Things to do in Monmouthshire

Abergavenny Castle is a ruined medieval castle in the gateway town to the Brecon Beacons National Park in Monmouthshire, originally built around 1090 by Hamelin de Ballon as part of the Norman conquest of southeast Wales. The castle became notorious as the site of the Christmas 1175 massacre when the Norman lord Sytsylt de Ewyas invited Welsh chieftains to a feast and had them slaughtered, an event that gave the castle an enduring reputation for treachery in Welsh historical memory. The substantial remains of the keep, gate towers and curtain wall survive within an attractive public park in the town centre, with a museum in the castle grounds interpreting the history of the town and region. Abergavenny is celebrated as the Food Capital of Wales, hosting the annual Food Festival that attracts leading chefs and food producers, and serves as the main centre for exploring the Black Mountains and eastern Brecon Beacons.

Abergavenny is the principal market town at the southern gateway to the Brecon Beacons National Park, a handsome town in the Usk Valley whose combination of the medieval castle, the excellent food market, the surrounding mountain landscape and the walking available on the hills above the town has made it the most rewarding base for exploring both the Beacons and the Black Mountains. The town's reputation as the food capital of Wales has developed since the 1980s and the annual Abergavenny Food Festival, held each September, is one of the most celebrated food events in Britain. The castle at Abergavenny, though largely ruined, has one of the most dramatic histories of any Norman castle in Wales. It was here in 1175 that Sychtyd ap Iorwerth and several other Welsh chieftains were invited to a feast by the Norman lord Ranulf de Breos and then massacred in one of the most notorious acts of treachery in the violent history of the Norman-Welsh frontier. The castle museum within the restored tithe barn provides excellent local history. The three mountains immediately above the town — the Sugar Loaf, Blorenge and Skirrid Fawr — are all accessible on foot from the town centre and provide summit walks with exceptional views that can be combined in a single day by energetic walkers. The Skirrid Fawr is perhaps the most atmospheric, its distinctive summit profile attributed in legend to the earthquake at the moment of the Crucifixion splitting the hilltop.

Caldicot Castle near Caldicot in Monmouthshire is a well-preserved medieval castle of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, developed by the Bohun and later Lancaster royal families and now managed as a museum and events venue by Monmouthshire County Council. The castle retains significant standing remains including a circular keep, gatehouse, walls and towers that together provide one of the better-preserved castle complexes in southeast Wales. The castle grounds include a moat, formal gardens and extensive lawns used for outdoor events and medieval re-enactments throughout the year. The medieval banquets, theatrical events and heritage activities hosted at Caldicot make it one of the more actively programmed castle venues in Wales. The surrounding landscape of the Caldicot Level, a low-lying agricultural plain reclaimed from tidal marsh over many centuries, provides a distinctive flat landscape between the castle and the Severn estuary.

The stones of this magnificent clifftop fortress trace 900 years of history Beautifully preserved Chepstow Castle stretches out along a limestone cliff above the River Wye like a history lesson in stone. There’s no better place in Britain to see how castles gradually evolved to cope with ever more destructive weaponry – and the grandiose ambitions of their owners. For more than six centuries Chepstow was home to some of the wealthiest and most powerful men of the medieval and Tudor ages. Building was started in 1067 by Earl William fitz Osbern, close friend of William the Conqueror, making it one of the first Norman strongholds in Wales. In turn William Marshal (Earl of Pembroke), Roger Bigod (Earl of Norfolk) and Charles Somerset (Earl of Worcester) all made their mark before the castle declined after the Civil War. These magnates and power-brokers were constantly on the move. Chepstow was just one residence in their vast estates – an impressive shell into which they would bring their gold and silver vessels, rich silk and brightly painted furniture.

Big on the border Grosmont is a member of an illustrious trio of strongholds. Along with Skenfrith and White Castle, it’s one of the ‘Three Castles of Gwent’ built by the Normans to control a key section of troublesome border country. The original earth-and-timber stronghold, build on a gros mont (French for ‘big hill’), was later replaced in stone. It experienced an active life. Thirteenth-century reconstruction included the gatehouse and circular towers. Remodelling a century later gave Grosmont apartments fit for a noble household, but by the 15th century the castle was in the wars again, besieged in the rebellion led by charismatic Welsh leader Owain Glyndŵr.

Llanvair Discoed is a 13th century castle hidden away in the raised grounds covered in think undergrowth next to the village church, built by Sir Ralph Monthermer upon the site of an earlier fortress. The unusual name of the castle and village translates as Mary's (Mair>Fair) church (llan) under (is) the wood (coed). The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Lamecare'. The 'D' in Discoed only appeared in more recent times. The castle is situated on private ground so can only be viewed from the outside via the adjacent church grounds or fields behind. Covered in thick ivy and surrounded by a forest of thorns and nettles, gaining sight of this wonderful castle is sadly very difficut indeed. Two towers and parts of the curtain wall and gatehouse remain but are in a sad state of disrepair in need of more work, love and care than the current owners are able to provide it with. A hidden gem if you are able to find it!

Ruined castle with a regal history It’s a surprise to find this ruin, tucked away as it is in a lane off Monmouth’s main shopping street. Strategically located at crossings of the River Wye and River Monnow, only a few fragments – ruins of the 12th-century Great Tower and 13th-century hall – remain of this once-important castle. It was founded in the 11th century by Norman lord William fitz Osbern, and by the mid-14th century was in the hands of Henry of Grosmont, who modified the tower with large decorated windows whose outline can still be seen in the east wall. The most notable event in the tower’s history occurred on 16 September 1386, when King Henry V of Battle of Agincourt fame was born here, an occasion commemorated at Monmouth’s Agincourt Square.

Pencoed Castle is derived from the Welsh meaning "head of the wood". The castle stands among 370 acres of rolling farmland and countryside. The Castle itself is a fortified Tudor manor house built by Sir Thomas Morgan during the first quarter of the 16th Century on the site of a moated Norman castle. The remains of the outer walls are still intact. The tower still existing at the southwest corner of the courtyard is probably one of the towers of the original castle. The inner portion of the castle is a stone manor house with battlements at the top of the walls. The interior of the castle currently lies in a state of disrepair and is ruined. Nevertheless, this small castle has to be one of the most beautiful we have visited in all of Wales. The Castle now has new owners with a gate erected at the end of the long driveway to prevent would be visitors to the castle, which is also their family home. Access is therefore understandably strictly private. The gatehouse is probably the most impressive part of the castle and with expressed permission, you can explore the castle grounds, which are quite fascinating. It is clear that the main hall of the castle is being renovated so please do ensure you seek permission in advance from the owners.

Welsh fortress-palace transformed into regal residence The unmistakable silhouette of Raglan crowning a ridge amid glorious countryside is the grandest castle ever built by Welshmen. We can thank Sir William ap Thomas, the ‘blue knight of Gwent’, for the moated Great Tower of 1435 that still dominates this mighty fortress-palace. His son Sir William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, created the gatehouse with its flared ‘machicolations’. These stone arches allowed missiles to be rained down on attackers. But Raglan came 150 years later than the turbulent heyday of castle-building. It was designed to impress as much as to intimidate. Under various earls of Worcester Raglan was transformed into a magnificent country seat with a fashionable long gallery and one of the finest Renaissance gardens in Britain. But loyalty to the crown was to prove its undoing. Despite a garrison of 800 men and one of the longest sieges of the Civil War, it fell to parliamentary forces and was deliberately destroyed. Among the looted treasures was a piece of Tudor wooden panelling, now proudly displayed in the visitor centre after being rescued from a cow shed in the 1950s.

Significant medieval fortress with a substantial central tower One of the ‘Three Castles of Gwent’ (along with Grosmont and White Castle) founded by Norman lord William fitz Osbern in the early 12th century, the remains of Skenfrith we see today are of a later fortress constructed in the 13th century by Hubert de Burgh. The castle’s well-preserved walls surround a circular keep, similar to those seen at Bronllys and Tretower. Built on an earthen mound, this sturdy structure was a last line of defence should the castle fall under attack. Between them, the Three Castles controlled a large area of confrontational border country between the River Wye and the Black Mountains, with Skenfrith occupying a strategic spot on the banks of the River Monnow overlooking one of the main routes between Wales and England.

The Sugar Loaf mountain above Abergavenny in the Brecon Beacons National Park is one of the most distinctive and most accessible of the Black Mountains summits, a characteristic conical hill of 596 metres whose profile is recognisable from a wide area of the Gwent and Brecon valleys. The combination of the characteristic shape, the relatively easy ascent and the panoramic summit views have made it one of the most popular hill walks in south Wales. The summit provides views in all directions across the Vale of Abergavenny to the south, the Black Mountains to the north and the Usk Valley extending west toward the Brecon Beacons. The summit plateau is managed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its dry heathland habitat, supporting upland birds including red grouse, wheatear and stonechat characteristic of the Black Mountains. The town of Abergavenny below provides excellent visitor facilities and is the principal gateway town for both the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons National Park. The combination of the accessible summit walking, the views and the historic market town at the foot of the hill makes the Sugar Loaf an excellent starting point for exploring this section of the national park.

Tintern Abbey in the Wye Valley on the Welsh border is one of the finest and most atmospheric ruined abbeys in Britain, a Cistercian monastery of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries set in a wooded bend of the River Wye. Cadw manages the abbey and the combination of the extraordinary Gothic ruins, the wooded gorge setting and the enduring literary associations with Wordsworth's celebrated poem make it one of the most famous places in Welsh heritage. The abbey was founded in 1131 as the first Cistercian house in Wales, and the substantial ruins represent the rebuilding and expansion of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The great east window, its tracery still intact against the sky in patterns of Gothic stonework, is the most celebrated single feature and one of the most reproduced images of Welsh heritage. William Wordsworth visited in 1793 and 1798, composing the celebrated poem during the 1798 visit that established the philosophical resonances of this site for all subsequent visitors. Turner's paintings of the abbey, made on his Wye Valley tour of 1792, established the visual conventions of the Romantic response to Tintern that persist to the present day. The combination of the architectural quality, the literary associations and the beautiful Wye Valley setting makes Tintern one of the most richly resonant heritage sites in Britain.

Usk Castle is a ruined twelfth-century Norman castle in the market town of Usk in Monmouthshire, founded by Richard de Clare following the Norman conquest of Gwent and developed over several centuries as a seat of power in the Welsh Marches. The substantial remains include a round keep and gatehouse within a private garden that is occasionally open to visitors. The town of Usk is one of the most attractive small market towns in south Wales, with a well-preserved medieval street plan, the remains of a Benedictine priory, several historic buildings and a strong agricultural market tradition. The River Usk flowing through the town provides some of the finest salmon and trout fishing in Wales. The surrounding Usk valley, which gives the county of Monmouthshire much of its character, offers gentle walking through a pastoral landscape of particular beauty between the Brecon Beacons to the northwest and the Wye valley to the east.

The shape of things to come? An early glimpse of Edward I’s Welsh castle-building project White Castle is the best preserved and most imposing of the trio of Monmouthshire fortresses known as the ‘Three Castles’ – which includes Grosmont and Skenfrith – built to control the border. Originally constructed from wood and earth, a series of renovations transformed it into the significant defensive structure we see today. Its medieval name might derive from the white rendering used on its masonry. The large outer ward is as big as a football pitch, while the pear-shaped inner ward sits behind a deep, steep-sided, water-filled moat. Many of these features are thought to be the work of the Lord Edward (later King Edward I) who took possession of the Three Castles in 1254. The modifications at White Castle, his first Welsh castle, can be seen as a forerunner of the mighty fortresses he would go on to build in north Wales.