Llanrothal is a small village and historical parish in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, England in the Monnow Valley, on the border with

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, Wales. The River Monnow flows near here along the border. The village is located 5 miles by road northwest of

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

. It contains a 12th-century church, St John the Baptist's which stands in a remote position close to the

England–Wales border The England–Wales border ( cy, Y ffin rhwng Cymru a Lloegr; shortened: Ffin Cymru a Lloegr), sometimes referred to as the Wales–England border or the Anglo-Welsh border, runs for from the Dee estuary, in the north, to the Severn estuary i ...

overlooking the river. Llanrothal Court, in the village, is an early 14th-century

hall house The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...

, with cross-wings added in the 15th or 16th century and further additions from the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Another historically important building in the village is The Cwm. Originally a shooting box, and subsequently a farmhouse, it is also Grade II listed, together with the terrace in front of the house, and the retaining wall to the side, which contains rare

bee bole A bee bole is a cavity or alcove in a wall (the Scots word ''bole'' means a recess in a wall). A skep is placed in the bee bole. Before the development of modern bee hives (such as the design published by Lorenzo Langstroth in 1853), the use of ...

s. The present building, dating from about the 1830s, is on site of and incorporates part of a demolished 17th-century house that was a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

and college.

History

Llanrothal was once a stronghold of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and

Papists The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox ...

such as

Henry Milbourne Henry Milbourne, also Milburne or Milborne, (circa 1600 – after 1692) was a Welsh magistrate who served as the Recorder of Monmouth and as agent to the Duke of Beaufort. Biography Milbourne hailed from Wonastow, near Monmouth, South Wales ...

, who resided in the village and whose family worshipped at The Cwm in the seventeenth century. In the early 17th century the house became the headquarters of the Jesuit mission in South Wales and remained an important Catholic centre until its discovery and sacking by the

Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. The episcopal see is centred in the Hereford, City of Hereford where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is in the Hereford Cathedr ...

in 1678, in the anti-Catholic backlash following the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...

. William Vychan, or William the Younger, also lived at Llanrothal, although he is also associated with

Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to: *Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River **Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the to ...

, in

Caernarvonshire , HQ= County Hall, Caernarfon , Map= , Image= Flag , Motto= Cadernid Gwynedd (The strength of Gwynedd) , year_start= , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Caerna ...

. Throughout its history, the village has been associated with nearby

Welsh Newton Welsh Newton is a small village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. It is located close to the border with Wales to which the parish extends towards Monmouthshire. It should not be confused with Newton, a township-chapelry ...

, and today they together form the Welsh Newton and Llanrothal Group Parish Council.

References

Sources

External links

"Llanrothal" at genuki.org
{{authority control Villages in Herefordshire