Monnow Bridge

A 13th century stone gated bridge, unique in Britain for its design and state of preservation, and only one of three such structures left in Europe. It was built primarily as a means of defence and possessed a portcullis and sentry rampart. A number of developments have brought it to its present picturesque appearance.

Monnow Bridge was built towards the end of the 13th century on the site of an earlier timber bridge, the remains of which have recently been discovered. The new bridge had a defensive gate with portcullis and was in turn defended on the Welsh side by a ditch and rampart called the Clawdd Ddu or Black Dyke. It enclosed a faubourg or false borough called Overmonnow. In this it resembled the southern defence of Hereford.

Although the bridge has the appearance of being defensive, it was ineffectual as the Monnow is neither wide nor deep and can easily be crossed on foot upstream. On one of the few occasions it was attacked in the Civil War this is what happened and the defenders found themselves quickly surrounded.

The bridge's chief use has been commercial, something to which it was not particularly suited, and this has led to many alterations. Over the years it has been used for toll collection, as a guard room for the Militia, as a Bridewell, as a lock-up, as a store house and as a private dwelling.

Amongst the many alterations have been, the raising of the roof, the insertion of an attic and the building of an additional house on the town side. The bridge itself was widened and the walls of the gatehouse pierced in the 19th century for pedestrian use.

Courtesy of Keith Kissack.

Drybridge Street

In addition to some very attractive timberwork and a good example of one of the many tollhouses in the area, some of the houses in this street are curiously decorated with large wooden wallpaper blocks used for hand printing. Mr. Crompton-Roberts also had a summer house made from them at Drybridge House.

Shire Hall

Erected in 1724, on the site of the Elizabethan market hall which it replaced, the building was designed to house two "Courts of Judicature" and a room for the Grand Jury at Assizes and Sessions. One of the most famous trials held here was that of the leaders of the Chartists, originally condemned to death but subsequently granted transportation to Van Diemen´s Land.

The present building was built in 1724 by William Rea and Edward Catchmayd on or close to the site of two previous buildings. The original building, built in 1536, was a small court but this was replaced in 1571 by a typically Elizabethan building with a timber framework with Philip Jones as architect, and Thomas Kerver and John Morys as builders. The timbers from the original building were used in the construction of the latter, which provided an open trading area on the ground floor with rooms above.

In 1708, land was purchased to extend the market hall and provide a council chamber and an office for the town clerk but no action was taken until the building of the existing Shire Hall in 1724.

Details of the cost of construction of the original building are not known. The cost of its replacement in 1571 was forty four pounds and the cost of the 1724 building was seventeen hundred pounds, sixteen hundred pounds of which was provided by the "County" and the balance by the Corporation (Borough). The furnishings in the form of tables, chairs, grate and railing were also provided by the Corporation. The architecture of the Shire Hall was very loosely in the popular style of the day - Baroque - and thought to be by Philip Fisher of Bristol. He lived for a time in a house in Monnow Street, currently occupied by Lloyds Bank.

The replacement of the Market Hall with a Shire Hall to accommodate assizes was mainly as a result of complaints that the Market Hall was not suitable as a market and that the original venue for assizes, the great hall in Monmouth Castle, was unsatisfactory through ill repair. Great Castle House was in fact used for assizes for a period immediately preceding the building of the Shire Hall.

Problems with the design and construction of the Shire Hall almost immediately ensued. In 1743 major renovation was undertaken by Philip Hardwick of Bristol, a friend of Philip Fisher no less, at a cost of three hundred pounds. Further additions were made to the building in the form of a clock in 1765, by Richard Watkins, and railings by Peter Embury in 1767. The statue of Henry V, who was born in Monmouth Castle in 1387, was added in 1792.

Further problems were encountered with the building and in 1821 a committee was set up to look into them. The result was that in 1829 royal assent was given for improvements under the direction of Thomas Hopper. This work carried out through Edward Hayock, included the construction of a new staircase, larger courts and the extension of the building along Agincourt Street.

Building work was completed in time for the opening of the assizes in 1831 at a cost of just over seven thousand pounds, which in spite of a brief to provide "comfort" for the judges included a mere one hundred and forty three pounds for furnishings. At this time plans existed to re-house the market but it was not until 1837 that all trading, with the exception of corn, flour, wool and hops, was transferred to the new Market Hall in Priory Street.

The Shire Hall has continued to provide the services to which it was designated to this day, with several notable exceptions i.e. the magistrates court was transferred to the Market Hall and is now held in Abergavenny. The general trading market has returned, although not in corn, flour or wool, on Fridays and Saturdays. Whilst assizes are now held at various locations they are convened in the Shire Hall court room approximately six times a year. Monmouth Gaol was closed in 1869 and as a result the assizes became considerably smaller than previous. The room now referred to as the community room at one time housed the town's library, which is now located in the Rolls Hall. The railings between the arches were removed as part of the war effort during the Second World War. The statue of Charles Rolls, who had the dubious distinction of being the first English aviator to be killed in the air, was unveiled in 1911.

The most notable event to take place at the Shire Hall was, following the Newport riots, the trial in 1840 of the chartist John Frost, who along with Zephaniah Williams and William Jones was convicted of High treason and sentenced to be "hanged until dead and quartered". History has it that a Monmouth doctor offered to do the quartering. Whilst the gallows were being built on the roof of Monmouth Gaol within earshot of the condemned cells, the sentence was commuted to deportation. Frost was deported to Tasmania (Van Dieman's Land), given a provisional pardon in 1854, fully pardoned in 1856 and returned to England where he died in Bristol in 1877 at the age of 93. The trial of Frost and his 11 other co defendants took but a matter of a few weeks (starting on New Years Eve with sentences past on the 16th January) and attracted the most senior judiciary in the form of the lord chief justice and was clearly highly political. The jury took less than an hour to reach a guilty verdict. The cost of the trial was seventeen hundred and forty four pounds, which included one hundred and twelve pounds for London policemen.

Geoffrey's Window

Located in part of the old Priory buildings, the window was, in fact, installed some three centuries after Geoffrey's death. It is, nonetheless, an exquisite oriel window surmounted by battlements and flanked by fearsome gargoyles. Three heads in red sandstone represent the Knight, the Angel and the Miller, who could well have stepped out of the pages of Chaucer.

Benedictine monks founded the Priory at Monmouth, nearly one thousand years ago, with the intention of building a place of prayer, study and hospitality.

The Old Priory buildings were once part of the Benedictine house and are traditionally connected with Geoffrey of Monmouth whose History of the British Kings chronicles the coming of Christianity, the departure of the Romans, and the legends of King Arthur. The building's beautiful oriel window with its castellated battlements is known as Geoffrey's Window.

Since Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the building has undergone many changes and suffered periods of neglect. Remodeled as Priory Street School in the nineteenth century, the fabric reached the state where a schoolmaster remembers teaching from the shelter of an umbrella to protect himself from water pouring through the classroom roof.

St. Mary's Church

Once there were seven medieval churches in Monmouth: the largest, the parish church of St. Mary's has foundations dating from Norman times. In 1732 it was partially ruined and underwent major rebuilding, retaining the original tower but redesigning the spire. By 1880 it was considered too small and was demolished, apart from the tower and spire, and rebuilt to new plans.

There has been a church on this site since 1101 AD when it formed a part of a Benedictine Priory founded by Gwethenoc (Lord of Monmouth c1705 - c1082). It was served by monks from the parent abbey of St. Florent at Saumur - France. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, during of King Henry VIII, the church fell into decay.

Monmouth Priory was dissolved in 1536 - and was later restored by the Georgians, under the guidance of Smith of Warwick in 1732 and further by the Victorians under the architect George Edmund Street in 1882 at the cost of £6,172.00. The oldest surviving part of the original church is the Norman respond set into the tower which itself is 14th century. A new oak and glass panelled screen fronts the new entrance in the tower and is the only memorial to H.M.S. Monmouth, which was lost with all 678 hands during the First World War in 1914, off the coast of Chile. A leaflet in the church gives a full account of the battle.

The Lady Chapel

The Lady Chapel contains an 'English Alter' with four riddle posts each with an unusual brass base and wrought iron capital supporting a newly gilded angel. The screen features the remarkable ironwork and woodwork of Letheren and Martin. H. H. Martin made the Speakers Chair in the House of Commons and the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Medieval Tiles

Those that survive from the monastic church are now relocated on the wall on the back of the church. The majority of the tiles are 15th century with some from the 14th century. The tiles were made by Malvern tilers in a kiln recently discovered in Monk Street, the first of its kind in Wales. Similar patterns are to be found at Tintern Abbey at the Clarendon Palace. One of the best examples is located in the British Museum.

Amongst the tiles you will find a tile featuring a swan enchained, the badge of Mary de Bohun, Mother of King Henry V and the tile with a shield and five martlets, The arms of Westminster Abbey.

The High Altar and Reredos

The reredos is a picture 'Adoration of the Magi' by Watney Wilson and dated 1888. Tradition has named the three Kings as Casper, Melchior and Belthasar, who are considered representatives of the three races of mankind.

Find time to look at the Christ child and read the following words - Mary appears to be on the point of handling her baby over into our hands - as Christians, we think she might be saying to us, "would you like to hold God?" What do you think?

The Windows

Most of the stain glass is from the studio of Charles Eamer Kempe; patronized by royalty, his glass is to be found in some of the finest cathedrals in the country. If you look carefully at the flags in the glass you will find his trademark of either three wheatsheaves or a single wheatsheaf.

Perhaps the most remarkable example of Charles Kempe's work is 'The Four Rivers Window' in the tower and dated 1883; set in reticulated tracery dating from c.1340, it has Baptism as its theme. The names of the four rivers flowing from the Garden of Eden are Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates.

The Royal connection with Monmouth is further seen in 'The Four Edwards Window' on the South wall, Edward VII being a friend of our local Lord Llangattock of the Hendre. The other three are Edward the Confessor, Edward I - creator of Parliament and Edward the Black Prince.

The Bells & Spire

There is now a peal of eight bells in the belfry, all of which were recast by Abraham Rudhall in 1706. The present bells were renovated and rehung in 1982 by Whitechapel of London. The first recorded peal of 5040 changes was in 1791. Local tradition suggests that Henry V presented the bells of Calais to the church.

There is evidence in Monmouth of a bell foundry behind the town library from which at least one bell was cast by John Pennington. A leaflet on the bells contains their detailed history. The spire rises to 60 metres and is the work of Nathaniel Wilkinson of Worcester. All roads in Monmouth are focused on it - a silent witness to the glory of God within the town of Monmouth.

The Rood

The Rood (Anglo - Saxon word for a cross) dominates the entrance to the chancel in the church. On the rood, Mary and John are shown at the foot of the cross. This is in accordance with what we are told with in the Gospel according to St. John. (John 19:25, 26).

Monmouth Gaol

The Building covered about an acre and had the appearance of a castellated mediaeval fortress housing a chapel, infirmary, living quarters and a treadmill. Public hangings took place here until the 1850's, one of the last being witnessed by some 3,000 people. The gaol was demolished in 1884 and today only the gatehouse remains.

The Naval Temple

Designed to perpetuate the memory of many victorious admirals, construction began in 1800 with the foundation stone being laid on the second anniversary of the Battle of the Nile. A painting of the battle originally decorated the arch and the monument was guarded by four guns and surmounted by the figure of Britannia. Today, it is the property of The National Trust.

The proposals for a 'naval temple' at Kymin Hill, Monmouth to commemorate Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile, 1st August 1798 form an unique set of thirteen drawings in total. They display small porticoed buildings with stone benches and fenestrated octagonal and round towers in several simple and elaborate styles. A circular pavilion was eventually selected, erected in 1800 and dedicated to the Dutchess of Beaufort, daughter of Admiral Boscawen.

Lord Nelson, accompanied by Sir William Hamilton was entertained at the site to a breakfast by the Mayor and Corporation of Monmouth in August 1802. The pavilion was restored in 1882. High, conical Kymin Hill with its prospect of the Wye Valley and its environs is now owned by the National Trust.

The Nelson Garden

A small enclosed garden with a restored 19th century pavilion on the site where Nelson, with Sir William and Lady Hamilton, was entertained in 1802. They visited the Kymin on the same occasion. Some open days.

Archeological Dig

Monmouth had one of the earliest Roman garrisons in South Wales and a wealth of artefacts including pottery, glass and armour has been unearthed from numerous cremations. There is evidence of a Celtic settlement, largely destroyed during the Norman occupation and the foundation of the modern town plan.

Monmouth Castle

Established by William Fritz Osbern, Earl of Hereford, soon after the Norman Invasion of 1066, the castle was a strategically located stronghold guarding the river crossings that linked the Forest of Dean, Celtic Gwent and Archenfield. Henry V was born here in 1387. During the Civil War it was held by both the Royalists and the Roundheads.

Only a fragment is left of this once important castle; the curtain wall, gatehouse and great round keep, which stood until the Civil War where the Great House now stands, have all completely vanished. All that is left is the ruined Great Tower and Hall. These stand on the edge of a precipitous slope down to the river Monnow, on the west side of what was the castle ward. This was roughly circular, surrounded on the west and north by the river and on the east and south by a wall and ditch, which is still partly apparent in the gardens behind Agincourt Square. Half-way along Castle Hill Road was the entrance, consisting of a bridge and strong gatehouse.

William fitz Osbern chose this strategic position, guarding crossings of the Wye and Monnow rivers, for one of his marcher castles sometime between 1067 and 1071, when he died. The Great Tower is similar in style to that at Chepstow, and was certainly built by about 1150. What can be seen are parts of its east and south sides. The west side fell in 1647, the north-west side remains but can not be seen from the town side, and a house lies over the rest. This was a fine early Norman rectangular two-storied building with the hall and main apartments on the main floor and a cellar or undercroft below. The east wall displays some Norman features: the small round-headed windows, the fragment of simple string course and the flat pilaster buttress in the south-east corner, one of a series which originally continued all along the wall. The entrance was at first-floor level on the south side. The castle was held uneventfully by Norman lords as the headquarters of an independent lordship until 1267, when it was granted with the Three Castles (White, Grosmont, and Skenfrith) to Henry III's son, Edmund Crouchback, when he became earl of Lancaster. He immediately built the large rectangular building to the south of the Great Tower, known as the hall. It was a single storey building containing one large room used for the holding of courts. It continued in use as such right up to the 17th century.

All the walls, except the north, stand almost to their full height. The entrance was the gap in the wall in the north-east corner, on the west side of which a moulded base of a door jamb is visible. The fireplace was in the middle of the north wall, and there were windows, now blocked, in the south wall. A later medieval window, also blocked, was inserted in the east wall. In the mid-14th century, during the lordship of Henry of Grosmont, 1st duke of Lancaster, the upper part of the Great Tower was transformed by the insertion of large decorated windows. The elaborate frame of one of these is visible in the east wall. The original entrance was replaced by a tall door, and the tower was re-roofed. At this stage, 12th-century corbels of carved heads were reset high up in the east hall, where they are still visible. This tower was almost certainly the birthplace of the future King Henry V in 1387. The end came for the castle in the Civil War, when it changed hands three times and was eventually slighted by the Parliamentarians. A local man's diary for 1647 records that on 30 March the townsmen and soldiers began pulling down the great round tower, which stood where Great Castle House now stands, and that on 22 December 'about 12 o'clock, the Tower in the castle of Monmouth fell down, upon its side, whilst we were at sermon'. The Great Castle House, built in 1673 by Henry Somerset, later the duke of Beaufort, was to replace Raglan as his family's residence in the country following the Civil War. In 1875 the house became the headquarters of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia), and as such it remains one of the few British castles still in military occupation. (Castle viewing from nearby parade ground only).

Great Castle House constructed from the original castle stone by the Marquis of Worcester in 1673. Its architecture had great impact on other buildings in the town. For many years it has been the home of The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.