ABERGAVENNY, a market-town and parish, partly
in the upper, but chiefly in the lower, division of the
hundred of ABERGAVENNY, county of MONMOUTH, 16
miles (W. by N.) from Monmouth, and 145 (W. by N.)
from London, on the road to Milford-Haven, containing,
with the hamlets of Hardwicke and Lloyndu, 3592
inhabitants. This was the Gobannium of Antoninus, a
Roman station so called from the river Gobannius, now
the Gavenny, from which the present name of the town
is formed, by prefixing the word Aber, denoting its
situation near the mouth of that river. Soon after
the Conquest, a castle was erected here by Hameline
de Balun, or Baladun, one of William's followers, who
also founded a priory for Benedictine monks, in honour
of the Blessed Virgin, the revenue of which at the
dissolution was £59. 4.; it stood in Monk-street, the
site being now occupied by a modern dwelling, called
the Priory House. Of the castle, the only remains are
the exterior walls, which appear to have been erected
in the time of Henry II., after it had been destroyed
by the Welch: within these a neat modern structure
has been erected for a residence. The town is beautifully
situated at the extremity of a pass where the
mountains abruptly terminate, and is watered by the
rivers Usk, Gavenny, and Kibby, over the first of which
is a beautiful ancient bridge of fifteen arches: it is
lighted with gas, and well supplied with water, conveyed
into the houses by pipes from springs in the vicinity.
The streets are narrow, and the houses irregularly built;
but considerable improvements have been made by the
enlargement of the market-place, and the removal of
numerous projections in front of the buildings. The
salubrity of the air and the picturesque scenery attract
numerous visitors during the summer months. Assemblies
are occasionally held in the winter, chiefly for
the promotion of charitable purposes. The trade is
principally in wool, a considerable quantity being sold
on the market days during the months of June and
July. The mountains in the neighbourhood abound
with coal and iron-stone, and in the surrounding districts
numerous iron-works have been established, which
are rapidly increasing. The Monmouthshire and Brecon
canal, passing within half a mile of the town, affords
great facility in distributing the produce of the mines
to every part of the kingdom, and to the south of
France. The market days are Tuesday and Saturday,
the latter principally for corn: during the months of
June and July a great quantity of wool is brought to
the market. The fairs are held on the third Tuesday in
March, May 14th (which is the principal), June 24th,
the Tuesday before July 20th, September 25th, arid
November 19th.
The charter of incorporation, by which the government
of the town was vested in a bailiff, recorder,
and twenty-seven burgesses, having become forfeited
in the reign of William III., the town is within the
jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold a petty
session every Tuesday. A court for the recovery of
debts under 40s, is held under the lord of the manor,
the authority of which extends over a district ten miles
in circuit. The general quarter sessions of the county
were formerly held here, but they have been removed
to Usk. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the
archdeaconry and diocese of Llandaff, rated in the
king's books at £10. 0. 7, endowed with £600 royal
bounty, and in the patronage of Charles Kemeys Tynte,
Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious
structure in the Norman style of architecture, and contains
several very ancient monuments, principally of
the Herberts. There are two places of worship each
for Baptists and Independents, and one each for Wesleyan
Methodists and Roman Catholics. The free grammar
school, founded by Henry VIII., in 1543, and formerly
under the management of the corporation, was,
on the forfeiture of their charter, placed under the control
of the Master and Fellows of Jesus' College, Oxford,
who appoint the master, whose salary is £40 per
annum, giving preference to a fellow of that college.
The number of scholars on the foundation is eighteen:
the school-house was formerly the parochial church of
St. John, which was converted to this purpose at the
dissolution. About the middle of the last century it
was rebuilt, but still, from its embattled tower, it presents
the appearance of an ecclesiastical structure.
William Prichard, in 1623, founded a scholarship in
Jesus' College, Oxford, to which boys educated at this
school are eligible. There are also a Lancasterian and
several Sunday schools. A variety of Roman coins,
among which was a gold Otho, some bricks inscribed
"Leg. II. Aug.," and a sudatory, have been discovered
in the town; and within half a mile of it are the remains
of a Roman camp, near which was a chapel of
ease, now converted into a farm-house. At Lloyndu
is a mineral spring, said to have been efficacious in
the cure of scrofula. Abergavenny confers the title of
earl on the family of Neville; the earldom, like that
of Arundel, is a local dignity, attached to the possession
of the castle, and the only one, now subsisting, of
those baronies with which the Norman warriors, who
assisted in the subjugation of Wales, were rewarded.