Chepstow Totally Explained

Everything about Chepstow totally explained

Chepstow (Welsh: Cas-gwent) is a town in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the River Wye, close to its confluence with the River Severn, and close to the western end of the Severn Bridge on the M48 motorway. It is 16 miles east of Newport and 124 miles west of London.
Chepstow is most notable for its castle, the oldest surviving stone castle in Britain, and for Chepstow Racecourse which hosts the Welsh Grand National. The town is on the west bank of the Wye; adjoining villages on the eastern bank of the Wye, Tutshill and Sedbury, are located in England.

History

Origins of the name

The centre of Chepstow sits on the River Wye, about 2 miles upstream of its confluence with the River Severn. The location was named Striguil (or Estrighoiel) in Norman times - from the Welsh word ystraigyl meaning a bend in the river - but by about the 14th century had become known in English as Chepstow, from the old English ceap / chepe stowe meaning market place. The Welsh name for the town, Cas-gwent, means "castle of Gwent", the name Gwent itself deriving ultimately from the Roman name Venta applied to what is now called Caerwent, some 6 miles west of Chepstow.

Early settlement

The oldest known site of human habitation around Chepstow is at Thornwell, near the modern motorway junction, where archaeological investigations in advance of recent housing development revealed continuous human occupation from the Mesolithic period of around 5000 BC until the end of the Roman period, about 400 AD. There are also Iron Age fortified camps in the area, at Bulwark and Piercefield, dating from the time of the Silures. Later, there was a Roman bridge or ford over the Wye, probably at Castleford about 1 mile upstream of the existing town bridge. Chepstow is located at a crossing point directly between the Roman towns at Gloucester and Caerwent. Although historians think it likely that there was a small Roman fort in the area, the only evidence found so far has been of Roman material and burials, rather than buildings.
After the Romans left, Chepstow was part of the Kingdom of Gwent. An Augustinian priory was established during this period, dedicated to St. Cynfarch (alternatively Cynmarch, Kynemark or Kingsmark) a disciple of St. Dyfrig. Few remains have been found of the priory, which was located in the area originally called Llangynfarch, now a suburban housing estate. It was eventually superseded by the later Norman priory.

Industries

In addition to being a market town, Chepstow was from medieval times the largest port in Wales. Chepstow was still a bustling port of substance, when during the period of 1790 to 1795 it clearly shows record of a greater tonnage of goods handled than Swansea, Cardiff & Newport combined. Although it mainly traded in timber from the Wye Valley and with Bristol, in the medieval period, records show that Chepstow ships sailed as far afield as Iceland and Turkey, as well as to France, Portugal and Ireland. Ships, including many built and launched in Chepstow clearly sailed the world and in 1840, leaders of the Chartist insurrection in Newport were transported from Chepstow to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
   Other goods exported from Chepstow over the years included wire made in the many mills on the tributaries of the Wye, leather which was tanned with the bark of the forest's oaks, and paper primarily from Mounton Mill which produced the first high grade security paper used by the Bank of England for the printing of bank notes. An important aspect of Chepstow's trade has been entrepôt trade bringing larger cargoes into the manageable deep water of the Wye on high tide and breaking down the load for on shipment in the many trows up the Wye to Hereford past the coin stamping mill at Redbrook, or up the Severn to Gloucester and beyond. Chepstow also traded across the estuary to Bristol on suitable tides to work vessels up and down the Avon to that city's centre.
   The port function and local shipbuilding trade declined during the 19th century as ship design developed and the cities of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea became more suitable for handling the bulk export of coal and steel from the Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire valleys. Shipbuilding was briefly revived during the First World War when the first prefabricated ships were constructed. Ships like The War Glory & The War Illiad were constructed and launched primarily from the slipways on the Chepstow side, where 10,000 tons was the manageable limit. The last of these ships was recorded as lost at sea in the South Atlantic losing all hands, whilst carrying a cargo of grain in 1956.
The area known as "Garden City" and parts of Bulwark Village were built to house the workers that were brought to Chepstow from 1917 to work in the new National Shipyard no.1. The Bulwark area is now home to about two thirds of the population of Chepstow.
   The shipyard developed on the site where the Wye railway bridge had been constructed, and was subsequently taken over by the engineering firm Fairfield Mabey, who specialise in steelwork producing spans for bridges and other structures. One such structure was the lock gate for Avonmouth Docks where during delivery a squall struck the gates and the delivery crew were swept off and lost. Other local industries have included the material for artificial ski slopes, developed at the "Dendix" brush factory, which in its time was a producer of everything from small specialist brushes to huge industrial brushes.
   Chepstow, by virtue of its having been the head office of the Red & White bus company (on Bulwark Road), grew and spawned BST, which in turn owned and controlled PUTCO, the Public Utility Bus Company that ran the majority of the buses of Africa. The town also had links with the international snuff trade through Singleton's Snuff.

Transport

The old cast iron road bridge across the Wye, dating from 1816 and designed by John Rastrick, is an elegant example of engineering from the Regency period. The bridge comprises five cast-iron arches carried on stone piers and has a central span of 112 ft. It succeeded a number of wooden predecessors which had been built on or near the same site since at least 1228, and possibly much earlier. In 1576 the bridge was described as being in great decay, and an Act was passed making Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire responsible for the repair of their respective halves. Neglect continued, however, and in 1606 the bridge was said to have fallen down and been carried away. By the beginning of the 18th century the bridge comprised a wooden decking carried by a central stone pier and five piers on either side each formed by a number of timber piles. The Monmouthshire half of the bridge was rebuilt as four stone arches in 1785, but the Gloucestershire half remained timber until 1815 when rebuilding of the whole bridge was begun to the overall plans of John Rennie, as modified by Rastrick .
Until the Severn Bridge - now part of the M48 - was opened in 1966, and a new A48 bridge over the Wye in 1988, the old bridge carried all the road traffic between England and South Wales. The Severn Bridge has the second longest span of any bridge in the UK; it replaced the Aust-Beachley ferry. Chepstow railway station is on the Gloucester to Newport Line. The railway bridge over the Wye was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1852, but the original structure was replaced in the 1960s. Until 1959, passenger trains operated up the Wye Valley to Monmouth - this service ceased owing to heavy financial losses.

The town today

Chepstow town centre has over 130 shops within walking distance of 1000 car park spaces. There are 16 hotels, bars and pubs, and 15 restaurants and cafes. Chepstow Community Hospital was opened in 2002 as a PFI funded hospital and several new housing estates have been developed across the town. Over £2 million has recently been invested in regenerating the town centre. This scheme, which includes new sculptures and other public art, encountered some local criticism over its high cost, but has gained several national awards reflecting its high design quality.
   The area beside the river has been attractively landscaped as part of a flood defence scheme. The town holds a biennial festival, an annual folk festival, and has also organised major son et lumiere pageants covering aspects of local history, using local residents under professional direction. There is also a local museum, opposite the Castle entrance.
   There are industrial estates at Bulwark and close to the railway station, and a distribution centre on the edge of the town adjoining the junction with the M48 motorway. There has been housing development in recent years, particularly at the Bayfield estate west of the A466. Chepstow Racecourse is the leading horse racing facility and course in Wales. It is located on the edge of the town, in the grounds of the ruined Piercefield House. Sundays see a large market set up on the racecourse grounds which is attended by vendors from as far afield as Birmingham, London, Kent and beyond. During the course of the year the racecourse hosts hobby and antique fairs.
   Chepstow also has many schools including Chepstow School. One of the co-education semi-boarding schools is St Johns on the Hill, on the outskirts towards Tutshill. There are also a number of churches in Chepstow, including non-conformist denominations.
   Nearby are the Royal Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley. Tintern Abbey is about 5 miles distant. Some residents of the town commute to Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and elsewhere.
   Chepstow is twinned with Cormeilles, France.

Notable people from Chepstow

William Bedloe (1650-1680), anti-Catholic informer.
James Stephens (1821-1889), stonemason, Chartist, and leading Australian trade unionist.
Eleanor Anne Ormerod (1828-1901), leading entomologist, was born at nearby Sedbury Park.
J. K. Rowling (born 1965), author of the Harry Potter books, lived in the adjoining village of Tutshill (overlooking the Castle) from the age of 9, and attended secondary school at Wyedean School.
Grant Nicholas (born 1967) of the band Feeder grew up in Pwllmeyric, just outside Chepstow.
Paul Parry (born 1980), Welsh international footballer, playing for Cardiff City.

References and sources

Ivor Waters (1972) The Town of Chepstow

Ivor Waters Numerous other books and pamphlets by this local historian

Anne Rainsbury (ed.) (1989) Chepstow and the River Wye in old photographs

Rick Turner & Andy Johnson (eds.) (2006) Chepstow Castle - its history and buildingsFurther Information

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