CHEPSTOW

'Chepstow' (Welsh: ''Cas-gwent'') is a town on the Wales—England (Monmouthshire—Gloucestershire) border, situated at the confluence of the River Wye and River Severn on the Severn's west bank. It is famous for its castle and racecourse, which hosts the Welsh Grand National. Chepstow proper is on the west bank of the Wye, within Wales; the English part on the eastern bank consists of Tutshill and Sedbury.

Contents

History

Industries

Transport

The town today

Notable people from Chepstow

Sources

External links

History

Chepstow sits upstream of the confluence of the River Wye and River Severn. There has been a settlement on the site since at least the early Middle Ages. It was named Striguil in Norman times - from the Welsh word ''ystraigyl'' meaning a bend in the river - but became known as Chepstow from the old English ''ceap / chepe stowe'' meaning market place.
The oldest areas of known habitation are the Iron Age fortified camps at Bulwark [1] and Piercefield. Later, there may have been a Roman bridge or ford over the Wye, either near the existing bridge or about 1 mile upstream at Castleford. Chepstow is located at a crossing point directly between the Roman towns of Gloucester and Caerwent. The town is also close to the southern point of Offa's Dyke, which begins on the east bank of the Wye and runs all the way to the Irish Sea in north Wales. This was built in about the 8th century as a boundary between English and Welsh kingdoms, although recent research cited in the page on Offa's Dyke suggests that the part near Chepstow may not actually be part of the original Dyke.
Chepstow Castle is the oldest surviving stone fortification in Britain. After the Norman Invasion Chepstow was identified as an ideal site for a castle, as it not only controlled a crossing point on the River Wye, but also because the steep limestone gorge and castle dell afforded an excellent defensive location. William the Conqueror ordered its construction in 1067, and, according to the Domesday Book, it was designed by the master castle builder of the time, William fitzOsbern. The speed with which William the Conqueror committed to the creation of a castle in Chepstow is testament to its strategic importance. At the time, the kingdoms in the area were independent of the English crown and the castle in Chepstow provided a way to suppress the Welsh from attacking Gloucestershire. From the 14th century, with the end of the wars between England and Wales, the castle's importance declined.
A town grew up beside the castle, the Priory church, and the port, and in 1294 Chepstow was given the right to hold a weekly market and annual fair. It flourished partly because it was exempt from English taxation. The town wall, locally known as the Port Wall, was built about this time, and mostly still stands. Particularly good sections can be seen at the Welsh Street car park, and either side of the A48 road. The Town Gate through the wall at the top end of the High Street was rebuilt in the 16th century and was used as a toll gate.
The most significant church in Chepstow is the Parish and Priory Church of St Mary, located at the bottom of the town. It, like the castle, is Norman in origin, although much rebuilt and extended in later centuries. St Mary's was the centre of a religious community with a convent and school, the remains of which are buried under the adjoining car park. Benedictine monks from Cormeilles in Normandy, Chepstow's twin town, were there until the Dissolution of the Monasteries from 1536.

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, and some of the industry of the town is based at the Bulwark Trading Estate.
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 of and lost. Other local industries have included the material for artificial ski slopes, developed at the "Dendix" brush factory, which in its time was one of the major producers of everything from small specialist brushes to huge industrial brushes.
Chepstow, by virtue of its having been the head office of Red & White Bus Co. (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. [2]
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 losses.

The town today

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 town centre has a good range of shops, pubs and restaurants. The area beside the river has been attractively landscaped as part of a flood defence scheme. The town holds a biennial festival, and in most recent years has also organised major son et lumiere pageants covering aspects of local history, using local residents under professional direction. There is also an excellent local museum, opposite the Castle entrance.
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 an extensive 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 a number of hobbies and antique fairs.
Chepstow also has many excellent schools including Chepstow School. One of the best co-education semi-boarding schools St Johns on the Hill is located on the outskirts towards Tutshill. There are also a number of churches in Chepstow, including a variety of non-conformist denominations.
Nearby are the Royal Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley. Tintern Abbey is about 5 miles distant. Many current residents of the town commute to Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and elsewhere.
Chepstow is twinned with Cormeilles

Notable people from Chepstow

★ 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 from the age of 9, and attended secondary school at Wyedean School. (Some other websites state wrongly that she was born in the town; she was actually born at Chipping Sodbury maternity hospital in Yate, and in early childhood lived at Winterbourne, Gloucestershire.)

★ Grant Nicholas (born 1967) of the band Feeder grew up in Pwllmeyric, just outside Chepstow.

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 buildings''

External links

★ Chepstow Town Council

★ Chepstow Town Crier Online Magazine

★ The Chepstow Society

★ Local history site

★ Chepstow Castle

★ Chepstow Castle

★ Chepstow School

★ Chepstow Racecourse

★ Town centre regeneration

★ Further information on regeneration scheme

★ The River Severn