Wye Valley

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Wye Valley near Tintern Abbey
Remains of the wall of the Roman city at Caerwent in Wales

The Wye Valley ( Welsh Dyffryn Afon Gwy or Dyffryn Gwy ), officially known as the " Area of ​​Outstanding Natural Beauty ", is located in the extreme south-east of Wales , on the border with England , which extends over large stretches of the River Wye , forms the fifth longest river in Great Britain . The towns of Rhayader, Builth Wells , Hay-on-Wye , Hereford , Ross-on-Wye , Symonds Yat , Monmouth , Tintern and shortly before the confluence with the Mouth of Severn the town of Chepstow are located on it .

history

The people left their traces in the valley for thousands of years. Britain's earliest human footprints dating from approximately 3720 BC. BC, were found in 1990 in the Caldicot Levels , west of the Wye Estuary. Thornwall Farm is a megalithic site excavated between 1990 and 1991 near Chepstow, in which burned human and bird bones were found. Near the village of Trellech you can visit the alignment of the Harold's Stones (three menhirs ). Near Ross-on-Wye are the mighty Arthur's Stones and the hill of Cross Lodge. The Hillfort in Llanmalin Wood dates from the Iron Age . Also nearby is Caerwent, now a forgotten village in Wentwood Forest, once the only (partially preserved) walled Roman city in Wales. The Offa's Dyke Path , named after a King of Mercia (757–796 AD), follows the course of the valley for a while.

The valley is rich in evidence of historical conflict in this centuries-old border region. According to local tradition, King Arthur was crowned in Caerleon, a few kilometers away . His court was supposedly where the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson got the idea for his "Idylls of Kings". Caerleon was one of the three Roman military bases in Wales. St. Tewdrig, a local 6th century ruler, abdicated to end his life in the forerunner of Tintern Abbey . He left his hermitage once more to win a victory over the Saxons together with his son Meurig . Tewdrig was fatally wounded and died in Mathern (formerly Merthyr, Welsh for martyrs) near Chepstow, where his son built a church that bears his name.

In the valley there are a number of border fortresses that have been destroyed today and each has its own history. The Anglo-Norman baron William de Braose invited the Welsh chief Seisyll ap Dyfnwal and his entourage to a banquet at Abergavenny Castle on Christmas Day 1173 (or 1175) and massacred them. In Raglan Castle , a fortified residence, located held Charles I during the Civil War in the 17th century.

The magnificent Tintern Abbey is the best preserved medieval abbey in Wales. It was built by Walter de Clare in 1131 , rebuilt in the 13th century and destroyed by Henry VIII in 1536 . Up until the 1880s, thousands came by train to watch the harvest moon through the window caves of Tintern Abbey on September evenings. Tintern Abbey, like Llanthony Priory, in the nearby Llanthony Valley, was painted by William Turner .

The valley is also historically significant as one of the origins of modern tourism , especially the so-called Wye Tour . The publication of William Gilpin's book Observations on the River Wye and several parts of South Wales, etc. relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the summer of the year 1770 ( observations along the River Wye ), the first illustrated tourism guide published in 1782.

The area also has a rich early industrial heritage. The industrial landscape of Blaenafon, which was named a World Heritage Site in 2001, is located near Abergavenny. The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal has been restored and has reopened as a recreational waterway since 1970. Tintern also has an impressive industrial heritage. A wire mill was established in Tintern's Angiddy Valley around 1500, where fast flowing water powered the machines. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was produced in Angiddy. The wire was transported on the Wye, on wooden boats called "Trows". The Old Station in Tintern is a reminder of the Valley's industrial days.

Abergavenny and Chepstow Museum show the history of the cities. Monmouth Castle is dedicated to Henry V , who was born here. The Nelson Museum in Monmouth has one of the best collections in the world on the famous admiral. She was bequeathed to the city from Lady Liangattlock, mother of Charles Rolls (of Rolls-Royce). Hay-on-Wye became world-famous as the first so-called book village . Today there are almost 40 second-hand bookshops there.

literature

  • Vicki Cummings, Alasdair Whittle: Places of special virtue - megaliths in the Neolithic landscapes of Wales , Oxbow, Oxford 2004, ISBN 1842171089

Web links

swell

  1. ^ G. Children & G. Nash: A Guide to prehistoric sites in Monmouthshire 1996.