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Abergavenny in Monmouth County England History and GeographyABERGAVENNY, a parish, partly in the upper, but chiefly in the lower division of the hundred of ABERGAVENNY, county of MONMOUTH, comprising the market town of Abergavenny, and the hamlets of Hardwicke and Lloind?, and containing 3592 inhabitants, of which number, 3388 are in the town, which is in the lower division of the hundred, 14 miles (W. by N.) from Monmouth, and 143 (W. by N.) from London, on the road to Milford-Haven. This was the Gobannium of Antoninus, a Roman station so called from the river Gobannius, now the Gavenny, from which its present appellation is formed, by prefixing the word Aber, denoting its situation near the mouth of that river. Soon after the Conquest, a castle was erected here by Hameline de Balun, or Baladun, one of William's followers, who also founded a priory for Benedictine monks, in honour of the blessed Virgin. Of the former, the remains are considerable, of the latter, scarcely a vestige can be seen. The town is situated at the extremity of a pass where the mountains abruptly terminate, and is watered by the rivers Usk, Gavenny, and Kibby, over the first of which, is a beautiful ancient bridge of fifteen arches. The salubrity of the air, and the picturesque scenery attract numerous visitors during the summer months. The streets are narrow, and the houses irregularly built; but considerable improvements have been made by the enlargement of the market-place, and the removal of numerous projections in front of the buildings. Assemblies are oceasionally held here during the winter, chiefly for the promotion of charitable purposes. The principal trade is in wool, a considerable quantity being sold on the market days during the months of June and July. The mountains in the neighbourhood abound with coal and iron stone, and, in the surrounding districts, numerous iron works have been established, which are rapidly increasing. The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, passing within half a mile of the town, affords great facility in distributing the produce of the mines to every part of the kingdom, and to the south of France. The market days are Tuesday and Saturday, the latter principally for corn: the fairs are held on the third Tuesday in March, May 14th, June 24th, the Tuesday before July 20th, Sept. 25th, and Nov. 19th. The charter of incorporation, by which the government of the town was vested in a bailiff, recorder, and twenty-seven burgesses, having become forfeited in the reign of William III., the town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold a petty session every Tuesday. A court of requests, for the recovery of debts under 40s., is held under the Lord of the Manor, the authority of which extends over a district ten miles in circuit. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry, and diocese of Llandaff, rated in the king's books at £10. 0. 7½., and endowed with £600 royal bounty. T. Swinnerton, Esq. was patron in 1803. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious structure in the Norman style of architecture, and contains several very ancient monuments. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The free grammar school, founded by Henry VIII., and formerly under the management of the corporation, was, on the forfeiture of their charter, placed under the control of the master and fellows of Jesus' College, Oxford. The number of scholars on the foundation is eighteen, and the school house, formerly the parochial church of St. John, was converted to this purpose at the dissolution. About the middle of the last century it was rebuilt, but still, from its embattled tower, it presents the appearance of an ecclesiastical structure. William Prichard, in 1623, founded a scholarship in Jesus' College, Oxford, to which boys educated at this school are eligible. There are, also, a Lancasterian, and several Sunday schools. A variety of Roman coins, among which was a gold Otho, some bricks inscribed 'Leg. II. Aug.' and a sudatory, have been discovered in the town; and within half a mile of it, are the remains of a Roman camp. At Lloynd?, a hamlet in this parish, is a mineral spring, said to have been efficacious in the cure of scrofula. Abergavenny confers the title of earl on the family of Neville; the earldom, like that of Arundel, is a local dignity, attached to the possession of the castle, and the only one, now subsisting, of those baronies with which the Norman warriors, who assisted in the subjugation of Wales, were rewarded. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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