Llanvetherine ( cy, Llanwytherin) is a village in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

Skenfrith Skenfrith ( cy, Ynysgynwraidd) is a small village in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales. It is located on the River Monnow, close to the border between Wales and England, about north-west of Monmouth. The road through the village (B4521) was once ...

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. It is located five miles north east of

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...

on the B4521 road to

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye and ...

. The name comes from the Welsh Saint Gwytherin.

History and amenities

The village has a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

, dedicated to St. James the Elder. Llanvetherine is near Whitecastle, one of three important border

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s built by the

Marcher Lords A Marcher lord () was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales. A Marcher lord was the English equivalent of a margrave (in the Holy Roman Empire) or a marquis (in Fra ...

after the

Norman invasion of Wales The Norman invasion of Wales began shortly after the Norman conquest of England under William the Conqueror, who believed England to be his birthright. Initially (1067–1081), the invasion of Wales was not undertaken with the fervour and purpose ...

to control this sector of the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...

Offa's Dyke Path Offa's Dyke Path ( cy, Llwybr Clawdd Offa) is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout th ...

long distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exc ...

passes through the village. The King's Arms Pub was closed in the early 2000s and is now a residential property. The widow of Captain

Samuel Goodere Samuel Goodere (1687–1741) was a captain in the British Royal Navy, who was the third son of Sir Edward Goodere, 1st Baronet. He was convicted and hanged at Bristol for the murder of his elder brother, Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet, in 1 ...

who was executed for murdering his brother

Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet Sir John Dineley 2nd Baronet (c. 1680 – 1741) of Burhope/Burghope House in the parish of Wellington Herefordshire, was a British aristocrat and murder victim. Early life He was born John Goodere in about 1680, the second son, and eventual heir, ...

, in 1741 was living in Llanvetherine when she wrote her Will in 1742, leaving property in the area to her three daughters Elizabeth, Anne and Mary and to her son John Goodere. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Watts. (A copy of her Will, and Samuel Goodere's Will dated 1741, can be downloaded from the National Archives department at Kew).

External links

An old photo of the church
Villages in Monmouthshire {{Monmouthshire-geo-stub