Monmouthshire has 200 scheduled monuments. The 46 prehistoric scheduled sites include burial sites, enclosures and 16 hill forts. Ten sites date from the Roman period, including four villas. There are four early Christian sites from early medieval times. The 101 sites from the medieval post-Norman period include spectacular castles and hidden castle mounds, remote dwellings, grand abbeys, holy wells, stones and churches. Finally the modern period has a 39 sites, including a very wide range of early industrial activities.
Scheduled monuments have statutory protection. The compilation of the list is undertaken by Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments, which is an executive agency of the Welsh Government.[1] The list of scheduled monuments below is supplied by Cadw[2] with additional material from RCAHMW and Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust.
Two burial mounds now within a Chepstow housing estate. One may be a Neolithic long barrow, with stone chambers. The other is a Bronze Age round barrow.
The 1.7m high stone is in 'Priest's Meadow', and is claimed to be the spot where St Cybi pitched his tent when arriving in the 6th century. Also known as Waen-y-'Ffeirad.
Evidence of a significant neolithic chambered tomb or long barrow. A small group of puddingstones mark the entrance of the site. Human skeletons, cattle bones and some pottery were discovered in the chamber when it was excavated in 1888.
Three large monoliths, made of puddingstone, aligned from northeast by east to southwest by west. Local legends say that the stones were thrown by Jack o' Kent from the summit of the Skirrid, over twelve miles away.[11]: 45
A round barrow (41m in diameter and 1.5m high). Excavations in 1939 and 1979 found Bronze Age flint tools, funerary remains, and a stone kerb ring 29m in diameter. Some of the cup stones may have been used for astronomical observations.[13]
A roughly oval hilltop fort (140m by 100m), with an area of about 6.56hectares.[36] Originally univallate, but expansion in the 2nd century BC added further banks. Archaeological investigations have indicated occupation during Roman times and in the 12th and 13th centuries.
A roughly D-shaped hill top fort (140m by 100m), with an area of about 1.24hectares.[36] The north is protected by a steep slope, with a bank and ditch around the rest of the site.
A small defensive hill fort, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye, the Beachley peninsula and the Severn estuary. It was probably built around the first century BC or the first century AD.
A roughly rectangular hill top fort (140m by 70m), with an area of about 4.17hectares.[36] The fort is at the south end of Hatterall Hill with the ground sloping away to the east, south and west. The site is divided by a West-East bank and ditch. This may indicate the northern part is the oldest and extended later to include the southern part. Offa's Dyke Path passes through the site.
An elongated oval summit hill fort (roughly 225m by 85m), with an area of about2.97 hectares.[36] The fort occupies the top of Gaer hill and is split into three enclosures. Excavations in the 1960s and 1970s discovered jewellery, tools, ovens, signs of metal working, and traces of timber housing.
An oval univallate hill fort, of roughly 2.00 hectares[36] at the northern edge of a ridge. The fort includes a complex entrance, possibly a causeway, at the south-east of the site.
A roughly oval multivallate hill fort on a spur with an area of 3.50 hectares.[36] The hill fort is surrounded by steep slopes to the west, north, and east. The site is broken up by lanes and field boundaries.
An oval bivallate fort situated on a ridge, roughly 92m by 86m with an area of 1.59hectares.[36] The sites contains a disused quarry from much later times.
Also known as Caerau Hill fort. The univallate fort is roughly circular (100m by 75m), sited on a natural prominence, with an area of 0.70hectares.[36]
A hilltop fort with commanding views. The fort includes roughly rectangular inner area (46m x 68m), inside a larger, roughly circular enclosure (240m x 254m).
The smaller (westerly) univallate fort is roughly rectangular (98m x 82m), with an area of 0.20hectares.[36] The Wye Valley Walk passes through the site.
The larger (easterly) univallate fort is also roughly rectangular (388m x 110m).
An elongated roughly oval multivallate hill fort at the northern end of a mountain ridge. The area of the hill fort includes the foundations of St Michael's Chapel.
The foundations of a medieval chapel (4m north-south by 7.5m east-west) at the northern end of a mountain ridge. The chapel lies within the area of the Skirrid Fawr hill fort.
Fortified site since prehistoric times. 11th century Norman motte, with major building during 13th and 14th centuries. The keep was rebuilt in the 19th century and now houses a museum.
An extensive stone medieval castle (probably built on the site of an older earthwork castle) dated from the 13th and 14th century with some changes in the 15th century, and substantially restored and rebuilt in the 19th century.[72]: 15–18
Also known as Ballan Moor and Mount Ballan. A small motte with a large D-shaped bailey, in a low-lying, marshy area.[78]: 255 Probably built by the Ballon family in the late 11th century or early 12th century.[72]: 55
The castle is the most southerly of the Welsh Marches castles, overlooking the River Wye. Constructed in the late 11th century with 12th- and 13th-century additions.
A roughly rectangular castle sited on the summit of a ridge. Probably built in the early 14th century. The castle is largely ruinous but parts of walls and towers remain. Replaced an earlier motte and bailey (Llangibby Castle Mound) 400m to the east.
Also known as Bowling Green. A large low flat-topped circular mound. The site was heavily landscaped in the 18th century. Generally supposed to pre-date the nearby Llangibby Castle, but may post-date the castle.[78]: 237
A fortified court house, or llys, of Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, lord of Over Gwent (Gwent Uwchcoed), before it was destroyed after Seisyll and some of his household were killed in 1175. Minor earthwork remains.
A ditched motte, about 30m in diameter and 6.0m high, standing towards the south of an irregular oval enclosure defined by a ditch. It is possibly the castle mentioned as being demolished c.1252.
Norman in origins, it was first known as Llantilio Castle, but called the White Castle (after its whitewashed walls) from the 13th century. One of 'The Three Castles'[c] in the Monnow valley.
Courtfield is a domestic site comprising a central 'platform' measuring 60m (NE-SW) by 45m, embanked on the NE, surrounded by a ditch up to 1.2m deep and an outer bank 0.5m high; traces of bank and ditch projecting NW from the N corner are still visible.
Two large roughly rectangular enclosures surrounded by ditches and the River Trothy. Constructed in 1184 but immediately raided. The shape and size are unusual for a motte and bailey in the region, and may have been the start of a masonry castle. Excavations in 1969 found no masonry remains. May have been abandoned, or built using wood pallisades, as the castle was noted in 1469. Possibly intended as a replacement for the nearby Mill Wood Castle Mound.[72]: 26
A mediaeval linear defensive earthwork or moat, constructed as protection for the faubourg of Overmonnow, on the opposite side of the River Monnow from the town and castle of Monmouth.
A low earth mound (30m by 40m and 2m high) surrounded by a ditch. Excavations found pottery indicating occupation in Roman times and the 11th and 12th centuries. No evidence of a motte or bailey. Possibly a moated site.[78]: 186
Built on the site of an early Norman border castle, the only parts now visible are parts of the Great Tower (11th - 12th century), Hall (13th century), and parts of walls.
An excavation was carried out for the TV programme Time Team, broadcast on 30 March 2008. The excavation revealed that a Norman fortified tower house had existed on the site, probably contemporaneous with the nearby church, and reached by a creek off the Severn
From 1250 to its decline around 1600, Trellech was a booming iron-melting centre. The scheduled area is close to the present village centre but an ongoing archaeological dig further south has found many building foundations.
A steep-sided ditched mound (36m in diameter and 5.5m high). Mentioned in 1231 and later referred to as "site of" in 1306. Recent excavations and investigation suggest a Motte and Bailey castle, built early in the period of the Norman conquest of the area.[78]: 332
A well preserved post-medieval slip compromising of a cambered cobbled slipway some 25m long by 2.6m wide, sloping at an angle of 10degrees. The final 5.0m of the slipway forms a flight of shallow steps down to the low-tide mark in the River Wye
Early industrial site, manufacturing wire from the 16th to the 19th centuries. It was part of an integrated iron production system, sited along the Angidy Valley. The manufacture of wire was the final stage in the process, closest to the River Wye, at the foot of the valley.
A well-preserved limekiln and quarry with associated earthworks. The kiln is of a Wye Valley type, roughly 4m high and 6.5m long, built into the bank to the south of the quarry.
Pen-ffordd-goch is also known as The Keepers. The site is connected with the Hanbury estate from the 17th century and Blaenavon Ironworks from about 1788. The remains of scouring and adit mining include leats, ponds, dams, scours, levels, tips, shaft mounds, tracks and tramroads.
Angidy Ironworks. Also known as 'The Old Blast Furnace', it smelted Iron from the 1590s to the 1820s. It was a key part of the industrial metalworking of the Angidy Valley, producing iron for the wireworks further down the valley.
Semi-octagonal platform with a semi-circular stone seat with views of the Wye Valley and cliffs below Chepstow castle. The first of the viewpoints constructed in around 1850, for the Piercefield walk. Originally roofed with an arch.[205]
A small domed alcove made of brick and built to provide a shaded seat with spectacular views across the Wye Valley, and originally lined with iron cinders, copper and quartz.[205] One of the features on the Piercefield Walk.
The Cadw schedule on which this list is based makes no distinctions between different prehistoric periods. The following notes explain where period classifications have been refined, based on the (cited) records from RCAHMW and/or Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust.
^The Cadw spreadsheet lists sites by vary broad categories, for example, Prehistoric covers Paleolithic to Iron Age. Where possible, the Period has been changed, based on the (cited) records from Coflein and/or GGAT.
^ abcThe six castles are Cas Troggy, Dinham, Llanvaches, Llanvair, Pencoed, and Penhow.[73]
^ abcThe Three Castles in the Monnow valley (Grosmont, Skenfrith and White castles) were brought together under a single lordship by King Stephen in 1138. The castles share many features of design and construction, and the existing remains all date from the 11th century, when under the control of Hubert de Burgh, with some later building. All three castles remained in common ownership until 1902,[72]: 46 and are all now in state care, under the guardianship of Cadw. The castles are linked by the Three Castles Walk.
^Cadw will send their list as a spreadsheet, or other electronic formats, on request, as indicated at www.whatdotheyknow.com. This list uses information dated May 2012
^ abcde
Phillips, Neil (2008). Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050 – 1250 PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield (2005). Vol. 1. York: Archaeology Data Service. doi:10.5284/1000209.
,_Piercefield,_St_Arvans.jpg)
_from_White_Castle_-_geograph_-_3061246.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(3).jpg)
