The Welsh Marches: history, castles and CAKE

   The term Welsh Marches (French "marche = border - in Welsh "Y Mers") was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales. This region, "Marchia Walliae", formed a porous barrier between England and "Pura Wallia" (true Wales), and was a frontier society created by William I when he established 3 Marcher Lordships to subdue and govern the unruly Welsh. Castles sprang up immediately and were symbols of power as well as practical means of defence and attack. These were mostly wooden motte-and-bailey structures but later were enlarged and fortified in stone: the Marches still have the highest concentration of such castles in Gt. Britain - and possibly the best CAKE.

The Marcher Lords

Chepstow and Usk castles

  William I honoured 3 of his most loyal supporters as earls with portions of this area: Hugh d'Avranches in Chester; Roger de Montgomerie in Shrewsbury and William fitzOsbern in Hereford. Each lordship was distinct, independent and different from the rest. Yet all the Marcher Lords had powers unlike those of comparable magnates in England. Their remit if keeping the region in order at all costs without interference allowed them particular rights: to make war on their neighbours for personal gain; to own lands exempt from taxation; to be able to create forests (uninhabited spaces for hunting), markets and boroughs.  They could keep any territory they conquered but the area was never completely subjugated.
   After the pattern of the Welsh princes, they owed allegiance to the crown in times of war but otherwise had a remarkable degree of autonomy and could construct castles free from the restrictions imposed in England. Wherever castles were built, small town tended to grow up around them; examples are Monmouth, Chepstow and Ludlow. At first these towns were little more than groups of merchants living under the protection of the seignorial castle but, in the second half of the 13th century, they acquired corporate existence, Monmouth being one of the first.
   The lordships were geographically discrete, separate from England and ruled by their own laws "sicut regale" - "like unto a king" as Gilbert de Clare stated. The Welsh provided wartime man power for English kings throughout this period (their bowmen were highly skilled) and smaller lordships proliferated as the Normans encourage immigration from Norman and Angevin regions. The king's writ never ran during this period in the whole area.
 

Organisation

Ludlow Castle

   The area tended to become divided into the Englishry and the Welshry: the incomers took possession of the lower, fertile parts for rural settlement and arable farming, using the meadows and riverside regions for feeding livesstock. Sometimes manors were established. The Welsh were not usually displaced but, by and large, were left with the uplands and other less profitable land for sheep and cattle with winter quarters ("hendre") and summer pastures ("hafod"). It is notable that "da" meant "cattle" or "wealth/goods" and taxes could be paid by "cymorth", the rendering of a valuable beast to the lord. Other income came from the sale of demesne crops, tenant rents, court fines and resources such as mills and fisheries. 

   The unit of governance was not called the hundred as in England but the "commote" and the Domesday Book has entries for those which were under Norman control but still subject to Welsh law and custom. They were assessed for military purposes and taxation and Welsh law was administered in Welsh courts by Welsh officials although English officials might deal with English tenants - disputes arose over this jurisdiction (similar to those caused by the choice of a rugby referee of an England/Wales match but less bloody.)

   Ludlow Castle later became the organising centre of the Council of Wales (and the Marches) until its abolition in 1536 by Henry VIII. Between the high point in the Middle Ages and that demise, there was a gradual decline in powers after Edward I, on conquering the area, established shire counties on the English model instead. Yet the notion remained until the Industrial Revolution.

  The Welsh Marches retain a distinctive flavour and offer the visitor fascinating historical sites to savour with rewards of excellent CAKE after an educational and enjoyable trip or microadventure. Here is the River Wye near Symonds Yat on a lovely winter walk. Buses roam all over, from Chepstow Castle onwards to Usk Castle as well as the later Raglan Castle. A little further away is Ludlow Castle, intriguing with its round chapel - and magnificent Goodrich Castle still houses Roaring Meg, the formidable mortar.  Further information about William fitzOsbern, one of the powers behind the original invasion can be found in my post about him. For an account of trade and markets in the area click here.

Matilda of Flanders - wife of William the Conqueror

Who was she?
   Matilda was high-born compared to William the Bastard and initially refused to marry him for that reason. The niece and granddaughter of Kings of France and descended from the Anglo-Saxon royal House of Wessex, she probably considered herself much superior to the illegitimate son of a lowly woman, Herleva, even though his father was a duke. The marriage also breached the rules of consanguinity, which were quite strict at the time, and required a dispensation from the Pope, Leo IX. She may also have previously been in love with Brictric, a great and charming thegn from England, who snubbed her offer of marriage.

   Stories of how William overcame her resistance vary and may be fictitious. Yet a common element is that he rode to where she was, (possibly to Bruges or to her father's house in Lille) pulled her about by her braids and battered her. Her father, Count Baldwin V, wanted to fight for her honour but she declared she would marry no-one but this ardent and violent pursuer. He was about 23 and she 20ish at the most.
  Much has been made of her short stature (because he was tall by contrast) as certain estimates put her height at about 4ft 2" but others at nearer 5ft. These measurement were taken when her skeleton was examined on different occasions and it may not have been complete. Certainly she was seen as diminutive, beautiful - and funky!

Her successes
   She bore William 9 or 10 children of whom 2 became kings: William II and Henry I. There is no record of illegitimate offspring born to William and amateur psychology suggests that the stain of bastardy and love for her kept him faithful. Certainly he had delivered terrible revenge on the town of Alencon for a jibe at his unmarried mother's family trade as skinners and tanners: he cut off the hands and feet of 32 men in public.
   Matilda contributed to the success of the Norman invasion by kitting out a ship, the Mora, mentioned at the end of the Ship List, and embellishing the prow with a figure of a small gilded boy holding a horn to his lips with one hand and pointing with the other towards England. (A similar image appears on the Bayeux Tapestry, once believed to be her project but now thought to be that of Bishop Odo of Bayeux.) This speedy vessel raced ahead of the others and caused panic on board but William calmly sat down to a huge breakfast washed down with spiced wine whilst waiting for the rest of his navy to come into view.
   They spent much of their marriage apart (but the number of children suggests they made good use of their time together!) and he showed his faith in her acumen and judgement by appointing her regent in Normandy, assisted by Roger of Montgomery, when he had to be absent in England to conquer us (and impose the French subjunctive) and to keep order once he had won at Hastings. This was a a role of considerable legal significance and she carried it out with aplomb: all ran smoothly under her control of what her husband had termed "a turbulent people, always ready to cause disturbances."

   A triumphal feasting was held at Fécamp's old monastery to celebrate William's victory at which the couple wore "splendid garments, interwoven and encrusted with gold" but the greatest ceremony for Matilda was her coronation as Queen of England on May 11th 1068. William's had been marred by a misunderstanding of the shouts from within Westminster Abbey and the consequent burning of nearby properties but hers was a success despite her lukewarm welcome in the kingdom. She was led into the Abbey, prostrated herself as a symbolic start of a new life, was anointed with holy oil, received a ring as emblem of her "marriage" to the state and was crowned. (Charters issued at the time reveal English and Norman names but, by 1086, a similar list is entirely French.) Three new phrases were incorporated to emphasise the importance of consorts. After that there were frequent grand occasions of "crown-wearings", propaganda for the new monarchy with Matilda styled as "regina."
  The education of her children, including the daughters, must be counted as one of her major successes. This task was undertaken thoroughly and with great seriousness. She and William ensured that the boys received the upbringing suitable for aristocratic males with riding, hunting, political theory and military training but both sexes were taught the "liberal arts" of reading and some Latin along with religious instruction: writing was sometimes neglected and Matilda herself signed with a flourished mark. Cecilia, who became a nun, was instructed by Arnulf of Chocques to extend her learning to understand rhetoric and logic. Adela also was a noted learned lady and contemporary references to the girls are few but all complimentary. The boys were tutored by Lanfranc who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070.

The downside
   Perhaps the most notable difficulty of her marriage was their difference of opinion over their eldest son, Robert Curthose (Short-Arse) which developed into deep trouble. According to Orderic Vitalis he was "talkative and extravagant, reckless, very courageous in battle, a powerful and sure archer with a clear, cheerful voice and a fluent tongue. Round-faced, short and stout, he was commonly nick-named 'fat-legs' and 'shorty-pants.'" Lovable to a mother! He may have formed part of the council to help Matilda as regent but he later became rivalrous: he led a rebellion and Matilda supplied him secretly with large sums of silver and gold to pursue this hostility. Her support for her son against her husband was shocking behaviour at that time and William was furious when he found out: she was never appointed regent again. A contemporary chronicler recorded her words of love and "tender affection" for her first-born which may have caused friction with William Rufus and Henry. Yet she refused William's instructions to stop sending him money and was not punished for her defiance: he must have loved her truly.
   As regent, she used her power to gain revenge over the man who had spurned her twenty years earlier. She ordered the seizure of Brictric's manor of Tewkesbury and deprived his town of Gloucester of its charter. Finally she had him imprisoned at Winchester where he died 2 years later.
  Although her endowments of religious institutions seem in her favour, some of her generosity towards them is somewhat suspect. She gave abundantly to La Trinité, which she had founded after the Pope had agreed to her marriage, but many of the foodstuffs came from England: in all her gifts were worth £650,000 in modern terms. Also she demanded treasure from Abingdon and then complained it was inadequate.
   There was a superstitious side to her character: there were rumours that she sent gifts to a hermit in Germany who then had a dream presaging ill fortune for Normandy. A happier forecast was that for the baby daughter of Queen Margaret of Scotland, who pulled Matilda's veil down over herself at her christening, an omen later interpreted as a royal future for the child.
 
Death and legacy

    Her health must have deteriorated after July 1083 as, after a life of travelling, she never left Caen where she had helped a superficial reconciliation between her husband and eldest son. She died on 2nd November 1083. Opinions differ as to the date and cause of her illness but she probably drew up her Will in 1082: it is a rather impersonal document with bequests to La Trinité but includes, oddly amongst the expected finery, all a horse's accoutrements. These may have helped the Abbess on her travels but may have symbolised Matilda's peripatetic life. William organised a "most splendid funeral" at the abbey (contrasted again with the grotesque happening at his own when his corpse burst) and a beautiful monument with epitaph was erected which can still be seen at Caen. Later the "marriage" ring was found on her finger.
    After her death William mourned but became more tyrannical which suggests that, overall, she had been a softening influence. She established a model for female rule which made it easier for women to be appointed regent and use their power generally. Her bloodline extends to the present day in our monarchical family tree.

Relevance
   Wherever you ride on buses in Monmouthshire, you see through the window territory that William controlled - with some difficulty, appointing Marcher lords to subdue the hostile inhabitants. Behind him was Matilda, supporting him throughout, apart from the quarrel with Robert. Perhaps Chepstow Castle is the most obvious site, built by William fitzOsbern and added to by the Conqueror. Cherchez la femme!

My post on Chepstow Castle has links to many other castles in the area and you can read the story of William fitzOsbern by clicking here. There are many excellent CAKE opportunities in Chepstow, including by the River Wye.

Chepstow Castle and William fitzOsbern.

Invasion
   1066 is more than the most memorable military date in British history: it is the moment when life changed forever for the islanders. We all know about William the Conqueror but, behind the scene and thrusting forward, was a man without whom it might not have happened: William fitzOsbern.
   He was one of the first to urge Duke William to invade, kept to this firm opinion when there were doubts amongst other advisers, pledged 60 ships and, according to Wace, commanded the right wing at Hastings. Wace also states that he tricked sceptical subjects into offering additional service. At that time he was Lord of Breteuil in Normandy.
  The invasion was a risky and dangerous project for Duke William to "claim his inheritance through force of arms" (William of Poitiers) and he reinforced his pitch with a successful appeal to the Pope who sent back a banner that could be carried into battle. According to Wace there were two consultative assemblies and, at the wider second meeting, many felt that the enterprise was "too arduous and far beyond the resources of Normandy". It seems that the Channel crossing was fearful to them as was the superior naval force of the English and they saw little reason to undertake it. They claimed that their loyalty did not extend overseas.
   In these circumstances it is possible to see how a strong voice in favour could sway opinion: fitzOsbern was one of the Duke's most trusted officials.

Beforehand
    William fitzOsbern was the son of a steward (a very important position) of Duke Robert I, Osbern the Seneschal, who guarded the child, the future king of England, at night, sleeping in the same room at Vaudreuil Castle. He was murdered (as were previous guardians) by having his throat cut in the course of this duty, creating a bond between the 2 young Williams, accentuated by the fact they were cousins. They fled to safety together and all this formed a lasting alliance.
   What is strange is that, by the 1040's, fitzOsbern was connected in the witness-lists of Duke William's charters to Roger II of Montgomery, since his father has been the assassin. It seems that, despite this, they worked together and had, by 1051, been selected by the Duke for his special confidence. They were, according to Marc Morris, "men of a similar stamp to the duke himself - young, ambitious and warlike - and together they would serve him faithfully for the rest of their lives." The pledge of 60 ships compares with the 100 and 120 provided by Odo and Robert, the duke's half-brothers. As everyone knows, the advisers for attack were victorious and left us all struggling with the French subjunctive for centuries.

Afterwards
  William fitzOsbern soon started construction on Chepstow Castle, the oblong keep being built in stone from the start with bonding courses of Roman tiles taken from Caerwent. The Conqueror passed through on his return in 1081 from Wales, where he had freed slaves, and ordered a huge hall to be added. This seems to have been intended as an audience chamber as it has no domestic features such as kitchens or latrines and little defensive value.  It could have been planned as a meeting place for the Norman rulers and the newly subjugated leaders of Wales.

   FitzOsbern (now Earl of Hereford amongst other honours and massive gifts of lands in recognition of service rendered) helped the project to advance into Wales by crossing the Wye to establish towns and castles. He then seems to have slowed down, possibly because of huge responsibilities elsewhere, and found some accord with the local Welsh rulers, each side recognising the rights and powers of the other. (This policy was continued by his son, Roger of Breteuil, who formed an alliance with Caradog ap Gruffudd.) There was a background of rebellion with the aptly named Eadric the Wild in alliance with the Welsh. FitzOsbern also helped with the harsh suppression of the Northern revolt in 1069.
   The Earl of Hereford also established a priory in Chepstow as a daughter house to Cormeilles (to which Chepstow paid £3 13s 4d) but such an act was not necessarily a deed of piety as political influence could be gained by such means. He seems to have been the instigator in 1070 of a venture to rob the monasteries of their secular and sacred wealth and transfer it to the treasury to pay mercenaries who did not want to be rewarded with land so far from home but who accepted "lavish rewards" in goods. It was hardly a demonstration of religious fervour to promote the stealing of "a wealth of gold and silver, vestments, books, and vessels of diverse types". By now he was immensely powerful.
  The Domesday book shows that fitzOsbern even had some power to redistribute land and settle disputes alone and certainly he had been left in charge, along with Odo of Bayeux, whilst the king returned to Normandy in 1067 quite soon after his victory: reports differ but Orderic Vitalis complained that they were "swollen with pride" and allowed plunder and rape. He relied on paid troops rather than a feudal levy. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that under Bishop Odo and fitzOsbern the "unhappy people" were oppressed and "things went ever from bad to worse."

His death and character
   FitzOsbern had incurred "the king's severe displeasure" by the liberality with which he exhausted his wealth by over-paying his soldiers, according to William of Malmesbury. Possibly in order to regain favour, he accepted a mission to go into Flanders in 1071 to the aid of Richildis, the regent and widow of Baldwin, and her son, Arnulf, King William's nephew, although William of Malmesbury claims he was "desperately in love" with her. She had offered herself to him in marriage to help to deal with her rival claimant, Robert "le Frison." A contemporary observed that he went "as if in a game" with too few supporters, merely 10 knights, and was killed at Cassel.
   It is a tale of chivalry and foolhardiness in defence of a widow and orphan: in fact, his character is hard to summarise as he combined ruthlessness with extreme loyalty; material success with unscrupulous methods but was clearly charismatic with great personal distinction, of international fame for his fighting prowess and very much a man of his time. He was mainly responsible for establishing Norman rule on the Welsh border and for conquering Gwent although many were allowed to retain their lands on the favourable terms granted by Gruffudd ap Llewelyn and the Welsh reeves (meiri) were not displaced. The jury is still out but, in my more frivolous moments, I thank the Normans for forcing the English language into a temporary lowly position as oral only and thereby allowing it to shed grammatical nuisances such as the gender of inanimate objects. Our tables are no longer female.

Chepstow Castle makes a great outing by bus from Newport or Monmouth - for opening times click here. Details of bus transport are on my original post about Chepstow Castle. It is easy to combine this with a visit to Caldicot Castle on the no 74 or Caerwent Roman Town on the no 75. You can pop up to Tintern Abbey on the no 69 to Monmouth, birthplace of King Henry V. How William fitzOsbern fitted into the background of Marcher Lordships can be seen on my blog post about the Welsh Marches.

Chepstow Castle - Marten's Tower

The Tower
   As you walk up towards the entrance to Chepstow Castle, you will see to your left this imposing tower. It used to be called Bigod's Tower since it was built by Roger Bigod III in the late 13th century to a D plan, projecting from the SE curtain wall and taking advantage of its naturally raised position.The original purpose was to provide a second, four-storeyed splendid residence that could be sealed off and defended. When Archdeacon William Coxe visited it in 1798 he was surprised to find "a comfortable suite of rooms" with lodgings for domestics.
   These had been occupied by Henry Marten (1602 - 9th September 1680) who gave his name to the tower. He was imprisoned here, after a stormy and tumultuous life, for about 12 years from 7th December 1668 onwards as a regicide,  being one of the most prominent of the 31 out of 59 Commissioners who signed the death warrant of Charles I in 1649. Marten had always been a staunch republican whose extreme opinions frightened even his supporters. Coxe reports that he took out from a great iron chest at Westminster the crown, robes, sword and sceptre of Edward the Confessor (a king and a saint) and "with a scorn, greater than his lusts and the rest of his vices, he openly declared that there should be no further use of these toyes and trifles" - sacrilege indeed!

His public life
   He was educated at Oxford and entered the Inns of Court: touring Europe in the 1620's he enjoyed the high living there but also encountered the thinking of French stoical philosophers. In his two periods as an MP he made an impression because of his severe republican outlook and was, in fact, expelled and imprisoned in the Tower of London for expressing his view that the royal family should be extirpated and the system of monarchy ended. When Ann Stagg of Southwark presented a women's petition in 1642 calling for political reform, he supported her. He was an enthusiastic committee man, serving on at least 46, but, since reading about committees is even more tedious than attending them, we will pass on to the exciting bits.
   At first he did not take an active soldierly part in the Civil War (he and Cromwell did not get on) but later raised a private regiment to defend his own area and his principles, occasionally stealing horses but attracting followers because of his charismatic personality and radical ideas. He was a sophisticated man of the world, having been a spymaster for Parliament: one receipt shows that he was paid £500 for information and he designed the emblem and mottoes of the Commonwealth regime. In June 1660, he surrendered himself to the authorities as a regicide but behaved so courageously at his trial that he was spared the death penalty. He was at first imprisoned in Windsor Castle until Charles II ordered him to be moved further away to Chepstow because his proximity worried the king.

Picture in National Portrait Gallery, London

His character
  Henry Marten is one of those fascinating personalities who seems to have at least two sides to his character: the serious radical thinker and the reckless libertine. Throughout his life he expressed republican views, tended towards atheism and wanted representative government. He was much maligned for his loose conduct although some of the accusations have no foundation.
   Married twice, the second time to Margaret Staunton, with 8 children in all, he had a long love affair with Mary Ward lasting 30 to 40 years. They lived together as man and wife: she ran the household when he was away and was allowed to visit him in prison. There is little evidence of other affairs although he was accused of being a whoremaster by Charles I: John  Aubrey wrote that he was a "great lover of pretty girls to whom he was so liberal that he spent the greatest part of his estate on them." Certainly he squandered a huge inheritance and passed some time in prison for debt. It cost money, also, to maintain a regiment. Later, too late, he observed that it was important to be "snugge like a snail within our selves, that is our mindes, which nobody can touch," having clothes and house safe.
  Some of that wealth went on clothes since he had a tendency to dandyism: in the portrait above by Sir Peter Lely, his dark cloak is embellished with fur trim and a jet pin and on 2nd December 1649 he paid Christopher Smith £17 8s 5d for a fancy cloak, a suit with taffeta inside and hose lined with calico. His rich diet included: dressed veal, goose, tongue, roast beef, capon, pork, mutton, mince pies and cheese washed down by, on average, 20 pints of beer a day to say nothing of wine and the dark rum supplied by his younger brother.
  He was not a handsome man but he spoke well, had a knack with one-liners and could turn the House with one short but well-crafted contribution. John Lilburne spoke of his "sincerity, uprightness, boldness and gallantry". Certainly he kept Mary Ward loyal to him: there a touching evidence that she liked to think of herself as his wife as she doodled both variations of her name. It was the fact that he flaunted his relationship with her so openly that caused trouble.

The end

   This is the view from inside the castle grounds of Marten's Tower where his apartments were. He was not badly treated and could even go outside. Yet it was a pitiful end of a talented man, though one must remember the background: the execution of the king on January 30, 1649, a freezing day on which Charles I wore 2 heavy shirts so as not to be thought to shiver with fear and at which a terrible groan arose from the huge crowd at the actual beheading, drowning the shouts of the soldiers.
   Marten choked on his supper on 9th Sept., 1680 and died: he had composed an epitaph for himself in the form of an acrostic in which the first letters of each line form his name, showing his wit and way with words. The last two lines read, ironically:

E xamples preach to th' eye, care then (mine says),
N ot how you end but how you spent your dayes.

   He was buried beneath the floor at an entryway of the Priory and Parish Church of St. Mary.

Your visit
   I have written earlier about the castle itself and the pleasant area round the river. It is well worth walking part way across the 200-year-old bridge to see the mighty cliffs on which this fortification rests. Chepstow is served by several buses from the top of town and there is an excellent information centre in the car park by the castle where you can also find the toilets; "Go before you go" is my motto. You can travel a little further north to visit Tintern Abbey or continue on this 69 bus to Monmouth where Henry V was born in the castle and Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote about King Arthur. Other possibilities are the the no 74 to take you to Caldicot Castle, the 75 to Caerwent Roman town and the 63 to Usk with its castle and the battle site of Pwll Melin as well as being the birthplace of Alfred Russel Wallace, evolutionary thinker.
   For opening times for the castle click here.

Chepstow Castle

First building
   Chepstow Castle dates from 1067 onwards and was clearly designed to reinforce the new conquest by its commending position, overseeing one of the most important routes into Wales. One of the difficulties for the amateur historian is that all the men connected with it were called William apart from the occasional Roger, Henry, Nicholas or Richard and a woman, mercifully not named Wilhemina.
   William Fitz Osbern, one of William the Conqueror's staunch supporters, is credited by many historians with building the rectangular Great Tower. This is strategically positioned on the narrowest part of the high cliff ridge above the River Wye: Chepstow was the first stone castle to be built in Britain and was  constructed by masons from Normandy.The Conqueror knew he had to subdue the unruly natives and created borderland Marcher Lordships encouraging expansion into Welsh Territory. The site's Welsh name "Striguil" means "bend in the river" and Archdeacon William Coxe (a man of few words - where 1 would do!) gives 7 spellings for this and quotes from the Domesday Book (1086): "Castellum de Estrighoiel fecit Wilhelmus Comes" (Earl William built the castle of Estriguil.)

The next stages
   In 1189 Chepstow Castle passed by marriage to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, known as the "flower of chivalry" who wed the de Clare heiress, Isabella, the "damsel of Striguil", daughter of Richard "Strongbow." He found that he now owned an outdated castle much in need of renovation: the main defences were added at this time, including Marshall's Tower. His 5 sons (one of whom was christened William and all of whom died young) strengthened the fortification and expanded the building with 2 outer cells, the Upper and Lower Baileys and west barbican. (I shall return to this fascinating character in a later post as he was active in the reigns of 4 Plantagenet kings: Henry I, Richard I, John and Henry III.)
   Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk, transformed the domestic arrangements of the castle in the later 13th century. Following the visit of King Edward I and Queen Eleanor in December 1284, work began on what is now know as Marten's Tower, then called the "New Tower." This was intended to provide fine, luxurious accommodation for guests with a private chapel and Bigod may have hoped for a return of his royal guests.

Some wooden doors in the castle have been dated by dendochronology as 800 years old. This beautiful and complex door of unusual workmanship is stored off its hinges: ask at the desk to be told where it is.

The Civil War
   Chepstow was held for the King in the first stage but was besieged and captured in October 1645: in the second stage, once more in Royalist hands, it was heavily bombarded and surrendered, the commander, Sir Nicholas Kemeys, being shot. An interesting event from the aftermath was the detention as a prisoner of Henry Marten, who had been a loose-living rake and republican for many decades and who signed the death warrant along with 58 others of King Charles I, thereby gaining notoriety as a regicide.

More modern times
  After William Gilpin's 1782 account of his 1770 tour of the Wye Valley and its promotion of the picturesque, tourist numbers increased, all in search of the strong emotions evoked by ruins and ivy. Yet, at that time, Marten's Tower was still roofed and floored and in the 19th century visitors came in through the gatehouse and "thundered at the portal for admission with a cannonball suspended on a chain." William Makepeace Thackeray, the novelist, came to the area in 1842 and reported his dinner as "the best salmon ever eaten." Knights have always had a Romantic allure and good food a different powerful attraction.
  I have discussed the imprisonment of Henry Marten, regicide, after the Civil War, in a special post and you can read about William Marshall in my brief biography of him.

  
 Your visit
   Disappointingly there is no cannon ball for you to swing: all you have to do now is buy your ticket (at the moment of writing there is a special discount on joining Cadw on site) and enjoy the ruins and the grounds. Toilets are situated in the car park - so go before you go! There is also an excellent information Centre, the Chepstow Museum and pleasant pottering by the River Wye.
   The bus station, served by many buses, is at the top of town. The no 69 will take you to Tintern Abbey and on to Monmouth with its historical associations and the 63 to Usk and its castle and nearby battlefield.
  For opening times for the castle click here.

By the River Wye at Chepstow

An attraction for all
   The name Chepstow derives from the Old English "chepe stowe" meaning a place of trade or market centre. After the Norman Conquest the town became a key location as the Normans could cross at the low bridging point and extend themselves into Wales. In the late eighteenth century a growing fashionable interest in the picturesque attracted visitors and painters who took boats from Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth. They admired nearby Tintern Abbey, Piercefield House and the ruins of Chepstow Castle in their yearning for romantic beauty.

Relax by the river
   Nowadays it is worth taking time to pause by the river and walk over the Wye via the 1816 cast iron bridge into England (I told you we'd be going abroad on our microadventures!) Before that there was a ferry called by the Romans Tratica Augustus; a later one was used by Charles I when fleeing a troop of Cromwell's men. On the Welsh side there is also a pretty bandstand used for concerts in the summer, the best Information Centre I have ever been into and the Museum. There are magnificent limestone cliffs and the river here has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, dropping by almost 15 metres between high and low tide. There are some lovely walks from here.

Walking down through the town
   Before you leave you will probably want to visit the castle. Chepstow is served by several buses including the 65 and 69 (the 69 takes you to Tintern Abbey) to Monmouth and the 63 to Usk with its castle,several from Newport as well as local ones and some from England. The bus station is at the top of town (near an M&S Food Hall): you then pass under the Town Gate, rebuilt in 1524 from its late 13 century origins and renovated since, down one of the attractive streets until you reach the river.