from it meant a rapid granting of one's wish, few bubbles meant that a long period of time would elapse before the wish came true and no bubbles at all meant that one's wish had not been granted. The young maidens of Trellech anxious to know how long they had to wait until their wedding day, would drop a pebble into the water and every bubble that arose counted for one month.
Several local folk tales concern the Virtuous well: for instance, the fairies were believed to dance around it. One day a local farmer dug up the fairy ring around the well as he 'didn't like all them silly tales'. The following day when he attempted to draw water, he discovered that the well was dry, something that had never happened before. However, it was only dry when he tried to obtain water. A little old man seated by the well informed him that he was extremely annoyed by the destruction of the fairy ring and ordered its immediate restoration. As soon as the farmer replaced the missing turf, the water started flowing freely again.
The Devil's Pulpit
One of the most spectacular views in the Wye Valley, Devil's Pulpit looks over Tintern Abbey & the Wales / England border. Starting in Tintern, Monmouthshire, you cross into Gloucestershire before walking through woods up to the viewpoint.
This rocky outcrop, jutting out high above the River Wye on the Offa’s Dyke National Trail, offers the most spectacular views of the Wye Valley, overlooking the village of Tintern and the Abbey.
Legend has it that the Devil created the Pulpit to preach to the monks below, in the hope of tempting them away from their religious ways!
Llanfihangel Court
Llanvihangel (or Llanfihangel) Court, Llanvihangel Crucorney, is a Tudor country house in Monmouthshire, Wales. The architectural historian John Newman, in his Gwent/Monmouthshire volume of The Buildings of Wales series described the court as "the most impressive and richly decorated house of around 1600 in Monmouthshire".
The origins of the house are medieval, with a traditional date of construction of 1471. The building was given its present appearance by a substantial enlargement and re-casing of circa 1600 by Rhys Morgan, of the family of the original owners. In the very early 17th century it was owned briefly by Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester.
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