Rambling in Monmouthshire - A Historical Walking Guide to the Trails and Paths of Wales

By Read Books Ltd.

The boundary of the county that lies near Gloucestershire shares some of its neighbour's popularity-and a little of its speech; Chepstow, with its castle and magnificently wooded banks of the Wye, is justly famous, but the walking country around Newport is often neglected, not only by its residents, but by passing visitors too. What endless possibilities there are of walks in contrasting scenery-the hills of the Mynydd Maen range, "the marshes", lush fields and shady woods, to mention just a few of the ever-changing scenes.
The main rivers of the county are the Wye, Usk, Ebbw and Rhymney. The Usk and its tributaries will be the main waterways in the walks described hereafter, particularly the Soar Brook and the Olway, and the turbulent Afon Llwyd.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473390447

Book preview

Rambling in

Monmouthshire

A Historical Walking Guide

to the Trails and Paths of

Wales

By

Various Authors

Copyright © 2011 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from

the British Library

Contents

Footpath Guides No 23 Ancient Kingdom of Gwent Monmouthshire. Olive Phillips

INTRODUCTION

I. LLANTARNAM AND LLANDEGVETH

II. LITTLE SWITZERLAND AND BETTWS (Circular)

III. RIDGEWAY AND RESERVOIRS (Ynys-y-fro)

IV. LLANTARNAM

V. ST. BRIDE’S AND PETERSTONE

VI. TREDUNNOCK AND NEWBRIDGE

VII. THE DRAETHEN WOODS AND RUPERRA CASTLE

VIII. LLANDEVAUD, PENCOED AND LLANMARTIN

IX. CAT’S ASH AND KEMEYS

X. PENTRE BACH AND BETTWS

XI. USK AND RAGLAN

XII. LLANTRISSENT, LLANGWM AND CHEPSTOW

XIII. MONKSWOOD AND ESTAVARNEY

XIV. TWYN BARLWM

XV. BETTWS NEWYDD AND TROSTREY

XVI. LLANVACHES, LLANVAIR DISCOED AND MOUNTON

XVII. WENTWOOD

XVIII. MACHEN MOUNTAIN

XIX. CALDICOT AND CAERWENT

XX. MAGOR, UNDY AND PENHOW

XXI. THE SOAR BROOK.

XXII. MALPAS (Circular)

XXIII. BLACKROCK AND MATHERN

XXIV. GREY HILL

XXV. CASTELL-Y-BWCH

XXVI. MYNYDDISLWYN CHURCH

Walking in the Welsh Borders. Norman G Brett-James

CHAPTER II THE APPROACH TO CHEPSTOW AND CALDICOT

CHAPTER III CHEPSTOW AND THE FOREST OF DEAN

CHAPTER IV TINTERN AND THE WYE

CHAPTER V MONMOUTH AND KING HARRY

CHAPTER VI A ROMAN ROAD TO THE WEST

INTRODUCTION

WALES England wed, was written by Ernest Rhys about his parents, yet it is so apt a description of Monmouthshire. Apart from the eternal question of whether the county is English or Welsh, there seems to be an element of neglect for much of its countryside.

Not for Monmouthshire the rolling downs or majestic mountain scenery, but undulating country of unusual variety—a hill that we like to call a mountain, an almost continuous rise and fall, mostly gentle, and the green and brown of chequered fields.

The boundary of the county that lies near Gloucestershire shares some of its neighbour’s popularity—and a little of its speech; Chepstow, with its castle and magnificently wooded banks of the Wye, is justly famous, but the walking country around Newport is often neglected, not only by its residents, but by passing visitors. What endless possibilities there are of walks in contrasting scenery—the hills of the Mynydd Maen range, the marshes, lush fields and shady woods, to mention just a few of the ever-changing scenes.

So many walks lie within sight of the double view, which is in Newport itself, that it is worthy of a general description in this introduction. There are numerous ’bus routes and roads leading to Ridgeway, aptly named, as it stands high above the town, commanding a view of practically the whole town, lying as it does in the centre of a ring of hills.

Looking over the town the dark mass of Wentwood, once a royal hunting ground, can be seen. Down in the wooded valley are two reservoirs, reflecting the sky, and forming a perfect background to them is Mynydd Maen, with Twyn Barlwm, the hill capped by an ancient tumulus (it is called a tump locally), predominating. On the other side is a stretch of the Bristol Channel and the coast-line of Devon and Somerset.

Besides these varying views, in the middle distance is Machen mountain, to the left of Twyn Barlwm, and blue and conical, far away to the right, is the Sugar Loaf, and then the Skirrid, both near Abergavenny.

The main rivers of the county are the Wye, Usk, Ebbw and Rhymney. The Usk and its tributaries will be the main waterways in the walks described hereafter, particularly the Soar Brook and the Olway, and the turbulent Afon Llwyd.

For those who do not object to foxhunting, and prefer their walks to be haphazard and full of surprises, there are several packs of hounds to follow on foot, Lady Curre’s white pack hunting the Chepstow district offering good scope. The Monmouthshire pack hunts further north and the Llangibby hounds cover, broadly speaking, the Usk Valley. I have also Seen otter hunting in the Olway, near Usk.

Within reasonable journeys by road are the old castle fortresses of, among others, Raglan, Usk and Chepstow. All over the county castles were built—Monmouthshire is famous for its castles—and the different periods in which they were erected tell of the uneasy history that has taken place in this border county.

Henry V was born at Monmouth; as Prince Harry of Monmouth he was defeated by the Welsh patriot Owain Glyndwr, but later succeeded in reversing the event at a battle near Usk.

Southern Monmouthshire was strongly Yorkist in the Wars of the Roses and at Newport Castle, Owen Tudor, a Lancastrian Welshman, was imprisoned; later he married Henry V’s widow, and their grandson became Henry VII, the first of the Tudor line.

Gwent was the old title of a larger portion of land than Monmouthshire now covers, but it now remains as the name of this border county. The walker can find tradition and scenery mingled to make Monmouthshire well worthy of a visit.

The lanes are often on the sites of old Roman roads, and at Caerleon and Caerwent one walks across fields that must still hide Roman secrets; there are relics, including an amphitheatre, to see at these places. History prior to the Roman settlement abounds in this part of the county, with ancient stones, burial chambers and camps in every direction.

Did King Arthur and his Knights dwell at Caerleon? The question can be answered only by the half-truths of legends. Tennyson was one who believed the story to be true, for he stayed at the Hanbury Arms, one of several interesting old inns at Caerleon, while he was writing The Idylls of the King.

To walk through the lanes, fields and woods of Gwent is to know the pleasure of variety, rarely on a grand scale, yet holding the beauty of all miniatures.

Newport, the town being used as a centre for these walks, is mainly industrial and has grown tremendously in a comparatively short space of time. It is useful as a centre because it lies at the mouth of the river Usk and commands the Usk Valley. Regular services operate by road and rail to outlying districts and many interesting villages and small towns are near, while beautiful country surrounds it.

Although the town itself shows so much industrial development, there remain a few historical pointers. The ruins of the castle lie on the banks of the Usk; this castle is said to have been built about 1130, and several times became the centre of disturbances in the reign of Henry III, and again when Owain Glyndwr was ravaging South Wales.

In Henry VIII’s reign, it was recorded that the castle and town were in ruins. Up to Elizabethan times the town had been granted a charter, and trade was flourishing, but after that time, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the prosperity of the town waned. When industry became powerful, the town grew.

The Church of St. Woolos, standing at the top of Stow Hill, is a beautiful example of Norman work, the original site, however, dating back to an earlier time. The headless figure standing in a niche in the face of the tower was de-capitated during the Civil War.

Another turbulent tribe who marched past the church, this time in 1836, were the Chartist rioters, who came from the valleys to storm the Westgate Hotel where the Mayor and Military were waiting. The bullet holes still remain in the pillars of the hotel.

Another old building left from days when Newport was very small is the Murenger House in High Street, somehow by-passed when the main street was widened several times, and now standing, incongruously, among modem buildings. The Murenger was an official appointed to collect tolls for the repair of town walls.

The town of Newport can soon be left behind, and quite close are the beginnings of a more rural existence. The views from Ridgeway invite you to go further, Christchurch paves the way to Wentwood and Caerleon, Chepstow Road has its many off-shoots, to name but a few of the easily accessible places which act as links with the countryside.

Many of the place-names in Monmouthshire have been so corrupted during the ages that their origin is often difficult to trace. Several names are linked with the Roman invasion. However, a number of Welsh words appear frequently in the names of the county with no doubt of their derivation, and it might be useful to put a few on record here for those who are unfamiliar with the language.

Llan, a prefix recurring many times, is a gathering-place, often relating to a church which is, in practice and theory, a meeting-place.

The words referring to water are quite numerous,

Aber, meaning a confluence of rivers,

Afon, a river or a stream,

Nant, a brook,

Pill (pwll), a pool or ditch,

Dwr, water, in several senses,

Pont, a bridge,

Pant, a hollow,

Glyn, easily enough, a glen,

Mynydd, a mountain,

Coed, trees, or a wood,

Craig, a, rock (or crag, which makes it simple to understand),

Croes is, quite simply, a cross,

Caer