Caldicot Castle: A Brief History
photo: Caldicot
Castle Great Gatehouse and Gardens
Founded by the Normans, developed in royal hands as a stronghold in the Middle Ages and restored as a family home, Caldicot Castle has a romantic and colourful history.
The area in which the castle now stands has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Boat timbers, a bridge or jetty and other evidence of human activity were found on what would have been the bed of the river Nedern during this period.In the hills nearby was Llanmelin, the great iron-age fort of the Silures tribe. When the Romans reached the area and imposed military control, they built a new capital, called Venta Silurum, for the Silures at nearby Caerwent.
photo: South west view of the Caldicot Castle
At the time that the Domesday Book was written, Caldicot was held by Durand, Sheriff of Gloucester, and the estate was valued at six pounds. The people living in Caldicot at the time included a knight, who would have needed a substantial home, but there is no evidence of a timber castle at Caldicot at that date.
In 1127 the estate passed to Durand's nephew Walter Fitzroger, Constable of England, a great castle builder. The first phase of building in stone was during the thirteenth century when the round keep was built. The castle would have dominated the area around it, including the crossing points of the nearby river Nedern, which was then navigable and of the River Severn, where the two Severn bridges now stand.
The estate passed to Walter Fitzroger's granddaughter Margaret who married Humphrey DeBohun in 1158. The DeBohun family held the castle for over two centuries and enlarged it with a curtain wall, towers and an impressive entranceway, influenced by the design of fortifications in the Holy Land. It was confiscated by the crown on several occasions, often for rebellion, but was always returned to the family.
photo: Caldicot Castle Keep
Humphrey DeBohun the 10th carried out extensive repairs to the castle in the 1360s and when he died his inheritance passed to his young daughter Alianore. In 1376, while she was still a child, Alianore married Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward III, and so Caldicot Castle passed into royal hands.
The Woodstock Tower was built by Thomas in the late fourteenth century and the Great Gatehouse is believed to date from the same period. Large windows were cut into the curtain wall at some time in the fourteenth century, but it is not known whether these represent the remains of a Great Hall made of timber or whether they were the beginnings of works that were never completed.
photo: Woodstock Tower
Thomas and Alianore feature in Shakespeare's play Richard II. Thomas was King Richard's uncle, but his opposition to Richard's alliances with France led to his death in France as a traitor. After being held directly by the royal family, including Henry V and his widow Katherine of Valois, for several decades, the castle passed to the Duchy of Lancaster.
It was leased from them by the Herbert family in the sixteenth century. By this time, with the introduction of artillery powerful enough to breach stone walls and the relative peace in Britain, the great age of the castles had passed and their importance was limited to the agricultural land held with them.
In 1759 the Pontypool industrialist Capel Hanbury leased the castle, and his family held it until 1830. The castle passed to Charles Lewis of St. Pierre, who bought it outright in 1857, adding to his extensive estates in the area. The castle's grounds were often used for fetes, processions and garden parties during the nineteenth century.
photo: Restorations made by Joseph Cobb 1885
In 1885 Joseph Cobb, an antiquarian, bought Caldicot Castle and went on to restore it as a family home. Cobb rebuilt areas of the castle as he believed they had originally been, replacing the woodwork and roofs in the Keep and the Woodstock Tower, building much of the main Gatehouse and reconstructing its unusual drawbridge in full working order.
The Cobb family owned the castle into the twentieth century. The towers were divided into apartments and rented out until the 1960's and they still contain features such as a bath that dates from before the Second World War.
photo: Medieval Alliance at Caldicot Castle
Battles and living history re-enactments in a historical extravaganza
The castle was acquired by Chepstow Rural District Council in 1963 and is now owned, with the surrounding country park, by Monmouthshire County Council. The castle is open to the public every day from March to October.
Lave
Net Fishing
By Dylan Jones,
National Museums & Galleries of Wales
Published: 08 February 2005
Martin Morgan
waiting for a catch.
This centuries-old fishing method continues along the banks of the River Severn.
The waters of the Severn Estuary are among the most dangerous in Wales but this has not deterred generations of fishermen from fishing its rich waters for salmon. Traditional Welsh methods of catching them survived particularly strongly in the area. Within living memory a range of methods were used, including putcher ranks, stopping boats, putts, drift nets and lave netting. Sadly the latter is the only method to have survived into the 21st-century.
Blackrock Lave Net Fishermen, beside the Second Severn Crossing. From left to right: Bob Leonard, Richard Morgan and Martin Morgan
Bob Leonard, chairman of the Blackrock Lave Net Fishermen Association, carrying a lave net.
The number of lave netsmen has dwindled over the years and now they can only be seen in the area of the Second Severn Crossing close to the villages of Sudbrook and Portskewett (Monmouthshire).
These men, members of the Blackrock Lave Net Fishermen Association, carry on a tradition that has a unique cultural and historical significance. The Association's chairman, Bob Leonard, has been a lave netsman for 57 years and explains that it is imperative to only go out on the estuary "with a man that knows the river otherwise you are in a very dangerous situation".
Fish are caught at low tides, known as spring tides, using a hand-held net. At one time fishermen were allowed to fish from February to August but this has since been restricted from June to August. At most they can fish for an hour and a half at a time depending on weather conditions.
Fishing commences as it always has with the fishermen going down to the shore at Black Rock. Often fishermen stand in the spots where their fathers and grandfathers once stood.
The basic technique for lave fishing is simple, the hand-staff is held in one hand and the headboard with the other, whilst the fingers are entwined in the bottom of the mesh feeling for the fish. The net is positioned in front of the fisherman, to face the run of the water.
The fishermen consider wind direction and the height of the tide, with the optimum conditions being flat and calm. Rain does not necessarily worry them.
Once positioned, as Bob Leonard explains, "they scan the water for the telltale signs of fish". They feel the strength of the water going by and expectations are raised of a sudden movement in the net. When the movement of a fish is felt the fisherman takes a backward step and raises the hand-staff out of the water.
Richard Morgan netting a salmon.
The lave net.
Once caught, the fish is quickly dispatched using a priest (a mallet named in parody of the priest's role in delivering the last rites) and taken onto the boat. The salmon is taken ashore and divided equally among the netsmen whether or not they had been fishing.
At one time there was no need to divide the catch as there was sufficient salmon for everyone. Times have changed and commercial fishing using the lave net has not been viable on the estuary since before the Second World War. Prior to 1939 the fish were sent to Billingsgate Market in London.
The lave netsmen are as skilled as their forefathers but due to the diminishing fish stocks they are more than happy to reach double figures for the season. They fish to keep their centuries old craft alive as Martin Morgan, Secretary of the Association explains "Lave fishing has a tradition going back a thousand years in Wales. My great-grandfather was a fisherman and passed his skills on through the family".
Background Reading
Severn Tide by Brian Waters. Published by J.M. & Sons Ltd (1947).
Nets and Coracles by J. Geraint Jenkins. Published by David and Charles (1974).
All images above © National Museum of Wales
The Severn Tunnel - The Story
Severn Tunnel Caldicot EntranceTo the Victorians the London to South Wales was an important route, but one obstacle got in the way, the Severn estuary. In the 1860s rail travellers on this route would have had to break their journey on reaching the Severn and take a ferry to rejoin a train on the other side. Unfortunately the Severn Estuary is known for its treacherous tides and bad weather, making an unpleasant interlude on an otherwise pleasant journey.
The Victorians produced some great engineers and they were prepared to accept the technical challenge of tunnelling under the Severn. Unaware of one hidden danger, the Great Spring!
The project began in 1873 and six years later they hit the Great Spring. Only 152 metres separated each tunnel running from the English and the Welsh shore. Within 24 hours the tunnel was flooded to river level, thankfully without any loss of life.
Huge pumps were brought in to try to pump out the water, but the spring was so big that they couldn't cope. A diver by the name of Lambert bravely entered the workings and managed, with considerable difficulty, to seal off the spring. But it wasn't until 1881 that the Great Spring was sealed off behind a giant headwall.
Since that day a massive pump has continued to pump out 50 million litres of water per day and is now sold to a local water company.
The Great Spring persisted throughout the remainder of the time spent in constructing the tunnel to give problems, As did the weather, even a large tidal wave gave rise to flooding. But on the 1st December 1886 a regular passenger service was opened, cutting the journey from London to South Wales by one hour.Work had begun two years earlier in 1875 on the construction of the Severn Railway Bridge which crossed the river a little upstream of Lydney and Sharpness. There was to be a lot of jealousy during the period of construction between both the tunnel and bridge companies until the bridge was finally opened in 1879.
Severn Railway Bridge
On a foggy night on the 25th October 1960 two tanker barges owned by John Harker Ltd, the ARKENDALE H and WASTDALE H were swept by a large tide into the bridge. Two spans of the bridge dropped onto the tanker barges, setting both craft and the river ablaze. Five men lost their lives that evening, and is now always referred to as "The Severn Bridge Disaster". The bridge was never repaired and was finally dismantled in 1967.
Today the tunnel has modern diesel express trains roaring through, but the maintenance of the workings is continuous. Every Sunday the tunnel is closed to allow teams of engineers in to carry out vital work to ensure the safety of the passengers that use it.
Statistics Description:
Length:
1 in 90 rise to the Welsh side.
History of the Severn Tunnel The Great Western Archive
Link: www.greatwestern.org.uk
Magor Marshes - a summary of ecological informationThe Major Marshes a part of the Gwent Levels, an area of low lying land south of Newport. The Gwent Levels is one of the largest surviving areas of ancient grazing marshes and reen (drainage ditch) systems in Britain.
It is the largest area of its kind in Wales, of acknowledged UK-wide significance for its wildlife and archaeology. The proximity of the site to the internationally important Severn Estuary and River Usk add further value to this wetland complex.
The Major Marshes reserve is last remnant of fenland on the Gwent levels and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is a prime example of the succession of plant communities from open water to marsh and scrub woodland. Bronze age pottery fragments have been found and the present layout of reens (drainage ditches) dates from the 14th century.
Geology
The soil is mostly peat with a depth of around 15 feet. Under this is alluvium laid down in the river Severn estuary. The water level must be kept near the surface to preserve the peat.
Hay Meadows and Pastures
Two hay meadows are maintained using traditional methods. They are only grazed during autumn and winter. The hay crop is mown in mid-summer to provide winter feed.
By late spring the fields are a mass of flowers including Yellow Flag, Meadow Thistle, Marsh Marigolds, Yellow Rattle, Ragged Robin and Lesser Spearwort. Snipe and Reed Buntings breed in the rough pasture and the Cuckoo can be heard in the summer.
Ponds and Reens
The pond has a large bed of Comman Reed (Phragmites) which provides cover for the many bird species which can be seen from the hide. Birds seen include Heron, Kingfisher, Water Rail and even the rare Marsh Warbler.
Migrant birds such as Garganey and Green Sandpiper pass through to their winter feeding grounds. Over wintering birds include numerous Teal and occasionally Spotted Crake.
Reedbeds and Willow Carr
Ungrazed pasture allows natural succession to Willow Carr. The dense cover provides home to many small mammals and birds including Sedge, Reed and Grasshopper Warblers.
Link: Gwent Wildlife Trust
Second Severn Crossing
photo: Second Severn BridgeThe most southerly bridge over the river Severn is the viaduct and cable-stayed bridge which carries the motorway M4 between Wales and England. It offers an alternative to the earlier suspension bridge, which carries the earlier motorway M4, now called M48.
The designers made use of a large area of hard rocks on the western side of the channel, which are exposed at low tide, to enable a viaduct to be built. The main channel, called The Shoots, is spanned by the actual cable-stayed bridge.
The bridge is not far from the line of the Severn tunnel, which was a great feat of engineering, built from 1874 to 1886. Huge pumps were, and are, needed to remove water, and very large fans were installed to provide ventilation.
This new Severn bridge is quite close to the ferry crossing that was used by the Romans in the days of the empire, illustrating, as many Severn bridges do, that the number of good crossing points is limited, and that people will use them during long periods of time.
The bridge has high baffles on each side to deflect the wind. This greatly reduces the number of occasions on which any type of vehicle has to be banned from the bridge because of high winds. The transition from normal road to bridge is in fact so well done that it is easy to get well on to the bridge without realising it.
The large tidal range exerted a big influence on the construction work. Timing was crucial in operations such as floating out and raising sections of the bridge. Positioning of floating equipment was achieved using signals from navigational satellites.
The approach spans are based on post-stressed hollow beams, made from 3.5-metre match-cast sections which were floated out on a barge at high tide.
Here are some facts and figures about the new bridge. The total length is just over 5000 metres, with a main span of 456 metres in a main bridge of 947 metres length. The number of approach spans is 45, divided between the Welsh end, 22, and the English end, 23. The bridge was built from 1992 to 1996. Click here for more about cable-stayed bridges.
Link: Severn River Crossing
Procurator’s House
Photo: The ruined walls of the Procurator's House Magor
The ruined walls of the Procurator's House, in the 14th Century the Procurator lived here. His duties were to preside over a court in which rates of pay, boundary and other disputes were settled.
He collected rents and other local taxes, which were transferable to the Catholic Church in Italy. The Procurator was a man of status and the size and solidarity of the building is the only one of its kind in Wales.
Link: Magor with Undy Community Council
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