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176-698: Monmouth ( / ˈ m ɒ n m ə θ / MON -məth or / ˈ m ʌ n -/ MUN - ; Welsh : Trefynwy , lit.   'Town on the Monnow';) is a market town and community in Monmouthshire , Wales , situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye , two miles (three kilometres) from the Wales–England border . The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8,877 in 2001. Monmouth

352-460: A Benedictine priory was established around 1075 by Withenoc , a Breton who became lord of Monmouth after Roger , the son of William fitzOsbern, was disgraced. The priory may have once been the residence of the monk Geoffrey of Monmouth , who was born around 1100 and is best known for writing the chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"). The town was recorded in

528-594: A Bronze Age boat building community, including three 100-foot-long (30-metre) channels adjoining the site of a now-vanished lake, was discovered in September 2013, during archaeological investigations by the Monmouth Archaeological Society of the Parc Glyndwr housing development site, immediately north-west of the town. The excavations later revealed the remains of a Neolithic dwelling. The dwelling

704-451: A bead from the 5th millennium BC found in Iran and spear tips and ornaments from ancient Egypt and Sumer around 4000 BC. These early uses appear to have been largely ceremonial or decorative. Meteoric iron is very rare, and the metal was probably very expensive, perhaps more expensive than gold . The early Hittites are known to have bartered iron (meteoric or smelted) for silver , at

880-547: A hydroelectric power station was built on the River Monnow at Osbaston, providing electrical power to the town until 1953. A new hydroelectric station was built on the same site and has operated since 2009, typically generating 670,000kWh annually. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Monmouth had close links with the Rolls family , who built a mansion at The Hendre just outside the town. In 1904, Charles Rolls established

1056-698: A "Bee Town", the first such in Britain. An annual Bee Festival is held, which takes place in the Nelson Garden and Chippenham Fields. The county and town councils have special policies in place for pollinators. The Welsh language and culture are promoted by the Monmouth & District Welsh Society (Cymdeithas Gymraeg Trefynwy a'r Cylch) . Monmouth is twinned with the French town of Carbonne , and Waldbronn in Germany . Monmouth

1232-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under

1408-586: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified

1584-647: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had

1760-447: A centre for iron working , using the local iron ores and charcoal also worked at nearby Gobannium ( Abergavenny ) and Ariconium (near Ross-on-Wye ). After the end of Roman rule in Britain , the area was at the southern edge of the Welsh kingdom of Ergyng . The only evidence of continuing settlement at Monmouth is a record of a 7th-century church, at an unknown location within

1936-518: A commercial scale, having been displaced by the functionally equivalent mild or low-carbon steel. Iron was extracted from iron–nickel alloys , which comprise about 6% of all meteorites that fall on the Earth . That source can often be identified with certainty because of the unique crystalline features ( Widmanstätten patterns ) of that material, which are preserved when the metal is worked cold or at low temperature. Those artifacts include, for example,

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2112-967: A complex process of "pre-heating" allowing temperatures inside a furnace to reach 1300 to 1400 °C. Iron and copper working spread southward through the continent, reaching the Cape around AD 200. The widespread use of iron revolutionized the Bantu -speaking farming communities who adopted it, driving out and absorbing the rock tool using hunter-gatherer societies they encountered as they expanded to farm wider areas of savanna . The technologically superior Bantu-speakers spread across southern Africa and became wealthy and powerful, producing iron for tools and weapons in large, industrial quantities. The earliest records of bloomery-type furnaces in East Africa are discoveries of smelted iron and carbon in Nubia that date back between

2288-562: A crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon. Iron chain was used in Indian suspension bridges as early as the 4th century. Wootz steel was produced in India and Sri Lanka from around 300 BC. Wootz steel is famous from Classical Antiquity for its durability and ability to hold an edge. When asked by King Porus to select a gift, Alexander is said to have chosen, over gold or silver , thirty pounds of steel. Wootz steel

2464-545: A few, probably ornamental, bronze weapons. During the Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), the government established ironworking as a state monopoly, repealed during the latter half of the dynasty and returned to private entrepreneurship , and built a series of large blast furnaces in Henan province, each capable of producing several tons of iron per day. By this time, Chinese metallurgists had discovered how to fine molten pig iron, stirring it in

2640-867: A group of four boarding and day schools. Monmouth University of the Third Age (U3A) offers educational and leisure activities for retired and semi-retired people. Health care services are provided by the Aneurin Bevan Health Board , part of the National Health Service . Following the closure of the Cottage Hospital in 2006, health services are provided at the Monnow Vale Integrated Health and Social Care Facility . The Bridges Community Centre in Drybridge House adjacent to

2816-567: A growth of 61% over forty years. There are three primary schools in the town: Kymin View, Osbaston, and Overmonnow. The secondary schooling needs of the town are served by Monmouth Comprehensive School which had over 1,600 pupils in 2012. Welsh medium secondary education is provided at Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw in Pontypool . Monmouth also has independent schooling including; the Monmouth Schools ,

2992-643: A long-distance footpath beginning in Chepstow and finishing in North Wales , and the Wye Valley Walk passing through the town. People associated with Monmouth include Geoffrey of Monmouth , the Oxford -based cleric, born in about 1100 and believed to be originally from the area, who wrote Historia Regum Britanniae , the "History of British Kings". Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford and Guardian of England, died at

3168-442: A market town, and agricultural centre, rather than as a centre of industry. The wool industry was important in its early growth, and the town was a centre for the production of the very popular knitted and felted Monmouth caps , from the 15th century onwards. Historically, Monmouth also had iron and tinplate works, together with paper and corn mills. The town was also an important river port, with warehouses and wharves along

3344-634: A new car making business with Henry Royce , but in 1910 he was killed in an aeroplane crash at the age of 32; he is commemorated by a statue in Agincourt Square . St Mary's Church contains a memorial to the men of who died in HMS Monmouth , which was sunk with all hands on 1 November 1914, by German cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau off the Chilean Coast at the Battle of Coronel during

3520-421: A new era of greatly increased use of iron and steel that some contemporaries described as a new "Iron Age". In the late 1850s Henry Bessemer invented a new steelmaking process which involved blowing air through molten pig-iron to burn off carbon, and so producing mild steel. This and other 19th-century and later steel-making processes have displaced wrought iron . Today, wrought iron is no longer produced on

3696-651: A police force of four constables and a sergeant was established in Monmouth in 1836, uncertain finances meant that within two years the force was reduced to just two constables. Four railways were built to serve Monmouth between 1857 and 1883: the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway , the Ross and Monmouth Railway , the Wye Valley Railway , and the Coleford Railway . All of these closed between 1917 and 1964. In 1896

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3872-640: A rate of 40 times the iron's weight, with Assyria in the first centuries of the second millennium BC . Meteoric iron was also fashioned into tools in the Arctic when the Thule people of Greenland began making harpoons , knives, ulus and other edged tools from pieces of the Cape York meteorite . Typically pea-size bits of metal were cold-hammered into disks and fitted to a bone handle. These artifacts were also used as trade goods with other Arctic peoples: tools made from

4048-594: A reduction furnace and blacksmith workshop; with earliest dates of 896–773 BC and 907–796 BC respectively. Similarly, smelting in bloomery-type furnaces appear in the Nok culture of central Nigeria by about 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier. There is also evidence that carbon steel was made in Western Tanzania by the ancestors of the Haya people as early as 2,300 to 2,000 years ago (about 300 BC or soon after) by

4224-437: A relatively quiet town for most of the 20th century; its passenger rail services ended in 1959, but its road connections were improved with the new A40 bypassing the town in 1966, although this "severed the town ruthlessly from the river on which in the past it had depended", and later connecting the town to the motorway system. These improved communications contributed to the development of the town, with suburbs extending beyond

4400-502: A result of the forging process. There was no fundamental change in the technology of iron production in Europe for many centuries. European metal workers continued to produce iron in bloomeries. However, the Medieval period brought two developments—the use of water power in the bloomery process in various places (outlined above), and the first European production in cast iron. Sometime in

4576-582: A shortage of bronze or tin in the Early Iron Age. Bronze objects remained abundant, and these objects have the same percentage of tin as those from the Late Bronze Age. The history of ferrous metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent began in the 2nd millennium BC. Archaeological sites in the Gangetic plains have yielded iron implements dated between 1800 and 1200 BC. By the early 13th century BC, iron smelting

4752-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into

4928-453: A variety of both national and independent shops, most situated along Monnow Street. There are a number of supermarkets, some banks although the numbers have declined in the 21st century, and independent cafes and restaurants. Church Street , a cobbled pedestrianised street, contains craft shops, a book shop, a greengrocer, chemist, coffee shops and restaurants. Monmouth has been a Fairtrade town since 2005. A regular market takes place close to

5104-575: A woman from a flooded house. The types of crime that Fuller and subsequent police officers had to deal with in and around Monmouth as the century progressed were recorded in detail in the local newspapers, the Merlin and the Monmouthshire Beacon . These crimes included theft of livestock, clothing, food, valuables, fuel (wood and coal); assault; vandalism; highway robbery; fraud; passing counterfeit coin; prostitution , and indecent exposure, as well as

5280-608: A year and were often men who had experience in other local government or community roles. William Fuller who held office as Monmouth's constable for over twenty years in the early to mid 19th century, also served as Inspector of Nuisances, Chief of the Fire Brigade, Inspector of Weights and Measures, Clerk of the Market, and Conservator of the Wye. Fuller is also recorded as having rescued people from drowning, acted as emergency midwife, and rescued

5456-948: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave

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5632-558: Is a knife blade from the Catacomb culture in present-day Ukraine, dated to c. 2500 BC. During most of the Middle and Late Bronze Age in Europe, iron was present, though scarce. It was used for personal ornaments and small knives, for repairs on bronzes, and for bimetallic items. Early smelted iron finds from central Europe include an iron knife or sickle from Ganovce in Slovakia, possibly dating from

5808-466: Is a typical market street, in being wide in the middle (for those selling) and narrow at each end, to help prevent livestock escaping. Monmouth School was founded by William Jones in 1614. The castle changed hands three times during the English Civil War , and Oliver Cromwell passed through on his way to retaking Chepstow Castle and laying siege to Pembroke Castle in 1648. Monmouth castle

5984-536: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Iron working By

6160-667: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to

6336-618: Is currently closed, prior to its relocation to the Shire Hall. A small Regimental Museum established in 1989 is housed in Great Castle House , a former town house built on the site of part of Monmouth Castle . The Monmouth Festival , a free nine-day music festival, has been running every year since 1982 and is one of the largest free music festivals in Europe. The town also holds the Rockfield Country Music Festival and

6512-675: Is home to Monmouth Town F.C. , a football club founded around 1905. It plays in the Ardal League South East (third tier) at the Chippenham Sports Ground . The town has a leisure centre, on the site of the comprehensive school, with a 20m x 10m swimming pool. In 2011 the swimming pool underwent a £300,000 refurbishment. There is an 18-hole golf course on the edge of the town, as well as the Rolls Golf Club at The Hendre. There are also cricket, bowls and rugby clubs. Monmouth

6688-608: Is in an area of Devonian age Old Red Sandstone , at the point where the River Wye is joined by its tributary, the River Monnow , and immediately north of the point at which the smaller River Trothy flows into the Wye from the west. Immediately to the south, the Wye enters a valley, incised into sandstone and, in particular, Carboniferous Limestone . The town is surrounded by wooded hills to its north, east and south, including Buckholt Wood (230 m or 750 ft), The Kymin (260 m or 850 ft), and The Graig (258 m or 846 ft), with more gently undulating terrain to

6864-648: Is not known, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing metal extracted from nickel-containing ores from hot-worked meteoritic iron. The archaeological evidence seems to point to the Middle East area, during the Bronze Age in the 3rd millennium BC. However, wrought iron artifacts remained a rarity until the 12th century BC. The Iron Age is conventionally defined by the widespread replacement of bronze weapons and tools with those of iron and steel. That transition happened at different times in different places, as

7040-632: Is rather brittle and unsuitable for striking implements. It can be decarburized to steel or wrought iron by heating it in air for several days. In China, these iron working methods spread northward, and by 300 BC, iron was the material of choice throughout China for most tools and weapons. A mass grave in Hebei province, dated to the early 3rd century BC, contains several soldiers buried with their weapons and other equipment. The artifacts recovered from this grave are variously made of wrought iron, cast iron, malleabilized cast iron, and quench-hardened steel, with only

7216-569: Is some uncertainty, some archaeologists believe that iron metallurgy was developed independently in sub-Saharan Africa (possibly in West Africa). Inhabitants of Termit, in eastern Niger , smelted iron around 1500 BC. In the region of the Aïr Mountains in Niger there are also signs of independent copper smelting between 2500 and 1500 BC. The process was not in a developed state, indicating smelting

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7392-600: Is the current training base for the Welsh Men's National Lacrosse team, which trained at Monmouth Girls School before the 2014 world championships. Monmouth has a rowing tradition on the River Wye, with the Monmouth Rowing Club , founded in 1928, whose boathouse also hosts the rowing clubs of Monmouth Comprehensive School and of Monmouth School for Girls , and Monmouth School for Boys Rowing club, which has its own boathouse on

7568-456: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain

7744-421: Is the only one of its type remaining in Britain. The castle later came into the possession of the House of Lancaster , and was the birthplace of King Henry V in 1386. The name Monmouth is an English contraction of 'Monnow-mouth'. The Welsh name for the river, Mynwy , which may originally have meant "fast-flowing", was anglicised as Monnow . The town was originally known in Welsh as Abermynwy ("mouth of

7920-446: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows

8096-403: The 2001 census was 8,877. Of that total, 1,760 (19.8%) were aged 15 or younger; 1,227 (13.8%) between 16 and 29; 1,687 (21.1%) between 30 and 44; 1,849 (20.8%) between 45 and 59; 1,386 (15.6%) between 60 and 74; and 968 (10.9%) aged 75 or over. The median age of residents was 42, in comparison to a Wales-wide median age of 39. The town's population increased from 5,504 in 1961 to 8,877 in 2001,

8272-440: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in

8448-410: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in

8624-645: The A40 dual carriageway road runs past Monmouth linking with the M50 motorway at Ross-on-Wye . South of the town, the road passes through a short tunnel beneath Gibraltar Hill. It follows the River Wye valley from the northeast of Monmouth. The A466 road , also known as the Wye Valley Road, crosses the A40, linking Chepstow and Hereford, and provides access to the Severn Bridge on the M48 motorway . The distances of airports from Monmouth are, Bristol Airport 41 miles (66 km), Cardiff Airport 49 miles (79 km) and London Heathrow Airport 120 miles (190 km). Regular but infrequent bus services run between

8800-460: The Church in Wales established the Diocese of Monmouth in 1921, and in 1949, Monmouthshire was included within the remit of the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire , an appointed precursor of the Welsh Office . The issue of whether Monmouth should be considered as part of Wales for administrative purposes was finally clarified in law by the Local Government Act 1972 , which incorporated Monmouthshire within Wales. Monmouth developed primarily as

8976-405: The Court of Great Sessions in Wales . Ecclesiastically, until 1836 the town of Monmouth fell within the diocese of Hereford , rather than that of Llandaff . These arrangements gave rise to the widespread belief that the area was part of England rather than Wales, although most legislation for Wales was applied to it using the phrase "Wales and Monmouthshire". Following the Welsh Church Act 1914 ,

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9152-408: The Diocese of Hereford . St Mary's Roman Catholic Church was the first Catholic church to be built in Wales after the Reformation , and its construction followed the relaxation of laws against Catholics in 1778. The building was extended on several occasions in the 19th century. Monmouth Methodist Church is noted for both its exterior and interior architectural features. The Baptist Church

9328-442: The Domesday Book as part of Herefordshire , and expanded thereafter. There was early burgage development along Monnow Street, and the suburb of Overmonnow , west of the river and protected by a defensive moat called the Clawdd-du or Black ditch, began to develop by the 12th century. Charters from the period refer to the town's trade in iron , and to forges making use of local ore and charcoal . The cinders produced by

9504-416: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol

9680-423: The First World War ; the church hosts an annual service in remembrance. Seven Royal Navy ships have been named after the town, including a Type 23 frigate launched in 1991 which is still in operation. The remains of two pillboxes stand on the Wyesham side of the Wye Bridge. They were built in 1940/1 as part of the Western Command Stop Line No. 27, designed to impede a German invasion force. Monmouth remained

9856-456: The Furness district of England, powered bloomeries were in use into the beginning of the 18th century, and near Garstang until about 1770. The Catalan Forge was a variety of powered bloomery. Bloomeries with hot blast were used in upstate New York in the mid-19th century. The preferred method of iron production in Europe until the development of the puddling process in 1783–84. Cast iron development lagged in Europe because wrought iron

10032-473: The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway . The other station at Monmouth was Monmouth May Hill on the Ross and Monmouth Railway , built on the opposite bank of the Wye to the town centre. This operated for many years as Monmouth Sawmills and Gas Works after its closure as part of the rail network . Monmouth is administered by Monmouthshire County Council , one of the 22 unitary local authorities in Wales formed in 1996. Its offices were located until 2012 at

10208-473: The Great Reform Act of 1832 the constituency was generally referred to as the Monmouth Boroughs . The Representation of the People Act 1918 led to Newport becoming a parliamentary borough in its own right, and Monmouth was included in the new Monmouth county constituency . The town has remained part of the Monmouth constituency in subsequent elections, although the constituency boundary has changed several times. Notable Members of Parliament (MPs) for

10384-442: The La Tène culture saw a significant increase in iron production, with iron metallurgy also becoming common in southern Scandinavia. North of Sweden saw steel manufacturing dating back to around 0 AD through the eastern-western migration of hunter-gatherers in the Cap of the North . The spread of ironworking in Central and Western Europe is associated with Celtic expansion. Celtic smiths produced steel from circa 800 BC as part of

10560-478: The Monmouth Women's Festival each year. An annual regatta is held, each May, and a raft race takes place each year for the St David's Foundation. Location scenes for two episodes of the BBC drama series Doctor Who were filmed in Monmouth: " The Unquiet Dead " (2005) and " The Next Doctor " (2008). Monmouth was named one of the best places to live in Wales in 2017. In 2020 the international beekeeping charity organisation Bees for Development designated Monmouth

10736-428: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and

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10912-432: The Senedd , the town is part of the Monmouth constituency ; the current MS is Peter Fox (Conservative). Until January 2020, Monmouth was within the Wales constituency for the European Parliament . The Laws in Wales Acts created an anomaly in that, although Monmouthshire was noted as being in the 'Country or Dominion of Wales', it was made directly responsible to the courts of Westminster rather than falling under

11088-425: The Severn Estuary which show a maritime influence, and the cooler and drier conditions of the English Midlands further inland. The nearby Ross-on-Wye weather station shows average daily maximum temperatures ranging from 7.3 °C (45.1 °F) in January to 22.0 °C (71.6 °F) in July, with 1504 hours of sunshine per year, and an average annual rainfall of 706 millimetres (27.8 in). Since 1966,

11264-450: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has

11440-417: The iron oxide from the ore to metallic iron. The bloomery, however, was not hot enough to melt the iron, so the metal collected in the bottom of the furnace as a spongy mass, or bloom . Workers then repeatedly beat and folded it to force out the molten slag . This laborious, time-consuming process produced wrought iron , a malleable but fairly soft alloy. Concurrent with the transition from bronze to iron

11616-404: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for

11792-415: The 10th century BC iron became the prevailing metal in use. In the Carpathian Basin there is a significant increase in iron finds dating from the 10th century BC onwards, with some finds possibly dating as early as the 12th century BC. Iron swords have been found in central Europe dating from the 10th century BC; however, the Iron Age began in earnest with the Hallstatt culture from 800 BC. From 500 BC

11968-532: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in

12144-405: The 18th century BC, an iron ring from Vorwohlde in Germany dating from circa the 15th century BC, and an iron chisel from Heegermühle in Germany dating from circa 1000 BC. Iron metallurgy began to be practised in Scandinavia during the later Bronze Age from at least the 9th century BC. In the 11th century BC iron swords replaced bronze swords in Southern Europe, especially in Greece, and in

12320-409: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,

12496-557: The 4th century BC southern India had started exporting wootz steel , with a carbon content between pig iron and wrought iron, to ancient China, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Archaeological evidence of cast iron appears in 5th-century BC China. New methods of producing it by carburizing bars of iron in the cementation process were devised in the 17th century. During the Industrial Revolution , new methods of producing bar iron by substituting coke for charcoal emerged, and these were later applied to produce steel , ushering in

12672-675: The 7th and 6th centuries BC, particularly in Meroe where there are known to have been ancient bloomeries that produced metal tools for the Nubians and Kushites and produced surplus for their economy. Iron technology was further advanced by several inventions in medieval Islam , during the Islamic Golden Age . By the 11th century, every province throughout the Muslim world had these industrial mills in operation, from Islamic Spain and North Africa in

12848-407: The 9th century BC. Cast iron was used in ancient China for warfare, agriculture and architecture. Around 500 BC, metalworkers in the southern state of Wu achieved a temperature of 1130 °C. At this temperature, iron combines with 4.3% carbon and melts. The liquid iron can be cast into molds , a method far less laborious than individually forging each piece of iron from a bloom. Cast iron

13024-481: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for

13200-695: The Cape York meteorite have been found in archaeological sites more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) distant. When the American polar explorer Robert Peary shipped the largest piece of the meteorite to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1897, it still weighed over 33  tons . Another example of a late use of meteoric iron is an adze from around 1000 AD found in Sweden . Native iron in

13376-597: The Eastern Mediterranean and destroyed the Hittite empire at the end of the Late Bronze Age, were responsible for spreading the knowledge through that region. This theory is no longer held in the mainstream of scholarship, since there is no archaeological evidence of the alleged Hittite monopoly. While there are some iron objects from Bronze Age Anatolia, the number is comparable to iron objects found in Egypt and other places of

13552-590: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published

13728-552: The Health and Social Care Facility provides support services to disadvantaged and vulnerable people. In the 2001 census, 74.2% of the town's resident population gave their religion as Christian , with 16.7% stating "no religion". Minority religions included Muslim (0.2%), Sikh (0.2%), and Buddhist (0.2%). Monmouth contains churches of several denominations . Within the Church in Wales ,

13904-516: The Merlin Society, one of the largest music societies in the country. The Monmouthshire Show (formerly the Monmouth Show) has been held each year, traditionally on the last Thursday of August, since 1919, though its history can be traced back to 1857. Prior to that there had been an agricultural society in the town dating back to the 1790s, which held ploughing competitions. The show, now held on

14080-591: The Middle East. One theory suggests that metallurgy was introduced through Central Asia. In 2008, two iron fragments were excavated at the Mogou site , in Gansu . They have been dated to the 14th century BC, belonging to the period of Siwa culture , suggesting an independent Chinese origin. One of the fragments was made of bloomery iron rather than meteoritic iron. The earliest iron artifacts made from bloomeries in China date to end of

14256-648: The Monmouth Group of Parishes includes the Priory Church of St Mary , which holds regular weekly services. The church was founded as a Benedictine priory around 1075. It fell into ruin after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, but was rebuilt as a parish church in 1737, and then completely rebuilt again in 1882. The church spire is prominent in views of, and within, the town. Other Anglican churches in

14432-550: The Monnow Bridge, and occasionally in the traditional market place in Agincourt Square. There are numerous public houses in the town. According to the 2001 census, Monmouth had relatively high proportions of its population working in the retail and wholesale sectors of the economy (19.5%, compared with 16.3% for Wales as a whole), education (11.8%, compared with 8.1% across Wales), and property services (10.8%, compared with 8.5% across Wales). The proportion working in manufacturing

14608-471: The Monnow"), replaced by Trefynwy ("Monnow town" – the initial m of Mynwy mutating in Welsh to f , pronounced /v/) by the 1600s. Excavations undertaken by the Monmouth Archaeological Society on sites along Monnow Street have uncovered details of the early history of the town. The Council for British Archaeology has designated Monmouth as one of the top ten towns in Britain for archaeology. Evidence of

14784-489: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,

14960-673: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither

15136-641: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of

15312-578: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer

15488-481: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to

15664-606: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of

15840-531: The Wye later removed for the building of the A40 relief road. Monmouth is now primarily a centre for service industries and tourism , and its good road communications have encouraged commuting to larger centres in the West Midlands , South Wales , and Bristol . The Monmouth and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce represents businesses in the town and aims to support and encourage their development. The town has

16016-469: The administration of England and Wales . A new shire was created covering the area west of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire , and Monmouth became its county town. The town gained representation in the English Parliament at the same time, and its priory was dissolved . In 1605, James I granted Monmouth a town charter by letters patent . The granting of the charter included the charge that

16192-549: The area have included the industrialist Crawshay Bailey from 1852 to 1868; Peter Thorneycroft , Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1957–58 and Chairman of the Conservative Party 1975–81, who was the town's MP from 1945 to 1966; and John Stradling Thomas , MP from 1970 to 1991. The constituency has returned a Conservative MP at most recent elections; the current member is David Davies , first elected in 2005. In elections for

16368-543: The castle in 1295, and King Edward II was briefly imprisoned there in 1326. The future Henry V , the victor at the battle of Agincourt in 1415, was born in the castle in 1386. Philip Evans , Jesuit priest and martyr , was born in the town in 1645. Horatio Nelson visited Monmouth on several occasions and in 1802, after visiting the Kymin Naval Temple, spoke at the Beaufort Arms Hotel . After his death,

16544-546: The castle was extended by Henry's son Edmund Crouchback , after he became Earl of Lancaster in 1267. In about 1300, town walls were built, and the Monnow Bridge was fortified . The bridge, now pedestrianised , remains in place, the only such fortified bridge in Britain and reputedly one of only three similar crossings in Europe. King Edward II was briefly imprisoned at Monmouth Castle in 1326 after being overthrown by his wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer . In

16720-456: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of

16896-759: The centers of origin were located in West Africa , Central Africa , and East Africa ; consequently, as these origin centers are located within inner Africa, these archaeometallurgical developments are thus native African technologies. Iron metallurgical development occurred 2631 BCE – 2458 BCE at Lejja, in Nigeria, 2136 BCE – 1921 BCE at Obui, in Central Africa Republic, 1895 BCE – 1370 BCE at Tchire Ouma 147, in Niger, and 1297 BCE – 1051 BCE at Dekpassanware, in Togo. Though there

17072-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within

17248-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of

17424-470: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over

17600-526: The earliest smelted iron artifacts, a dagger with an iron blade found in a Hattic tomb in Anatolia , dated from 2500 BC. About 1500 BC, increasing numbers of non-meteoritic, smelted iron objects appeared in Mesopotamia , Anatolia and Egypt. Nineteen meteoric iron objects were found in the tomb of Egyptian ruler Tutankhamun , who died in 1323 BC, including an iron dagger with a golden hilt, an Eye of Horus ,

17776-591: The first western account of the use of iron in India. The Indian mythological texts, the Upanishads , have mentions of weaving, pottery and metallurgy, as well. The Romans had high regard for the excellence of steel from India in the time of the Gupta Empire . Perhaps as early as 500 BC, although certainly by 200 AD, high-quality steel was produced in southern India by the crucible technique . In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in

17952-485: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of

18128-461: The forges formed heaps, and were used in building foundations; the name of Cinderhill Street in Overmonnow dates from this period. During the period of turmoil between the supporters of King Henry III and the barons who sought to curtail his power, the town was the scene of a major battle in 1233 , in which the king's forces were routed by the troops of Richard Marshal , Earl of Pembroke . Later,

18304-466: The former Gwent County Hall at Croesyceiliog , Cwmbran ; its main offices are now located at Rhydar, just outside Usk . The town elects five county councillors, for the wards of Dixton with Osbaston , Drybridge , Overmonnow, Town and Wyesham; as of March 2024, three councillors are Welsh Labour, two independent and one Welsh Conservative. The town also has its own town council , comprising 19 councillors elected every five years. The mayor of Monmouth for

18480-579: The garden where he dined with Lady Hamilton after the speech was named the Nelson Garden . William Allen was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in the Battle of Rorke's Drift (1879), and is buried in Monmouth Cemetery . Rockfield Studios , situated just outside the town, have hosted many prominent bands including Queen and Oasis . Notable rock guitarist Brian Godding was born in

18656-512: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval

18832-469: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to

19008-451: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period

19184-620: The importance of the area's woodland in providing timber for the British Navy and approved a Naval Temple built in his honour on the nearby Kymin Hill . Wooden ships up to 500 tons were built at a shipyard just south of Monmouth bridge until the new bridge at Chepstow was opened in 1816. Priory Street , the town's first bypass, was built in the 1830s, with the town slaughterhouse beneath. In 1840, at Monmouth's Shire Hall, Chartist protesters John Frost , Zephaniah Williams and William Jones became

19360-413: The kilns used for pottery ) and cast into molds, smelted iron requires hot-working and can be melted only in specially designed furnaces. Iron is a common impurity in copper ores and iron ore was sometimes used as a flux , thus it is not surprising that humans mastered the technology of smelted iron only after several millennia of bronze metallurgy . The place and time for the discovery of iron smelting

19536-587: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for

19712-496: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to

19888-546: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c.  600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )

20064-477: The last men in Britain to be sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered after being found guilty of treason following riots in Newport that led to 20 deaths. The sentences were later commuted to transportation to Van Diemen's Land . Until the establishment of an official police force in 1857, Monmouth had a parish constable assisted by beadles to keep law and order. The appointed constables held office for

20240-520: The local group of parishes are St Thomas ' at Overmonnow, and the churches at Mitchel Troy , Wonastow and Buckholt . The Diocese of Monmouth , the cathedral of which is the Cathedral Church of St Woolos in Newport, is one of the six dioceses of the Church in Wales. The churches at Wyesham and Dixton , though within the boundaries of Wales, are administered by the Church of England , and fall within

20416-532: The medieval period, water power was applied to the bloomery process. It is possible that this was at the Cistercian Abbey of Clairvaux as early as 1135, but it was certainly in use in early 13th century France and Sweden. In England , the first clear documentary evidence for this is the accounts of a forge of the Bishop of Durham , near Bedburn in 1408, but that was certainly not the first such ironworks. In

20592-455: The metallic state occurs rarely as small inclusions in certain basalt rocks. Besides meteoritic iron, Thule people of Greenland have used native iron from the Disko region. Iron smelting—the extraction of usable metal from oxidized iron ores—is more difficult than tin and copper smelting. While these metals and their alloys can be cold-worked or melted in relatively simple furnaces (such as

20768-600: The mid 14th century, the castle and town came into the possession of the House of Lancaster through the marriage of John of Gaunt to Blanche of Lancaster . John of Gaunt strengthened the castle, adding the great hall, and the castle became a favourite residence of the House of Lancaster. In 1387, John of Gaunt's grandson was born to Mary de Bohun , in the Queen's Chamber within the gatehouse of Monmouth Castle, while his father Henry Bolingbroke

20944-506: The modern Bessemer process that utilized partial decarbonization via repeated forging under a cold blast. By the 11th century, there was a large amount of deforestation in China due to the iron industry's demands for charcoal. By this time however, the Chinese had learned to use bituminous coke to replace charcoal, and with this switch in resources many acres of prime timberland in China were spared. The earliest smelted iron object from Europe

21120-562: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in

21296-525: The more serious crimes of concealing the death of an infant, carnal knowledge without consent, and murder. The constable would have been present in court at Shire Hall when many of these cases came before the Quarter Sessions or Assizes . Once the court had passed sentence there was a wide range of punishments available to the authorities. Capital offences were dealt with at Monmouth County Gaol , as were whippings and sentences of hard labour. Although

21472-431: The mummy's head-stand and sixteen models of an artisan's tools. An Ancient Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah as well as a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze shaft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit . Although iron objects dating from the Bronze Age have been found across the Eastern Mediterranean, bronzework appears to have greatly predominated during this period. As

21648-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,

21824-443: The open air until it lost its carbon and could be hammered (wrought). In modern Mandarin- Chinese , this process is now called chao , literally stir frying . Pig iron is known as 'raw iron', while wrought iron is known as 'cooked iron'. By the 1st century BC, Chinese metallurgists had found that wrought iron and cast iron could be melted together to yield an alloy of intermediate carbon content, that is, steel. According to legend,

22000-578: The opposite bank of the Wye. Monmouth has been established as a tourist centre for some 200 years. It is in close proximity to the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley. Tourist attractions within the town include the castle, the museum , the Nelson Garden and the Shire Hall where the Tourist Information Centre and visitor centre is located. The area is also attractive to walkers. Both the Offa's Dyke Path ,

22176-464: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to

22352-534: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,

22528-483: The period from 900 to 1750. This was produced using the crucible steel method, based on the earlier Indian wootz steel . This process was adopted in the Middle East using locally produced steels. The exact process remains unknown, but it allowed carbides to precipitate out as micro particles arranged in sheets or bands within the body of a blade. Carbides are far harder than the surrounding low carbon steel, so swordsmiths could produce an edge that cut hard materials with

22704-517: The piece into steel , an alloy of iron and iron carbides , with an inner core of less brittle iron. The development of iron smelting was traditionally attributed to the Hittites of Anatolia of the Late Bronze Age . It was believed that they maintained a monopoly on iron working, and that their empire had been based on that advantage. According to that theory, the ancient Sea Peoples , who invaded

22880-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase

23056-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over

23232-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by

23408-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in

23584-401: The practice followed the Mongols across Russia to these sites, but there is no clear proof of this hypothesis, and it would certainly not explain the pre-Mongol datings of many of these iron-production centres. In any event, by the late 14th century, a market for cast iron goods began to form, as a demand developed for cast iron cannonballs. An alternative method of decarburising pig iron

23760-461: The precipitated carbides, while the bands of softer steel let the sword as a whole remain tough and flexible. A team of researchers based at the Technical University of Dresden that uses X-rays and electron microscopy to examine Damascus steel discovered the presence of cementite nanowires and carbon nanotubes . Peter Paufler, a member of the Dresden team, says that these nanostructures give Damascus steel its distinctive properties and are

23936-413: The production methods of creating Wootz steel, an idea imported from India to China by the 5th century AD. During the Han dynasty, the Chinese were also the first to apply hydraulic power (i.e. a waterwheel ) in working the bellows of the blast furnace. This was recorded in the year 31 AD, as an innovation by the Chinese mechanical engineer and politician Du Shi , Prefect of Nanyang. Although Du Shi

24112-406: The production of woollen Monmouth caps . However, as a border town, its prosperity suffered after nearby areas, including Usk and Grosmont , were devastated through attacks by supporters of Owain Glyndŵr around 1405, though Monmouth itself did not come under attack. In 1536, Henry VIII imposed the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 , abolishing the powers of the Marcher Lords and integrating

24288-446: The production of swords, and evidence for the production of high-carbon steel is found in Britain at Broxmouth Hillfort after circa 490 BC. By the 1st century BC, Noric steel was famous for its quality and sought-after by the Roman military . The annual iron output of the Roman Empire is estimated at 84,750 t . Archaeometallurgical scientific knowledge and technological development originated in numerous centers of Africa;

24464-409: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of

24640-430: The rivers Wye and Monnow to the south-east, west and north of the old town centre. In July 2015 the town adopted a flag. Monmouth is the focus of MonmouthpediA, the first Misplaced Pages GLAM project to cover a whole town, creating Misplaced Pages articles on interesting and notable features and aspects of the town. It uses QRpedia QR codes to deliver articles to users, in English, Welsh or alternative languages. Monmouth

24816-496: The same time period, and only a small number of those objects were weapons. A more recent theory claims that the development of iron technology was driven by the disruption of the copper and tin trade routes, due to the collapse of the empires at the end of the Late Bronze Age. These metals, especially tin, were not widely available and metal workers had to transport them over long distances, whereas iron ores were widely available. However, no known archaeological evidence suggests

24992-412: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in

25168-405: The sword of Liu Bang , the first Han emperor, was made in this fashion. Some texts of the era mention "harmonizing the hard and the soft" in the context of ironworking; the phrase may refer to this process. The ancient city of Wan ( Nanyang ) from the Han period forward was a major center of the iron and steel industry. Along with their original methods of forging steel, the Chinese had also adopted

25344-399: The technology spread, iron came to replace bronze as the dominant metal used for tools and weapons across the Eastern Mediterranean (the Levant , Cyprus , Greece , Crete , Anatolia and Egypt). Iron was originally smelted in bloomeries , furnaces where bellows were used to force air through a pile of iron ore and burning charcoal . The carbon monoxide produced by the charcoal reduced

25520-455: The technology spread. Mesopotamia was fully into the Iron Age by 900 BC. Although Egypt produced iron artifacts, bronze remained dominant until its conquest by Assyria in 663 BC. The Iron Age began in India about 1200 BC, in Central Europe about 800 BC, and in China about 300 BC. Around 500 BC, the Nubians , who had learned from the Assyrians the use of iron and were expelled from Egypt, became major manufacturers and exporters of iron. One of

25696-408: The third Saturday in July, is the largest one-day agricultural show in Wales, with over 350 trade stands. The Monmouth Museum , formerly the Nelson Museum , is home to one of the largest collections of Nelson material, bequeathed to the town by Lady Llangattock , mother of Charles Rolls. It also displays the only known example of an original Monmouth cap , dating from the 16th century. The museum

25872-409: The town "at all perpetual future times ... be and remain a town and borough of Peace and Quiet, to the example and terror of the wicked and reward of the good". The layout of the town as depicted in Speed's map of 1610 would be easily recognisable to present day inhabitants, with the layout of the main axis clearly visible from the castle via the main street, Monnow Street , to the bridge. Monnow Street

26048-469: The town and Hereford , Ross-on-Wye, Coleford , Chepstow, Newport and Abergavenny . Monmouth has been without passenger rail services since January 1959; goods trains ran until 1964. Monmouth's main railway station , known as Monmouth Troy , was a coal distribution depot and a base for heavy goods vehicles for many years after its closure as a part of the rail network, but the building has now been dismantled and re-erected at Winchcombe railway station on

26224-575: The town and musician Dave Edmunds lives there. Other former or current residents of the area have included poet and singer-songwriter Jake Thackray , rugby international and commentator Eddie Butler , television presenter Kate Humble , historian and TV presenter Professor Saul David , astrologer Russell Grant , historian Keith Kissack and comedian Miles Jupp . Monmouth is the home of composer, organist and choirmaster Robert Jones . Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )

26400-449: The town had become a popular centre for visitors undertaking the " Wye Tour ", an excursion by boat through the scenic Wye Valley taking in the picturesque sights of Ross-on-Wye, Goodrich , Tintern , Chepstow and elsewhere. Poets William Wordsworth , Samuel Coleridge , and Robert Southey , as well as painter J. M. W. Turner , were among those who visited the area. The town was visited in 1802 by Admiral Horatio Nelson , who knew

26576-483: The town, dedicated to the Welsh saint Cadoc . In 1056, the area was devastated by the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn , on his way with an army of Welsh, Saxons and Danes to defeat Ralph , Earl of Hereford , and sack the Saxon burh at Hereford , 18 miles (29 km) to the north. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the Earldom of Hereford was given to William FitzOsbern of Breteuil , Normandy , one of King William 's closest allies, who

26752-458: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from

26928-481: The west to the Middle East and Central Asia in the east. There are also 10th-century references to cast iron , as well as archeological evidence of blast furnaces being used in the Ayyubid and Mamluk empires from the 11th century, thus suggesting a diffusion of Chinese metal technology to the Islamic world. One of the most famous steels produced in the medieval Near East was Damascus steel used for swordmaking , and mostly produced in Damascus , Syria , in

27104-400: The west. The town centre itself is sited on a low-lying spur between the floodplains of the Wye and Monnow, and has frequently suffered from severe flooding. The water-meadows to the north and south of the town centre, known respectively as Vauxhall Fields and Chippenham Mead , have generally remained free of development. In climatic terms, the town is located between those areas around

27280-427: The year 2023/2024 is councillor Tom Kirton. Monmouth had a mayor and burgesses in medieval times, and the town gained its first charter, from Henry VI , in 1447. It was included within the Hundred of Skenfrith after the county of Monmouthshire was formed. Following the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 , the town elected a borough council , comprising a mayor, aldermen and councillors. In 1974 that corporation

27456-410: Was hunting in the area. The boy was known as Henry of Monmouth before his coronation as Henry V ; supported by longbowmen from the area, he won the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Monmouth's links with Henry are commemorated in the naming of the main town square, Agincourt Square , and in the statue of Henry on the front of the Shire Hall . From the 14th century onwards, the town became noted for

27632-400: Was slighted after the wars ended, but the town itself grew in prosperity. Great Castle House , built in 1673, is now the home of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) , the oldest regiment in the British Army . The Shire Hall was built in 1724, and was used for the local Assizes , with the area beneath the building serving as the town market. By the end of the 18th century,

27808-438: Was abolished, and the town became part of the much larger Monmouth District (becoming Monmouth Borough in 1988), which until 1996 formed one of the five districts of Gwent . The town was first represented in Parliament in 1536, when it was allocated one seat and the shire two further seats. By the late 17th century, the electorate of the three seats comprised the resident freemen of Monmouth, Newport and Usk , and after

27984-498: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to

28160-512: Was constructed on stilts on a human-made island away from the lake shore in water up to 10 ft (3 m) deep. Oak timbers had been "skillfully" cut with stone or flint axes to form stilts, of posts and poles, which "probably" rested on three parallel fully-grown tree 'sleeper beams', up to 3 feet 3 inches (1 m) wide, laid horizontally on the lakebed. Timbers from the structure were radiocarbon dated to 4867  years before present (BP) . The first recorded settlement at Monmouth

28336-401: Was founded in 1818, though the current church was not constructed until 1907. There is a Christian Fellowship church at Wyesham. The Savoy Theatre , on Church Street, is the oldest working theatre in Wales. Monmouth is also home to the Blake Theatre , which opened in 2004. Local performance groups include the Off Centre Theatre Company, Monmouth Operatic Society, Monmouth Choral Society, and

28512-502: Was lower than the average (16.5% compared with 17.3% across Wales), as was the proportion in public administration (4.3% compared with 6.8% across Wales). In terms of occupational groups, the proportion of residents in managerial and professional posts was higher than average (30.1% compared with 22.7% across Wales), and the proportions in administrative and processing work were lower (8.7% in each group, compared with 12.2% and 10.2% respectively across Wales). The usual resident population in

28688-505: Was mass-produced. Steel was produced in Sri Lanka from 300 BC by furnaces blown by the monsoon winds . The furnaces were dug into the crests of hills, and the wind was diverted into the air vents by long trenches. This arrangement created a zone of high pressure at the entrance, and a zone of low pressure at the top of the furnace. The flow is believed to have allowed higher temperatures than bellows-driven furnaces could produce, resulting in better-quality iron. Steel made in Sri Lanka

28864-437: Was not foreign. It became mature about 1500 BC. Archaeological sites containing iron smelting furnaces and slag have also been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria in what is now Igboland : dating to 2000 BC at the site of Lejja (Eze-Uzomaka 2009) and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi (Holl 2009). The site of Gbabiri (in the Central African Republic) has yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from

29040-449: Was originally a complex alloy with iron as its main component together with various trace elements . Recent studies have suggested that its qualities may have been due to the formation of carbon nanotubes in the metal. According to Will Durant , the technology passed to the Persians and from them to Arabs who spread it through the Middle East. In the 16th century, the Dutch carried the technology from South India to Europe, where it

29216-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through

29392-565: Was practiced on a large scale in India. In Southern India (present day Mysore ) iron was in use 12th to 11th centuries BC. The technology of iron metallurgy advanced in the politically stable Maurya period and during a period of peaceful settlements in the 1st millennium BC. Iron artifacts such as spikes , knives , daggers , arrow -heads, bowls , spoons , saucepans , axes , chisels , tongs , door fittings, etc., dated from 600 to 200 BC, have been discovered at several archaeological sites of India. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote

29568-399: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern

29744-446: Was responsible for defending the area against the Welsh. A new castle was built at Monmouth, holding commanding views over the surrounding area from a sound defensive site and exerting control over both river crossings and the area's important resources of farmland, timber and minerals. Initially it would have been a motte and bailey castle , later rebuilt in stone, and refortified and developed over time. A town grew up around it, and

29920-478: Was the county town of historic Monmouthshire , although Abergavenny is the largest settlement and Monmouthshire County Council has its main offices at Rhadyr, just outside Usk . Monmouth is in the UK Parliament constituency of Monmouthshire and the Senedd constituency of Monmouth . The town was the site of a small Roman fort, Blestium , and became established after the Normans built Monmouth Castle c.  1067 . The medieval stone gated bridge

30096-406: Was the finery forge , which seems to have been devised in the region around Namur in the 15th century. By the end of that century, this Walloon process spread to the Pay de Bray on the eastern boundary of Normandy , and then to England, where it became the main method of making wrought iron by 1600. It was introduced to Sweden by Louis de Geer in the early 17th century and was used to make

30272-537: Was the desired product and the intermediate step of producing cast iron involved an expensive blast furnace and further refining of pig iron to cast iron, which then required a labor and capital intensive conversion to wrought iron. Through a good portion of the Middle Ages, in Western Europe, iron was still being made by the working of iron blooms into wrought iron. Some of the earliest casting of iron in Europe occurred in Sweden, in two sites, Lapphyttan and Vinarhyttan, between 1150 and 1350. Some scholars have speculated

30448-410: Was the discovery of carburization , the process of adding carbon to wrought iron. While the iron bloom contained some carbon, the subsequent hot-working oxidized most of it. Smiths in the Middle East discovered that wrought iron could be turned into a much harder product by heating the finished piece in a bed of charcoal, and then quenching it in water or oil. This procedure turned the outer layers of

30624-401: Was the first to apply water power to bellows in metallurgy, the first drawn and printed illustration of its operation with water power appeared in 1313 AD, in the Yuan dynasty era text called the Nong Shu . In the 11th century, there is evidence of the production of steel in Song China using two techniques: a "berganesque" method that produced inferior, heterogeneous steel and a precursor to

30800-434: Was the small Roman fort of Blestium , one of a network of military bases established on the frontiers of the Roman occupation. This was connected by road to the larger Roman towns at Glevum ( Gloucester ) and Isca Augusta ( Caerleon ). Archaeologists have found Roman pottery and coins within the modern town centre. During the later Roman period, between the 2nd and late 4th centuries, it appears to have been

30976-526: Was traded extensively within the region and in the Islamic world . One of the world's foremost metallurgical curiosities is an iron pillar located in the Qutb complex in Delhi . The pillar is made of wrought iron (98% Fe ), is almost seven meters high and weighs more than six tonnes. The pillar was erected by Chandragupta II Vikramaditya and has withstood 1,600 years of exposure to heavy rains with relatively little corrosion . Historians debate whether bloomery-based ironworking ever spread to China from

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