On Saturday the 2nd March 2024 Mel and I drove down to Chepstow just over the border into Wales. It was just under a three hour drive and we arrived to a very wet and cold day.
We parked up in the free car park of our Beaufort Hotel at just gone Eleven Am.
I popped into reception to check it was okay to park up before we checked in. It was a yes with a even better come back in an hour and we hopefully can get you checked in early!
We head across the road to the Ugly Mug Café for some breakfast as we were starving by now!
We had a quick look about the local shops before heading back to the hotel and we were checked in at Twelve, a good three hours early.
The Beaufort Hotel in Chepstow, Wales is located at the southeast corner of Beaufort Square in the town centre. It was designated a Grade II listed building in 1975. It was established in the 16th century as a coaching inn; it claims to be the oldest continuously trading hotel in south Wales. Historically the hotel has served as an auction house.
After we settled into our hotel room, we decided to walk down to see the Castle.
The name Chepstow derives from the Old English ceap/chepe stowe, meaning market place or trading centre. The word "stow" usually denotes a place of special significance, and the root chep is the same as that in other placenames such as Chipping Sodbury and Cheapside. The name is first recorded in 1307, but may have been used by the English in earlier centuries. However, the name used by the Normans for the castle and lordship was Striguil (in various spellings, such as Estrighoiel), probably derived from a Welsh word ystraigyl, meaning a bend in the river. The Welsh name Cas-gwent refers to the "castle of Gwent". The name Gwent itself derives from the Roman settlement Venta Silurum or 'Market of the Silures', now named Caerwent, 5 miles (8 km) west of Chepstow, which had been the Romano-British commercial centre of south-east Wales.
We pass Cromwell House on Bridge Street. Probably C16 origin with later remodelling. Name reflects claim that Oliver Cromwell slept in the house after taking Chepstow in 1648.
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 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.
We walk on pass the Castle in the wet cold rain, to be honest it is hard to enjoy the beauty of this place in such weather!
We cross the Chepstow Bridge (Old Wye Bridge) with views back across to the castle.
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| The border, Wales to the Right and England to the Left. |
Chepstow Bridge is the World's largest iron arch road bridge from the first 50 years (1780-1830) of iron and steel construction. The bridge was first opened on the 24th July 1816, and is an architectural marvel and feat of engineering that has stood the test of time.
We walk back and jump in the car to go and see Monmouth.
We really wasn't expecting snow when we left home this morning!
We made our way slowly through the snow covered lanes towards Monmouth.
We arrive in Monmouth, and yep still raining!
Monmouth, Welsh: Trefynwy; meaning "town on the Monnow") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, two miles (three kilometres) from the Wales–England border. Monmouth was the county town of historic Monmouthshire.
The name Monmouth is an English contraction of 'Monnow-mouth'. The Welsh name for the river, Mynwy, which may originally have meant "fast-flowing", was anglicised as Monnow. The town was originally known in Welsh as Abermynwy ("mouth of the Monnow"), replaced by Trefynwy ("Monnow town" – the initial m of Mynwy mutating in Welsh to f, pronounced /v/) by the 1600s.
We pass the Shire Hall with a small market beneath. The Shire Hall, Monmouth, Wales, is a prominent building on Agincourt Square in the town centre. It was built in 1724, and was formerly the centre for the Assize Courts and Quarter Sessions for Monmouthshire. The building was also used as a market place. In 1839–40, the court was the location of the trial of the Chartist leader John Frost and others for high treason for their part in the Newport Rising.
The building is attributed to Philip Fisher (1702-1776). Fisher is not a well-documented architect, and Cadw notes that the Shire Hall is his only recorded building. The hall was extended by Thomas Hopper and Edward Haycock Sr. in the middle of the 19th century. Cadw describes the building as a “exceptionally fine example of provincial Baroque”. It is a Grade I listed building.
The current building was erected in 1724, and is at least the fourth building on the site. It had earlier been the site of an Elizabethan court built in 1536, which in turn was replaced in 1571 by a timber-framed construction. The timbers from the original building were used in the construction of the Shire Hall, which provided an open trading area on the ground floor with rooms above. The building, described in Buildings of Wales as "a mighty affair", was designed by a little-known architect, Philip Fisher (d. 1776) of Bristol at a cost of £1,700. The Courts of Assize were transferred to the building in 1725, with the court room itself located on the first floor above the open arches which were used as a market area. The clock in the pediment was made by Richard Watkins in 1765.
The building was extended and remodelled by Thomas Hopper and Edward Haycock Sr. in 1828.
A memorial statue to the aviation pioneer Charles Rolls stands in front of the Shire Hall.
We pass the Savoy Theatre on Church Street.The building in which the theatre is housed was constructed on the foundations of the earlier Bell Inn, in Monmouth's historic town centre. Originally known as the Assembly Rooms, the theatre was first granted an entertainment licence in 1832. It was refurbished as the Theatre Royal in 1850 under J. F. Rogers, and later became the town's Corn Exchange. It was briefly a roller skating rink, belonging to the White Swan Hotel, at the end of the 19th century, before reopening in 1910 as Monmouth's first cinema, the "Living Picture Palace and Rinkeries". In 1912, it was renamed the Palace, in later years the Scala and then the Regent.
In 1927 the building was bought by the Albany Ward theatre group, gutted and reopened on 5 March 1928 as "The New Picture House". This showed the first "talking pictures" in the town in 1930. It closed as a cinema in the 1960s, later reopening as a bingo hall and again closing in 1983, before reopening for a time to show historic magic lantern slides. It has operated continuously as a cinema since the 1990s. In 1989 Cadw designated the theatre a Grade II* listed building, the listing record describing it as “a rare and little altered example of a small cinema from the inter-War period in Wales”.
Walking back through the town we walk on down to the River Monnow and the Monnow Bridge.
Monnow Bridge is the only remaining mediaeval fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower still standing in place.A picturesque stone construction with three archways over the River Monnow, Monnow Bridge can be dated back to 1272, while the tower was built later sometime between 1297 and 1315. Today, pedestrians can walk along Monnow Bridge although the tower is not open to the public.
Monmouth was a significant Roman settlement, the site of Blestium border fort and a centre for ironwork. While the Romans may have built a bridge over the River Wye it was not until the Norman invasion that the Monnow had a permanent crossing. Norman lord William FitzOsbern built a castle nearby where the rivers met around 1070.
In the 12th century a wooden bridge was constructed – discovered during archaeological work in the 1980s – from trees cut down between 1123 and 1169. This bridge was possibly damaged during the 1233 Battle of Monmouth between supporters Henry II and Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. Although the specific site of the battle is debated among historians.
Monnow’s stone bridge was completed around the late 13th century in a period of increased bridge-building as international trade began to flourish. The gatehouse atop the bridge, known as Monnow Gate, was constructed shortly after the bridge in the late 13th or early 14th century. The gatehouse was the result of a medieval tax or ‘murage’ raised by Edward I to provide funds to fortify Monmouth for his nephew, Henry of Lancaster.
The arch gate formed part of the city walls and as such was built with machicolations: defensive balconies with open floors that allowed defenders to drop stones on attackers. The gate’s second purpose was to collect tolls from those going to market.
During the English Civil War the town changes hands between the Royalists and Parliamentarian forces and by 1705 the bridge and gatehouse were in need of repair. The building turned into a dwelling while retaining its commercial role in monitoring trade. By the 19th century, the gatehouse had been abandoned and has remained largely unchanged since 1832 when the gatehouse roof was reconstructed.
Just on the other side of the bridge is the Monmouth Millennium Mosaic.
A wheel commemorating the history of Monmouth. Each segment depicts a memorable moment in time.
Just pass the Monmouth Millennium Mosaic is the Monmouth Cross.
The Cross is situated in St Thomas' Square, Overmonnow, Monmouth, Wales, in the middle of a roundabout opposite the Church of St Thomas the Martyr and the western end of the Monnow Bridge. Originally mediaeval, and also known as Overmonnow Cross, the cross was reconstructed in 1888 and has been classed as a Grade II listed structure since 15 August 1974.
Some nineteenth century sources suggest that the original cross was in existence before 1039. St Thomas' Square was thought to have been a market place before Monnow Bridge linked Overmonnow to the rest of the town, and the cross may have been used for preaching at market times. On 1 April 1764, an 18-year-old woman was condemned at Monmouth assizes to be burned to death for poisoning her mistress. The sentence was carried out close to the Cross.
We walk back over the bridge and head back towards the car. We have missed the Castle, forgetting there was one here! We drive back to the hotel. Mel goes for s nap, so I decide to walk up to the micropub here in Chepstow for a few.
After the Norman conquest of England and parts of south Wales, Chepstow developed as an important port and trading centre within the Marcher Lordship of Striguil. In 1270 the lordship came under the control of Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk, after the death of his uncle. Bigod undertook a substantial building programme within and around Chepstow, including, at the Castle, a new range of buildings for accommodation for himself and his family, and a massive new defensive tower (now known as "Marten's Tower"); and also, a few miles to the north, the rebuilding of Tintern Abbey. He was also responsible for the building of the Port Wall, usually dated at 1274–78, and the Town Gate; and, in 1294, for granting to his close associate, John ap Adam of Sedbury, the right to hold a regular market at Chepstow. The Port Wall and Town Gate together ensured that only those paying tolls to the lord could attend the market; and had the additional purpose of keeping out undesirable elements, including the occasionally hostile Welsh people living in the countryside to the west of the town.
The Town Gate building is square in plan, with battlements on top, and originally could be blocked with a portcullis, no longer extant. It is hemmed in by buildings on all sides, including, to the east, the Gate House and, to the west, the George Hotel. On the western side of the Gate are two worn and illegible heraldic angels, probably dating from a rebuilding of the gate by Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, in 1524. The Earl was responsible for granting a charter to the town, which was described at the time as "fallen into great ruin, indigence and decay", and allowed the town's bailiffs to use the room above the archway as a prison. The Gate was recorded as the "New Gate" in 1687, suggesting that an earlier gateway may have existed in the area.
Tolls were collected at the Gate on animals and goods taken into the market place, and by people who bought livestock at the town's fairs. In 1648, the Gate was the scene of a skirmish between the town's Royalist defenders and troops led by Oliver Cromwell, who gained entry to the town and besieged and won the Castle. In 1756, country people and colliers from the nearby Forest of Dean raided the town, and had to be driven off by guns mounted on the Town Gate and on the Wye Bridge. Tolls continued to be collected until the death of the last "Keeper of the Gate" in 1874.
The Gate was part of the properties of the Dukes of Beaufort after they inherited the lordship. In 1899, the 9th Duke put the building up for sale but, at the auction, C.W. Whalley, the Chairman of the Town Council, persuaded his representatives that the building be donated to the town. A plaque attached to the building records the Town Council's thanks to the Duke. The tiled pedestrian pathway on the southern side of the arch was cut through the Gate House and opened in 1928. The room over the archway was used in later centuries as a storeroom, workshop and office, before becoming the first home of the town's museum in 1949. A full restoration of the building took place in 1985–86, when an internal doorway apparently dating to the thirteenth century was discovered. A plaque to mark the building's restoration, designed and decorated by local artist Keith Underwood in the style of the eroded coats of arms to either side of it, was unveiled in March 1986 by the 11th Duke of Beaufort.
The Town Gate was given Grade I Listed Building status on 12 June 1950. Road access through the single carriageway arch is controlled by traffic lights in three directions: east, north and west.
I pop into the Queens Head micropub and it is very busy! A great selection of beers and ciders on tap here!
I start with a flight first. Murmelt a German Pilsner from Welsh brewery Mumbles Brewery, Digital Leash a American IPA from the Irish Heaney Brewery and a Iron Brew Sour from Scottish Vault City Brewery.
I then followed this up with another Welsh beer ( a American Pale Ale), Twti Ffrwti from the Trefforest Brewery from Pontypridd.
I head back to the Hotel and take a shower and slip over on the bath mat banging my back on the side of the bath. Not sure if it was just a stupid accident and if it was down to the beer!! ha ha!
We head out later for a drink and dinner at the Wetherspoons "The Bell Hangar". Not great but then Wetherspoons dinners rarely are!
SUNDAY 3rd MARCH 2024
We drive to Symonds Yat and park down by the river.
The River Wye is still in full flood and is a ugly brown muddy colour.
We walk up and up the steep climb to the top of the hill to show Mel the view from Symomds Yat Rock viewpoint. I had visited here with my neighbour back in October 2020 Blog here.
We cross over the road by means of a little wooden bridge and onto the rock.
Symonds Yat Rock overlooks a spectacular gorge through which the River Wye snakes. This rock is a good viewpoint from which to watch raptors: a pair of peregrine falcons that nest annually within sight of the rock can be watched through telescopes set up by the RSPB. Buzzards, goshawks and hobbies are also regularly seen and it is sometimes possible to see migrant raptors such as ospreys and European honey buzzards. Nearby cliffs are the nesting place of Peregrine Falcons that soar above the valley of the River Wye 120m below. It is also the site of an Iron Age hill fort and the film location used for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
Symonds Yat Rock was used as a location for some episodes of Series 5 of the BBC television drama Merlin.
The views across the Gorge are just amazing!
Archaeologists have uncovered bones from hyenas, sabre-toothed cats and a mammoth in and around the caves of the valley and human habitation can be traced back to 12,000 years ago with findings of their tools and clothes.
In the Iron Age the forts on the Great Doward and Yat Rock provided secure, defensible settlements for the local residents. During Roman times these forts became focal points in the region and the importance of the iron here and in the Forest of Dean made this a valuable prize for the conquerors. Offa's Dyke, built in the 8th century to separate England and Wales, runs close to Symonds Yat.
The first recorded use of Symonds Yat in connection with the area is in a Patent Roll of 1256, where the place appears as Symundesyate and Symondesyate. This may contain the Old English personal name Sigemund or a very early surname deriving from it. Yat represents the Old English word geat (pronounced "yat"), meaning 'gate' and describing the gorge. Although a popular local belief, it is not true that the addition of Symonds was made in the 17th century in reference to Robert Symonds of Sugwas and Evesfield, High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1685, who was indeed a member of the family who owned the lands from Wormelow near Hereford to the border regions in which surround the Yat. The area is also shown as Symons Yate on maps in 1665, Symons Yat in 1717 and Symmonds Gate in 1830.
The Old Court Hotel in Symonds Yat (West), which was built in the 16th century,was the ancestral home of the Gwillim family and was home to John Graves Simcoe, who was governor and one of the founding fathers of Upper Canada.
The Yat Gorge was mined for iron ore and remains of a smelting works are located down stream of the Symonds Yat Rapids. The ironworks at New Weir date from the 1590s and were operated by the White family until 1753, when George White leased the site to John Partridge, an ironmonger from Ross on Wye. Partridge combined the ironworks at New Weir with his forge at Lydbrook which smelted pig iron from his furnace at Bishopswood. The works closed when the lease ran out in 1798 and the adjacent weir and lock buildings were demolished and the lock filled in 1814.
We make our way back down the hill. Back down the bottom we see the Saracen Head Inn on our right and we walk pass here and the Hand ferry here wasn't operating probably due to the river being in flood.
The ferry at Symonds Yat has always played a huge part in the life here. In 1800 there were 25 hand ferries between Ross and Chepstow just like those outside Ye Old Ferrie Inn and the Saracen's Head today. They were introduced in Roman times to link the forts of the Doward and the Yat and have served military, civilian, tourist and horse traffic over the years.
We sit on a bench by the river in the sun, such a contrast compared to yesterdays weather! We watch a man getting a river cruise boat ready. I walk over in hope there may be a cruise operating today. But as I thought due to river conditions there isn't!
We walk along the road with views across to Symonds Yat on the far bank.
We walk only so far before realising there are no footpaths up this way, so we walk back and follow the river in the opposite direction.
We pass the pub and hand ferry again and walk on along the River Wye.
The river really was very angry in full flood!
Symonds Yat Rapids are a grade 2 man-made feature at Symonds Yat used by canoeists and kayakers for whitewater training and playboating.
We make it to the Rope Bridge at Biblins.
A suspension bridge was built over the river by the Forestry Commission using local oak timbers in 1957. Linking Symonds Yat (East) to the Biblins camp site, the bridge was fully refurbished in 1997 and rotten timbers and the two support towers were replaced. Although it is designed to take up to 30 people, it has signs requesting that no more than 6 cross at a time.
Once over we are by Biblins Youth Campsite on the Welsh side of the River.
The Biblins Campsite provides a back-to-basics experience for children, young people and community groups. Nestled in the Wye Valley, the 18 acre site hugs the river and is surrounded by ancient woodlands. Whether you plan a social group camp or educational school visit, Biblins offers one of the finest locations for outdoor learning in the country.
We cross back over and walk back the way we came and back to the car.
We drive on to visit Tintern Abbey before we return to Chepstow.
We arrive in Tintern and park up in the Abbey car park.
We walk on pass the Abbey. Couldn't see much point in paying to enter, we could see enough from outside!
Tintern Abbey (Welsh: Abaty Tyndyrn pronunciation) was founded on 9 May 1131 by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow. It is situated adjacent to the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye, which at this location forms the border between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England. It was the first Cistercian foundation in Wales, and only the second in Britain (after Waverley Abbey).
The abbey fell into ruin after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Its remains have been celebrated in poetry and painting from the 18th century onwards.
The Cistercian Order was founded in 1098 at the abbey of Cîteaux. A breakaway faction of the Benedictines, the Cistercians sought to re-establish observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. Considered the strictest of the monastic orders, they laid down requirements for the construction of their abbeys, stipulating that "none of our houses is to be built in cities, in castles or villages; but in places remote from the conversation of men. Let there be no towers of stone for bells, nor of wood of an immoderate height, which are unsuited to the simplicity of the order". The Cistercians also developed an approach to the Benedictine requirement for a dual commitment to pray and work that saw the evolving of a dual community, the monks and the lay brothers, illiterate workers who contributed to the life of the abbey and to the worship of God through manual labour.[ The order proved exceptionally successful and by 1151, five hundred Cistercian houses had been founded in Europe. The Carta Caritatis (Charter of Love) laid out their basic principles, of obedience, poverty, chastity, silence, prayer, and work. With this austere way of life, the Cistercians were one of the most successful orders in the 12th and 13th centuries. The lands of the Abbey were divided into agricultural units or granges, on which local people worked and provided services such as smithies to the Abbey.
William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester introduced the first colony of Cistercian monks to England at Waverley, Surrey, in 1128. His first cousin, Walter de Clare, of the powerful family of Clare, established the second Cistercian house in Britain, and the first in Wales, at Tintern in 1131. The Tintern monks came from a daughter house of Cîteaux, L'Aumône Abbey, in the diocese of Chartres in France. In time, Tintern established two daughter houses, Kingswood in Gloucestershire (1139) and Tintern Parva, west of Wexford in southeast Ireland (1203).
The present-day remains of Tintern are a mixture of building works covering a 400-year period between 1131 and 1536. Very little of the first buildings still survives today; a few sections of walling are incorporated into later buildings and the two recessed cupboards for books on the east of the cloisters are from this period. The church of that time was smaller than the present building, and slightly to the north.
We stop at The Filling Station Café for a Cream Tea, sitting outside in the sunshine.
We walk on to visit the Abbey Mill in Tintern.
Abbey Mill is an award winning family business that has been trading in Tintern village since 1936. Our well-established and independent craft and shopping complex is currently run by the 3rd and 4th generations of the Rastall family. The Mill is set amidst breathtaking scenery in the heart of the Wye Valley on the banks of the River Wye and offers a relaxed setting for your enjoyment. Include Abbey Mill in your Tour of Wales itinerary, along with its historic buildings and recently renovated turning Old Water Wheel. The site includes many of the original mill buildings of Tintern Abbey, which was founded in 1131. Also see the waterfall and the remains of the Tudor dockyard, which is now filled with trout and watched over by our own dragon!
We have a stroll around the interesting shops here.
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| The Mill Race. |
We leave the Abbey Mill and walk across the Old Wireworks Tramway Bridge that spans the Wye.
Built in 1876 to provide a rail link to the Lower Wireworks site, the Wireworks Bridge is a visible reminder of Tintern’s industrial past. Despite being hardly used originally (as it was built at the tail end of the industrial period), hundreds of people now cross the bridge every day to visit Tintern or explore the wooded slopes of the Wye Valley. If the bridge seems familiar, it’s because it featured in Netflix’s hit ‘Sex Education’ series.
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| View over the River Wye to Tintern Abbey. |
We walk back along the river back to the car.
We drive back to the hotel in Chepstow for a nap, before heading out later for dinner.
We have dinner in the Pontio Lounge. Very nice place! I had the Beef Brisket Chilli and Mel had the burger.
We then decide to walk back to see the Castle lit up at night and without the rain!
We return to the hotel. The next day we have a last look around Chepstow and the shops before the drive home. A great weekend in the gorgeous Wye Valley!