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Trellech (occasionally spelt Trelech, Treleck or Trelleck; cy, Tryleg) is a village and parish in
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 ...
, south-east Wales. Located south 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 ...
and north-north-west of Tintern, Trellech lies on a plateau above the Wye Valley on the southern fringes of of woodland in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three Bronze Age
standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...
s are situated in the village, known as Harold's Stones, which overlook the historic church of St Nicholas, a Grade I listed building. Although a relatively small village in modern times, it was one of the largest towns in Wales in the 13th century, and is now a site of
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
interest to determine its extent and role at that time. The village is designated as a
conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
. There are four nature reserves nearby; New Grove Flower Meadow, noted for its orchids, and Trellech Beacon are both owned by Gwent Wildlife Trust while
Cleddon Bog Cleddon Bog () is a bog in the vice-county of Monmouthshire which has been notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It lies within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It was declared a Local Nature Reserve in ...
and
Croes Robert Wood Croes Robert Wood is a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological characteristics, in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. Gwent Wildlife Trust, the owners of the site, manage the woodland through methods o ...
are both
SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
s.


Etymology

It is thought that the Welsh name ''Tryleg'' probably means 'conspicuous stone' and derives from the intensifying
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
''try-'' and *''lleg'', an unrecorded variant of the common noun ''llech'' 'stone, slab'. If so, the name probably refers to a large stone that once stood on a mound about a mile-and-a-half north of the village. Historical forms of the name vary between ''Try-'', ''Tri-'' and ''Tre-''. It is likely that the three standing stones known as Harold's Stones influenced those forms that begin with ''Tri-'' (Welsh ''tri'' 'three'). Another Welsh noun ''tre(f)'' 'settlement, town' has probably influenced forms that begin with ''Tre-''. The noun ''llech'', mentioned above, has also influenced various forms of the name.Hywel Wyn Owen and Richard Morgan, ''Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales''. University of Wales Press, 2007, , p. 472. The in the English form ''Trellech'' is given its English pronunciation (not as Welsh ). Likewise, the final is pronounced as not as Welsh . The village is noteworthy because of the variety of different modern spellings of the name. Historically, up to 30 different variations of the name have been recorded, of which four are still commonly used. On each of the three roads entering the village, signs give a different spelling: ''Trellech'', ''Trelleck'' and ''Trelech''.


History

Trellech was one of the major towns of medieval Wales, the remains of which have been subject to archaeological excavations which have been sustained over many years and which continue today. It is most likely that the town was established by the De Clare family specifically for the exploitation of local supplies of
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
from the Forest of Dean, and
charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
produced in the surrounding woodlands, to provide weapons, armour and iron work for their military advances in Wales, including the building of Caerphilly Castle. By 1288 there were 378
burgage plots Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain and Ireland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town ("borough" or "burgh") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement ...
recorded in Trellech, which would have made it bigger than Cardiff or Chepstow at the time. Trellech was largely destroyed in 1291 as a result of a raid following a dispute over alleged deer poaching. The
Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
struck in 1340 and again in 1350. Subsequently, the ravages of
Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...
and his men in the early 15th century further reduced the prosperity and in consequence the importance of Trellech.


Archaeological investigations

Archaeological investigations at Trellech have been led since the early 1990s by the South Wales Centre for Historical and Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Wales, Newport. There is currently some dispute over the layout and development of the medieval town and its environs. In 2005, Stuart Wilson bought a field in which, he was convinced, were remains of the lost medieval town. Wilson had previously broken into sites and undermined the work of other archaeologists in the area, claiming "he once sneaked onto Howell's dig site to prove an ancient wall the professor had uncovered was really a modern field drain

This site had first been identified as of potential interest by (the unrelated) Julia Wilson, in 1998. Stuart Wilson's interest in this field and the possibility that his hunch might be correct was the subject of a 30-minute BBC Radio 4 documentary, presented by the archaeologist
Francis Pryor Francis Manning Marlborough Pryor (born 13 January 1945) is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Britain. He is best known for his discovery and excavation of Flag Fen, a Bronze Age archaeological s ...
, and entitled ''The Boy Who Bought a Field'', broadcast on 6 March 2006. The programme revealed that Wilson had apparently discovered medieval walls and yard-paving. In 2008 the Monmouth Archaeological Society said, ''"there is now no room for debate"'' that the excavations by Wilson and others have identified the main part of the medieval town to be around the minor road towards
Catbrook Catbrook ( cy, Catffrwd) is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. The population in 2011 was 412. Location Catbrook is south of Monmouth and north west of Tintern. It is in the community of Trellech United, just unde ...
, to the south of the current village, on what is now farmland. In 2016, Wilson proposed turning the site into a camp site, research centre and tourist attraction. Some of Wilson's claims have been criticised by academic archaeologists.


Places of historical interest


Church of St Nicholas

The
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
parish church has been designated a Grade I listed building since 19 November 1953, and is described by
Joseph Bradney Colonel Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney, (11 January 1859 – 21 July 1933) was a British soldier, historian and archaeologist, best known for his multivolume ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present T ...
as "one of the largest and most handsome of the country churches in the county" of Monmouthshire. With an elegant pointed and prominent steeple, a
font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...
and 17th-century
sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
, it is a focal point of the village. The main part of the church building is of local Old Red Sandstone, with a three-stage tower. The spire can be seen for several miles around and is described by architectural writer John Newman as "the town's pride and joy". A church on this site, probably a wooden structure, was endowed by Ffernfael ap Ithel and Meurig ap Tewdrig who were rulers of Gwent in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Preaching Cross in the churchyard is early Medieval in date, as is the font. The present building dates from the 13th or early 14th century. The early English
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
stonework has been dated to between 1225 and 1272, and that of the Decorated Gothic up to 1350. The church has a large clerestoried nave, with a much smaller chancel. The "impressive" interior has a "spendidly high" tower arch, and the five-bay nave has arcades on octagonal piers. The
altar rails The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and oth ...
and
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
, dated 1640, are survivals of 17th century church interior design. At the west end of the church, directly below the window, is a Royal Coat of Arms for King Charles II dated 1683. Records are held by the church dating from 1692. Complete lists of vicars, from 1359, and churchwardens, from 1763, can be found in the entrance to the south aisle. The rear of the main church door is inscribed "IHS 1595". When the weathercock was removed from the spire in 1972 it was found to have been made in Ross-on-Wye in 1792. The original spire fell, damaging the roof of the nave, and a contemporary reference attributes this to "lightning and storms". In the belfry the cage housing the three bells is of a type similar to that found in others constructed about the year 1700. At the end of the last century the church was in a neglected state and was extensively renovated and re-roofed. The Belgian slates then in place were replaced with Welsh slates in 1961. The chancel was replastered in 1972 and painted white. During 1974 considerable repairs were undertaken to the north and south aisles, and in 2001 the majority of the churchyard
dry-stone wall Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction me ...
was removed and rebuilt.


Sundial

The church contains a stone sundial, dated 1689, which was originally set up by Lady Magdalen Probert of
the Argoed, Penallt The Argoed, Penallt, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a Victorian country house dating from the 1860s, with earlier origins from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is a Grade II* listed building and the garden is listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register ...
. Three of the four faces of the sundial show the village's historic features: Tump Terret, with the inscriptions MAGNA MOLE ("Great in its Mound") and O QUOT HIC SEPULTI ("Oh! How many are buried here"); Harold's Stones with the inscriptions MAIOR SAXIS ("Greater in its Stones") and HIC FUIT VICTOR HARALDUS ("Here Harold was victorious"); and the Virtuous Well, with the inscriptions MAXIMA FONTE ("Greatest in its Well") and DOM. MAGD. PROBERT OSTENDIT ("Lady Magdalen Probert gives proof of it"). The sundial stood in the garden belonging to the former village school, on top of the inverted ancient font, until both were moved inside the church in the early 20th century. A carved wooden replica of the sundial was placed in a field south of the village in recent years.


Harold's Stones

Three large monoliths of
conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...
stone, commonly referred to as '' puddingstone'', are located in a field on the eastern side of the B4293 to the south of the village. (SO 498051) The stones, situated on publicly accessible land belonging to the Davies family of Crosshands Farm, are a scheduled ancient monument. The stones have been described as "one of the more substantial megalithic monuments in Monmouthshire". The stones are on slightly elevated ground close to running water and springs, which might be relevant to the choice of site. They are believed to date back to the Bronze Age. Such remains are rare in this part of Wales. They derive their name from a legend that they mark the spot at which three chieftains fell in battle with Harold Godwinson, who defeated the Welsh in Gwent in 1063. In another legend the stones were flung from
Skirrid Ysgyryd Fawr ( en, Skirrid) is an easterly outlier of the Black Mountains in Wales, and forms the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The hill is often referred to locally as just The Skirrid. The smaller hill of Ysgyryd Fa ...
by the mythical Jack o' Kent in a competition with the Devil. The stones form an approximate line running between north-east and south-west at an azimuth of about 229°, which probably indicates the midwinter sunset, though the midsummer sunrise cannot be excluded on account of the lack of precise alignment of the stones. They have been described as "the most visually impressive of the alignments in South Wales." Their location, without good views beyond the immediate surroundings, suggests that its alignment may be significant. The stones are respectively , , and high, the tallest being at the south-west; the overall length of the row is . The central stone has what are thought to be cup marks. It is supposed that the stones were dragged to the site on logs and levered into position, probably either for seasonal information or for use at religious ceremonies. Houlder (1978) speculates that they were once part of a much larger and impressive alignment, but Castleden (1992) suggests that they did not form part of a stone circle Aubrey Burl asserts that short stone-rows of this kind were used as the ritual centres of families of "perhaps ten or twenty adults and children", though the erection of large stones required the co-operation of several such families. He compared the Trellech stones to the row at Le Vieux-Moulin,
Plouharnel Plouharnel (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France. Inhabitants of Plouharnel are called in French ''Plouharnelais''. Geography Plouharnel is a seaside town located in the south of Morbihan, southwest ...
, near
Carnac Carnac (; br, italic=no, Karnag, ) is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France. Its inhabitants are called ''Carnacois'' in French. Carnac is renowned for the C ...
, and says that "Similar short rows were erected by communities in Ireland, Britain and Brittany in the centuries of the Bronze age between 1800 and 1000 BC". The source of the Trellech stones may have been the nearby
Beacon Hill Beacon Hill may refer to: Places Canada * Beacon Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, a neighbourhood * Beacon Hill Park, a park in Victoria, British Columbia * Beacon Hill, Saskatchewan * Beacon Hill, Montreal, a neighbourhood in Beaconsfield, Quebec United ...
where there are outcrops of a similar conglomerate. A fourth stone, on nearby common land, is believed to have been destroyed in the 18th century.


Tump Terret and Court Farm

Tump Terret is situated within the grounds of Court Farm to the south-west of the church. It dates back to
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
times, as the site of a small
motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...
castle; traces of its surrounding ditch remain. The castle was still extant in 1263, when it was mentioned in manorial documents. A local myth, commemorated on the sundial, was that it was a burial mound for those killed in actions between the forces of Harold Godwinson and the opposing Welsh. A now-vanished
summer house A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden ...
was built by the Rumsey family on top of the mound. Trellech Court - now the site of the farmhouse - was the seat of a branch of the
Seymour Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township *Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria *Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria *Seymour, Tasmania, a locality ...
family until it passed to
John Rumsey John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...
in the early 18th century. The existing building is, according to Bradney, "a building of no architectural features", and dates from around the time of Rumsey's ownership. It was converted into a farmhouse in the later 19th century.


The Virtuous Well

Sometimes known as
St Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...
's Well, this circular
wellspring Wellspring may refer to: *Wellspring Capital Management, a $2 billion private equity firm based in New York City *Wellspring Academies, therapeutic schools for overweight and obese youngsters *Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center Wellspring ...
, surrounded by a stone wall and seating, is located in a field on the left of the road to Tintern, about east of the village. Local tradition is that it is the only one remaining of originally nine holy wells in Trellech. In the 17th century, it was reportedly much frequented, and reputed to cure "the scurvy, colic and other
distemper Distemper may refer to: Illness *A viral infection **Canine distemper, a disease of dogs **Feline distemper, a disease of cats ** Phocine distemper, a disease of seals *A bacterial infection **Equine distemper, or Strangles, a bacterial infectio ...
s". Water from the well is rich in
chalybeate Chalybeate () waters, also known as ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron. Name The word ''chalybeate'' is derived from the Latin word for steel, , which follows from the Greek word . is the singular form of ...
. It is a
clootie well A clootie well is a holy well (or sacred spring), almost always with a tree growing beside it, where small strips of cloth or ribbons are left as part of a healing ritual, usually by tying them to branches of the tree (called a clootie tree or r ...
, where token offerings are placed around and within the well, and strips of cloth and ribbons are hung from neighbouring trees. It is also used as a wishing well. Traditionally, "to make a wish one threw into the water a small metal object. Many bubbles arising from it meant a rapid granting of one's wish, few bubbles meant that a long period of time would elapse before the wish came true and no bubbles at all meant that one's wish had not been granted. The young maidens of Trellech anxious to know how long they had to wait until their wedding day, would drop a pebble into the water and every bubble that arose counted for one month."


The Village Hall / The Babington Centre

The building now known as the Trellech Village Hall, previously The Babington Centre was constructed in 1820 as a primary school. A school was first established in the village in 1591 by the
epigrammatist An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for ...
John Owen John Owen may refer to: Sports *John Owen (footballer) (1849–1921), English footballer and educator * John Owen (athlete) (1861–1924), American sprinter *Johnny Owen (1956–1980), Welsh boxer *John Owen (cricketer) (born 1971), English cricke ...
, and a century later, in 1691, a new school was set up by the local vicar, Zachary Babington, a relative of the bishop of Llandaff,
Gervase Babington Gervase Babington (1549/1550–1610) was an English churchman, serving as the Bishop of Llandaff (1591–1594), Bishop of Exeter (1594–1597) and Bishop of Worcester in 1597–1610. He was a member of the Babington family and held influentia ...
. Babington established a charity to enable poor children in the village to be educated. History of The Babington Centre
Retrieved 13 February 2015
When Trellech Primary School moved to a new site on the north side of the village, the 1820 school building was claimed by the Diocese of Monmouth, but eventually passed to the Trellech Babington Educational Trust, a
registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...
established in 1992. The Babington Centre is now the main asset owned by the Babington Educational Foundation. The Centre is a focus for many aspects of village life including film nights, concerts, educational classes and other social events.


The Lion Inn

Built in the late 16th century and completed in 1580, the Lion Inn was originally a
coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...
, brew house and pig farm. Many of the original features of the brewing cellar still remain, as do a number of outhouses that were used as pigsties. The Lion Inn has won CAMRA awards for its real ales. The inn has activities including an annual beer festival, a
cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...
and perry festival, the entering of a team in the
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 ...
raft race and a Burns Night celebration. Alternate Mondays feature 'Open Mic' nights.


Notable people

Philosopher, logician and mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was born at
Cleddon Hall Cleddon Hall, formerly known as ''Ravenscroft'', is a 19th-century Victorian country house in Trellech, Monmouthshire, Wales. In the later 19th century it was owned by Lord and Lady Amberley, and their youngest son, the philosopher Bertrand Rus ...
, then known as "Ravenscroft", the country home of his parents Lord and Lady Amberley, situated between Trellech and Llandogo. Kate Humble, the television presenter, farms in Trellech and the Spice Girls singer
Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...
hisholm has a house at
Catbrook Catbrook ( cy, Catffrwd) is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. The population in 2011 was 412. Location Catbrook is south of Monmouth and north west of Tintern. It is in the community of Trellech United, just unde ...
, 2 miles to the south of the village.


References


External links


Trellech United Community Council







Lost City of Trellech project

The Babington Centre (Trellech Village Hall) website

The Lion Inn website

Trellech Primary School website
{{authority control Villages in Monmouthshire Archaeological sites in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire Prehistoric sites in Wales Monuments and memorials in Monmouthshire Tourist attractions in Monmouthshire