Soon after leaving Abergavenny the classic portico of Coldbrook House, in its large park, is passed upon the left. Looking backwards over the route, the picturesque situation of Abergavenny is seen, with the Sugar Loaf, nearly 2,000 feet in height, towering up beyond. Upon the right Blorenge Hill stands out boldly, a great rounded mass clothed with plantations to the summit. It is a prominent feature in the landscape for some time.
Between Abergavenny and Llanvihangel-on-Usk the road follows the railway-line and the river, and at the latter place a pretty stretch of Usk scenery is met, while the fine church of Llangattock-juxta-Usk, where there are some awkward turnings in the road, is well worth a visit. Just beyond Llanvihangel the road to Raglan branches off to the left, and a glance backwards shows the great mass of the Brecknock Beacons silhouetted against the western sky. Clytha Castle, a building dating from 1790, stands near this parting of the ways. Although so near the border-line between England and Wales, the stereotyped whitewashed cottages of Wales are still to be seen.
RAGLAN
The road to the castle turns to the left in the middle of the village, and stops abruptly at a meadow in which are the entrance-gates. (Admission to the castle 6d. at any reasonable time on weekdays; on Sundays from 2.30 to 5.)
A description of Raglan Castle that will give an approximate idea of the exquisite beauty of this ruin has yet to be written; many have attempted it, but all have fallen short of the charming reality. It is a poem in stone; a crystallized ideal of all that was beautiful in medieval architecture; the embodiment of centuries of progressive emulation in castle-building, now mellowed by the hand of time, and with its corners and rough edges covered by clinging masses of creepers. It is eminently the most beautiful ruin to be met with in this western tour. The chief characteristic is undoubtedly the detached keep, which was built after the main structure; the element of romance and mystery haunts one while looking down upon the dark waters of the moat encircling this keep, and one feels a disinclination to leave the place, although other castles await one. No part of the building is of a date anterior to Henry V., and it was chiefly erected by Sir William ap Thomas and his son, William, Earl of Pembroke, who was beheaded in 1469.
Subsequent architecture, however, may be traced down to the time of Charles I. It came into the possession of the Beaufort family (the present owner is the Duke of that name) by the marriage of an ancestor. The Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., was a prisoner here for a time, and Charles I. sought refuge within these walls after Naseby, in 1645. It was besieged by Fairfax in 1646, and dismantled by Act of Parliament.
Raglan Church is not worthy of much attention if time is short. The tower was rebuilt, it is said, after having been demolished for strategic purposes by Cromwell's orders.
USK
Usk was formerly a Roman station, and in the immediate vicinity there are several encampments, both Roman and British, where excellent views are obtainable over the surrounding country, reaching to the mountains near Abergavenny and to the wooded summits about Monmouth.
The Castle, now dismantled and covered with ivy, stands upon a prominent hill to the north; the Parliamentarians were responsible for its destruction.