A tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire

by J. T. Barber

The subterraneous appendages of the castle are uncommonly extensive, according with the great plan of the building; eastward of which is the grange and out-houses, now converted into a farming habitation.—Raglan Castle was one of the latest that held out for the royal cause against Cromwell; and the intrenchments raised for its defence, and against it, may be readily traced in the adjoining fields. [219]

Returning from this interesting ruin, we passed Raglan church, a small Gothic building, containing a few mutilated monuments of the Beaufort and Worcester families; and proceeded on the turnpike-road to Chepstow.

Our route soon took a long and laborious ascent, from the summit of which we obtained an extensive view over the middle parts of Monmouthshire, an undulating tract of uncommon fertility and high cultivation. The line of distant mountains that we admired in the approach to Usk, here appeared strongly diversified and singularly picturesque, with the continuous ridge of the Black mountains to the west. Another considerable height about three miles further commanded a similar view; from which a short ride led us to the summit of the Devaudon; a remarkable elevation, whence a prodigious view is ordinarily obtained, not only over the country northward, but in the opposite direction, over the Bristol channel and its opposing shores. A severe shower, however, obliged us to relinquish this view, and seek shelter beneath the boughs of Chepstow park, as we branched off on the turnpike towards Caerwent.

Upon the storm abating, we wound down the Devaudon, and descended into an agreeable valley, whose opposite hills were clothed with wild forest-trees: the decayed town of Share Newton occupied the summit of a high hill bordering the vale in the direction of our route. We passed through this town (a mere collection of cottages), and about half way towards the village of Crick turned off the road to visit Wrunston, an ecclesiastical ruin concealed in a sequestered thicket. The picturesque remnant of a small chapel is the only part standing; but extensive foundations and broad causeways declare the place to have been once considerable.—From Crick, a genteel village, we proceeded over an old Roman causeway [222] to Caerwent, the Venta Silurum of the Romans.

Caerwent occupies a gently-inclining plane in a low situation. A few small dwellings mark the site of the ancient town; the fortifications of which form an oblong paralellogram, whose width is equal to two-ninths of its length, with the corners a little rounded; a frequent figure in Roman military works, called Terriata castra. The corners of the walls nearly correspond with the four cardinal points. On the south-west side are three pentagonal bastions; from which circumstance some authors have conjectured the erection of the town to have taken place under the lower empire, as flanking projections were not in use before that period; but it is justly supposed to be equally probable, that they were added after the general embattlement. The circuit of the rampart, near a mile in extent, may still be traced, in most places surrounded by a deep moat; the wall is constructed of grout-work faced with squared lime-stone; but the facings have been for the most part removed for private uses. From the present ruinous state of the walls, we cannot speak with certainty of their former height; but it appears to have varied considerably; perhaps eighteen feet may be a good medium: they are about twelve feet in thickness at their base, and nine at top. A fragment of the wall, nearly twenty feet in length and twelve high, has fallen near the southern angle; and, although the ponderous ruin revolved in its fall, the mass remains unshattered and impenetrable. Such is the boundary of a spot once crowded with palaces and temples: at present, the church and parsonage, a farm-house, a public-house, and a few scattered cottages, chiefly built with squared stones of the Roman town, are the only buildings on the area, which is generally laid out in fields and orchards. But ancient foundations, projecting above the level, and concealed under green hillocks, rise in many places; and elegant columns, tesselated pavements, and coins, are continually met with in ploughing and digging.

We saw a tesselated or mosaic pavement, that was formerly much admired, in an orchard behind the farm-house; which is thus described by Mr. Wyndham in his tour, performed between thirty and forty years since: “The pavement is in length twenty-one feet six inches, and in breadth eighteen feet. A border, edged with the Greek scroll and fret, surrounds the whole; but on the north side, the border, being upwards of three feet, is much broader than the other side. This was designed in order to reduce the circles within a square. These circles are about three feet in diameter, and are encircled with a variety of elegant ornaments, and separated from each other by regular and equal distances. I think there are thirteen of these circles. The pieces of which the pavement is composed are nearly square, the breadth of them being about the size of a common die. These are of various colours, blue, white, yellow, and red; the first and second are of stone, and the yellow and red are of terra cotta. By a judicious mixture of these colours, the whole pattern is as strongly described as it would have been in oil colours. The original level is perfectly preserved; and the whole composition is so elegant and well executed, that I think it has not been surpassed by any mosaic pavement that has been discovered on this, or even on the other side of the Alps. In my opinion, it is equal to those beautiful pavements which are preserved in the palace of the king of Naples at Portice. I am strongly inclined to think that it is of the same age of Agricola.” On this pavement being discovered, a building was erected to shelter it from the weather, by order of the proprietor, Mr. Lewis, of St. Pierre; but the brewhouse wanted a roof, and this, being found of similar dimensions, was transferred to the brewhouse; the farmer holding his ale in much greater veneration than relics of antiquity. In consequence of neglect, this curiosity is no longer an object of beauty; exposed to the weather, the surface became broken up; every one being allowed to take away as many of the tesseræ as he pleased; but a small portion remains; and that is so overgrown with grass as to be with difficulty distinguished. In this orchard, and near the southern extremity of the wall, is a mound, which is most probably the site of the exploratory, or watch-tower.

CHAP. XV.

WENTWOOD FOREST—EXCURSION TO THE CASTLES OF DINHAM; LANVAIR; STRIGUIL; PENCOED; AND PENHOW—COMPRISING EXTENSIVE VIEWS FROM THE PENCAMAWR, &C.—CALDECOT CASTLE—A TALE OF OTHER TIMES—NEW PASSAGE—SUDBROOK ENCAMPMENT—AND CHAPEL—ST. PIERRE—MATHERN PALACE—MOINSCOURT.

Having satisfied ourselves with the antiquities of Caerwent, we planned an excursion, to comprise the six castles mentioned by the author of “Secret Memoirs of Monmouthshire” as surrounding the forest of Wentwood. These were erected soon after the Normans established themselves in Monmouthshire, in order to keep the natives in check, who were wont to sally from their impenetrable fastnesses in the woods, and take a severe revenge on their conquerors and oppressors. Great part of this forest still exists in its original wildness, although it has been considerably curtailed by late enclosures. The castles enumerated are, Dinham, Penhow, Pencoed, Lanvasches, Lanvair, and Castrogy or Striguil. On a bridle-road, extending to Share Newton, we proceeded to the village of Dinham, a poor place consisting of a few farm-houses and cottages: we had some difficulty in discovering the ruins of its castle, which consist of some low walls obscured by trees; merely pointing out its site on a gentle eminence near the borders of the forest. The ruin is called in the neighbourhood the old chapel. There being nothing here to fix our attention, we made the best of our way to Lanvair Castle, situated on a small rise about two miles from Caerwent, near the road to Usk. In our approach to the ruin, an effect caught through intervening trees was pleasing and picturesque; but the ruin aspires not to grandeur, and is in a great degree concealed by embowering verdure: a nearer inspection of the castle increased our opinion of its former extent and prowess; large foundations are evident; and the walls are nowhere less than seven feet in thickness: a square and two round towers are the most conspicuous features of the ruin, which is in part moulded into a farm-house: the area of the principal court is employed as a kitchen-garden. Beneath the castellated eminence is the village-church, a simple rustic building; passing which, and proceeding on the road to Usk, we quickly entered the forest of Wentwood. In this tract a dreary ride among dark woods, and russet heaths, laboriously ascending, brought us to the Pencamawr summit; a remarkable eminence in the long ridge of hills crossing the midland parts of Monmouthshire, from the vicinity of Caerleon to the banks of the Wye near Landago.

Here a prospect greatly extensive opened to us. Beyond the wild region prevailing about our eminence, broken into a rapid succession of high hills and deep valleys, the winding Usk, with its emeraldic valley, accompanied with numerous villas and rich hanging woods, appeared in all its beauty. The bold character of the foreground, soon melting into a gentle undulation, displayed a scene of cultivation and productiveness of great extent; while, afar off, the line of distant mountains about Abergavenny, which we had before admired, again presented itself; somewhat varied, but not diminished in excellence. Nor was the view southward less extensive, comprehending a great part of the Bristol channel, with its receding coast.