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Old Wye Bridge, Chepstow

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100-700: The Old Wye Bridge or Town Bridge at Chepstow , also known historically as Chepstow Bridge , crosses the River Wye between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England , close to Chepstow Castle . Although there had been earlier wooden bridges on the site since Norman times, the current road bridge was constructed of cast iron in 1816 during the Regency period , by John Rastrick of Bridgnorth , who greatly modified earlier plans by John Rennie . The bridge crosses

200-677: A Bulgarian dissident , was assassinated on Waterloo Bridge on 7 September 1978 by agents of the Bulgarian secret police , the Committee for State Security , possibly assisted by the Soviet security agency, the KGB . He was killed with a poisoned pellet possibly fired from an umbrella. Granite stones from the original bridge were subsequently "presented to various parts of the British world to further historic links in

300-569: A Methodist Chapel was built in what is now Oxford Street. St Christopher's church (Anglican), and St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, are both located in the Bulwark area. The town holds a biennial community festival, as well as an annual agricultural show and the annual Wassail and Mari Lwyd in January. There is a local Welsh society for the area, Cymdeithas Cymraeg Cas-gwent, Cil-y-coed a'r cyffiniau , holding numerous Welsh language events throughout

400-698: A clifftop above the Wye and its bridge , is often cited as the oldest surviving stone castle in Britain. The castle was established by William FitzOsbern immediately after the Norman conquest , and was extended in later centuries before becoming ruined after the Civil War . A Benedictine priory was also established within the walled town , which was the centre of the Marcher lordship of Striguil . The port of Chepstow became noted in

500-549: A disciple of St. Dyfrig . This later became an Augustinian priory on what is now Kingsmark Lane, but no traces of it remain. The town is close to the southern point of Offa's Dyke , which begins on the east bank of the Wye at Sedbury and runs all the way to the Irish Sea in north Wales . This was built in the late 8th century as a boundary between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms, although some recent research has questioned whether

600-674: A distributor of Japanese animated films . Chepstow is primarily a centre for service industries and tourism in South West England and Wales . Due to its very good rail and road links, Chepstow has a large commuter population, commuters travel to larger centres in Bristol and in South Wales. Its location at the southern end of the Wye Valley , together with its own sights including its castle and racecourse, have contributed to its development as

700-408: A housing estate. In the 2021 census, 45.1% of Chepstow's resident population gave their religion as Christian, with 47.4% stating "no religion". There are several churches in the town. St Mary's Priory Church was founded by about 1072 as a Benedictine priory , and retains its ornamented Norman west entrance doorway, decorated with zig zag and lozenge patterns. The priory was suppressed during

800-587: A natural valley on the other, afforded an excellent defensive location. A Benedictine priory, now St Mary's Church , was also established nearby. This was the centre of a small religious community, the remains of which are buried under the adjoining car park. Monks , originally from Cormeilles Abbey in Normandy , were there until the Dissolution of the Monasteries . The castle was expanded by William Marshal in

900-578: A port and trading centre. Its port functions, together with its shipbuilding industry, have now virtually ceased. The industries which developed on the shipyard sites, particularly the fabrication of major engineering structures by the Mabey Group , continued close to the town centre as well as on the Newhouse Farm industrial estate beside the M48 motorway, where wind turbine towers were assembled. In July 2015,

1000-496: A river with one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. It carried the main A48 road between Newport and Gloucester until 1988, when a new road bridge was opened downstream alongside Chepstow Railway Bridge . The road bridge now carries local traffic between Chepstow and Tutshill . It is a Grade I listed building . Before the Roman period , the crossing of the Wye farthest downstream

1100-531: A smaller and less prosperous county than Gloucestershire – considered it unreasonable that it should pay half the cost. However, in 1785, the wooden piers on the Monmouthshire side were rebuilt as four stone arches, although the Gloucestershire half remained timber until 1815. In 1810 the bridge was again declared to be "in decay" and dangerous, and local magistrates commissioned engineer John Rennie ,

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1200-486: A tourist centre. The Chepstow Chamber of Commerce represents businesses in the town and aims to support and encourage their development. Blue plaques for English Heritage and other groups are made in the town. Chepstow town centre has over 130 shops within easy walking distance of 1,000 car park spaces. There are 16 hotels, bars and public houses, and 15 restaurants and cafes. The town has Tesco and M&S Foodhall supermarkets, and Screwfix , within or adjoining

1300-424: Is Red & White Services Ltd. The nearest major airports to Chepstow are at Bristol (27 miles (43 km)) and Cardiff (43 miles (69 km)). The population of Chepstow at the 2021 census was recorded as roughly 11,900. Of this, 23.4% were between the ages of 45 and 59, above the county average of 22.5%. The largest ethnic group is White with 96.4% of the population, below the county average of 96.9%, with

1400-661: Is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London , between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges . Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Thanks to its location at a strategic bend in the river, the bridge offers good views of Westminster , the South Bank and the London Eye to

1500-756: Is a town and community in Monmouthshire , Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire , England. It is located on the tidal River Wye , about 2 miles (3 km) above its confluence with the River Severn , and adjoining the western end of the Severn Bridge . It is the easternmost settlement in Wales, situated 16 miles (26 km) east of Newport , 28 miles (45 km) east-northeast of Cardiff , 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Bristol and 110 miles (180 km) west of London. Chepstow Castle , situated on

1600-587: Is located on the edge of the town, in the grounds of the ruined Piercefield House . The racecourse was opened in 1926, and became the regular venue of the Welsh National in 1949. Chepstow Town F.C. was founded in 1878 and as of 2017 play in Division Three of the Welsh Football League . Chepstow RFC was also founded in 1878, by pupils and staff of Chepstow Grammar School. Matches are played at

1700-569: Is served by Chepstow School , located on Welsh Street, with over 1,300 pupils. There are four primary schools in the town: The Dell, Pembroke, Thornwell, and St Mary's Roman Catholic. Tutshill and Sedbury, on the English side of the Wye but within walking distance of Chepstow and attracting some pupils from the town, have their own schools, including Wyedean School , and the private preparatory Dean Close St John's in Tutshill . Chepstow Community Hospital

1800-514: Is serviced by Transport for Wales Rail ; the service provided by CrossCountry from Cardiff Central to Nottingham , via Birmingham New Street . The railway bridge also known as "The Great Tubular Bridge" spanning the River Wye between Chepstow and Sedbury was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1852 as part of the Great Western Railway , but the original structure was replaced in

1900-401: Is utterly taken away..." Under new legislation that year it was agreed that the bridge be maintained by a special "bridge money" tax levied on the residents of the two counties. For the next two centuries each county appointed a surveyor responsible for either end of the bridge. Apart from one stone pier in the centre, the bridge was entirely built of wood. The bridge was purposely destroyed by

2000-546: The Celtic Trail (Lôn Geltaidd) . Chepstow has also held professional and amateur street cycling events, such as the Chepstow Grand Prix. The town's leisure centre is located adjoining Chepstow School. The centre is owned by Monmouthshire County Council . Its facilities include an indoor swimming pool and both indoor and outdoor games pitches. Chepstow Harriers running club, founded in the 1880s, meets twice weekly at

2100-584: The Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, and became the parish church. It was substantially rebuilt during the nineteenth century, and now holds regular services as part of the Church in Wales . The Baptist Church , in Lower Church Street, was built in 1816, by Walter G. Watkin, and later enlarged. The origins of the Methodist Church lie in a visit to the town made by John Wesley in 1762. In 1801,

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2200-813: The Marriott St Pierre Hotel and Country Club, and the National Diving and Activity Centre at Tidenham . Several long distance trails – the Offa's Dyke Path , the Wye Valley Walk , the Wales Coast Path , and the Gloucestershire Way – pass through, or very close to, the town. Chepstow Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1914. The club disappeared in the 1960s. Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge ( / ˌ w ɔː t ə ˈ l uː / )

2300-548: The Middle Ages for its imports of wine, and also became a major centre for the export of timber and bark, from nearby woodland in the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean . In the late eighteenth century the town was a focus of early tourism as part of the " Wye Tour ", and the tourist industry remains important. Other important industries included shipbuilding – one of the First World War National Shipyards

2400-564: The Norman conquest of England , Chepstow was a key location. It was at the lowest bridging point of the River Wye, provided a base from which to advance Norman control into south Wales, and controlled river access to Hereford and the Marches . Chepstow Castle was founded by William fitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford , in 1067, and its Great Tower, often cited as the oldest surviving stone fortification in Britain, dates from that time or shortly afterwards. Its site, with sheer cliffs on one side and

2500-416: The River Wye at Chepstow, built in 1816 to replace earlier wooden structures, carried all the road traffic between South West England and South Wales and was the lowest bridging point of the Wye. The M48 motorway now connects Chepstow by road to Newport (18 miles (29 km)) and Cardiff (31 miles (50 km)) to the west, and Bristol (18 miles (29 km)) and London (124 miles (200 km)) to

2600-524: The Royalists during the Civil War in 1644, but was rebuilt by 1647. It was seriously damaged by storms in 1703, and again by high water in 1738, but was repaired both times. William Cole wrote of the bridge in 1746 that it was "the lightest in England, and the highest from the water." A suggestion in 1768 that the two counties should share the cost of building a new bridge failed because Monmouthshire –

2700-513: The Wales Coast Path extending from Wye Crescent, and by the link road from Bulwark Road to the M48, where the looser reddish Mercia Mudstone (which extends under Bulwark and Sedbury and forms the cliffs at the Severn) and the lighter Hunts Bay limestone are also seen. The River Wye at Chepstow has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. The river was established as a boundary between England and Wales by Athelstan in 928. However, after

2800-605: The Welsh to the west, but after the 14th century the castle's importance diminished. The port of Chepstow developed during the mediaeval period, one reason being that its control by a Marcher Lord , rather than by the King , meant that it was exempt from English taxation. It mainly traded in timber and bark from the Wye Valley , and with Bristol . From mediaeval times, Chepstow was the largest port in Wales; its ships sailed as far as Iceland and Turkey, as well as to France and Portugal, and

2900-467: The 1960s. Until 1959, passenger trains also operated up the Wye Valley Railway to Monmouth – this service ceased owing to heavy financial losses. The line at Chepstow was blocked by a landslide on 12 November 2009, following heavy rain. Chepstow was home to Red & White Services , one of the region's largest bus and coach operators. Their head office and central workshops were at Bulwark from

3000-503: The 2022 local elections, the councillors are four from the Labour party , and two Conservative . The town also has its own Town Council , comprising 15 councillors elected every four years. The council elects a Town Mayor from among its number each year. The Town Mayor for 2022/23 is Cllr Margaret Griffiths. Chepstow was an electoral ward to Gwent County Council between 1973 and 1996. Its first councillor, Barney O'Neill, became leader of

3100-455: The Avon to that city's centre. Many buildings in the town remain from the late 18th and early 19th centuries; the elegant cast iron bridge across the Wye was opened in 1816 to replace an earlier wooden structure. The town became an important centre for tourism from the late eighteenth century, when the " Wye Tour " became popular. Visitors regularly took boats from Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth down

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3200-706: The British Commonwealth of Nations ". Two of these stones are in Canberra , the capital city of Australia, sited between the parallel spans of the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge , one of two major crossings of Lake Burley Griffin in the heart of the city. Stones from the bridge were also used to build a monument in Wellington , New Zealand, to Paddy the Wanderer , a dog that roamed the wharves from 1928 to 1939 and

3300-650: The Chepstow Society, is housed in an elegant 1796 town house opposite the Castle entrance. Chepstow has no dedicated cinema or theatre, although film showings, theatrical and other events regularly take place in the Drill Hall, close to the Castle and riverside area. Chepstow is also home to the Electric Picture Hall, which organises regular 'pop-up' cinema events and a Welsh themed short film festival each year, with

3400-506: The Earth's magnetic field using magnetohydrodynamics . Serious problems were found in Rennie's bridge piers from 1884 onward, after scour from the river flow (which had increased following the demolition of Old London Bridge ) damaged their foundations. By the 1920s the problems had increased, and settlement at pier five necessitated the closure of the whole bridge while some heavy superstructure

3500-611: The English Romantic John Constable , whose painting depicting its opening is displayed at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire. The bridge was nationalised in 1878 and placed under the control of the Metropolitan Board of Works , which removed the toll from it. Michael Faraday tried in 1832 to measure the potential difference between each side of the bridge caused by the ebbing salt water flowing through

3600-580: The English in earlier centuries. However, the name used by the Normans for the castle and lordship was Striguil (in various spellings, such as Estrighoiel), probably derived from a Welsh word ystraigyl , meaning a bend in the river. The Welsh name Cas-gwent refers to the "castle of Gwent ". The name Gwent itself derives from the Roman settlement Venta Silurum or 'Market of the Silures ', now named Caerwent , 5 miles (8 km) west of Chepstow, which had been

3700-449: The Norman conquest, areas east of the Wye, within the former Saxon royal manor of Tidenham and including Beachley , Tutshill , Sedbury and Tidenham Chase, were included within the lordship of Striguil or Chepstow. In 1536, the river was confirmed as the boundary between Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire. Since the early 19th century, housing development has continued on the east bank of

3800-583: The Romano-British commercial centre of south-east Wales. The oldest site of known habitation at Chepstow is at Thornwell, overlooking the estuaries of the Wye and Severn close to the modern M48 motorway junction, where archaeological investigations in advance of recent housing development revealed continuous human occupation from the Mesolithic period of around 5000 BC until the end of the Roman period, about 400 AD. There are also Iron Age fortified camps in

3900-724: The Upton Memorial Ground, Lower Western Avenue. As of 2017 the team play in Division Three East A of the WRU National League The town also has an athletic Club for archery (St Kingsmark Bowmen), tennis, bowls, cricket and junior football. The 1976 IAAF World Cross Country Championships , won by Carlos Lopes , were held in the town. Two long routes of the National Cycle Network start in Chepstow, including

4000-403: The architect of Waterloo Bridge in London , to design a new bridge. Rennie's designs, at an estimated cost of £41,890 (equivalent to £3,750,000 in 2023), were considered to be too expensive, but action was eventually taken after a ship collided with the wooden bridge in 1812, demolishing part of it and causing six deaths. The foundation stone for the new bridge was laid on 13 April 1813. In 1814

4100-524: The area, dating from the time of the Silures , at Bulwark , 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the town centre, and at Piercefield and Lancaut , some 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north. During the Roman occupation, there was a bridge or causeway across the Wye, about 0.6 miles (0.97 km) upstream of the later town bridge . Chepstow is located at a crossing point directly between the Roman towns at Gloucester ( Glevum ) and Caerwent ( Venta Silurum ). Although historians think it likely that there

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4200-450: The area, including Otter Hole , one of the most decorated cave systems in Britain. The climate of the town is affected by its position close to the Severn estuary. The bedrock of Chepstow is limestone, mudstone and sandstone , overlain in places with some gravels and the clay and silt of the river's tidal flats, which are of marine origin and up to two million years old. Most of the rock

4300-690: The bridge is in the area known as the South Bank , which includes the Royal Festival Hall , London Waterloo , Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Royal National Theatre , as well as the BFI Southbank , which is directly beneath the bridge. The north end of the bridge passes above the Victoria Embankment where the road joins the Strand and Aldwych alongside Somerset House . This end housed

4400-458: The bridge marks the boundary point between the two counties of Gloucester and Monmouth. The cast iron lamp posts were bought from Sheffield City Council and installed in 1969. The bridge is a Grade I listed building . Carrying the main road between Gloucester and South Wales , the bridge became a notorious bottleneck and was strengthened several times. The bridge was first strengthened in 1889, and there were major structural repairs in 1979. It

4500-480: The bridge was renamed in 1816 (before its opening) to 'the Waterloo Bridge'. The bridge company was at the same time renamed 'The Company of Proprietors of The Waterloo Bridge'. It opened in 1817 as a toll bridge . The granite bridge had nine arches, each of 120 feet (36.6 m) span, separated by double Doric stone columns, and was 2,456 feet (748.6 m) long, including approaches–1,240 feet (378.0 m) between abutments–and 42 feet (12.8 m) wide between

4600-405: The built-up area including these villages was 15,600 in 2021. The name Chepstow derives from the Old English ceap/chepe stowe , meaning market place or trading centre. The word "stow" usually denotes a place of special significance, and the root chep is the same as that in other placenames such as Chipping Sodbury and Cheapside . The name is first recorded in 1307, but may have been used by

4700-412: The centre in addition to scheduled events. Since its heyday as a centre for the "Wye Tour" in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Chepstow has remained an important centre for tourism. The town has a range of hotels and guest houses. As well as its own attractions, including the castle, the town is close to other attractions including the Royal Forest of Dean , Tintern Abbey and the Wye Valley ,

4800-496: The centre span and the short approach slabs at the banks. The beams were shaped "to look as much like arches as ... beams can". They are clad in Portland stone , which is cleaned by rain. To guard against the possibility of further subsidence from scour, each pier was given a number of jacks that can be used to level the structure. Construction of the new bridge began in 1937 and it was partially opened on Tuesday 11 March 1942 and "officially opened" in September 1942. However, it

4900-403: The cities of Bristol , Newport and Cardiff means it has a large number of commuters. It is administered as part of Monmouthshire County Council , and is within the Monmouth UK parliamentary constituency and Senedd constituency . Chepstow is on the western bank of the Wye, while adjoining villages on the eastern bank of the river, Tutshill and Sedbury , are in England. The population of

5000-463: The commemoration arrangements described the bridge as "the finest Georgian Regency arch bridge in Britain and the world," and suggested that it should be proposed for World Heritage Site status. The bicentenary celebrations included a re-enactment of the original opening ceremony, with speeches from local civic leaders and Sir John Armitt , the president of the Institution of Civil Engineers . Chepstow Chepstow ( Welsh : Cas-gwent )

5100-417: The company announced that the site was to close with the loss of 125 jobs, following the decision by the UK government to end subsidies for onshore wind generation. Other local industries have included the material for artificial ski slopes , developed at the "Dendix" brush factory, which in its time was a producer of all sizes of industrial brushes. The works, now operated by Osborn-Unipol, relocated out of

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5200-482: The contract to build the bridge was let to the Bridgnorth firm of Hazeldine , Rastrick & Co., at a cost of £17,850, less than half that of Rennie's estimate. The bridge was designed by John Rastrick, in a style apparently inspired by the work of Thomas Telford . It was made of cast iron in five arches, cast at Bridgnorth, with a centre span of 34 metres (112 ft), intermediate spans of 21 metres (69 ft), and outer spans of 10 metres (33 ft). The bridge

5300-422: The control of a Local Board from 1864, and an urban district council was formed in 1894. Chepstow Urban District Council was abolished in 1974, when many of its functions were taken over by the new Monmouth District Council . This was renamed Monmouth Borough Council in 1988, and formed one of the five districts of Gwent until both authorities were abolished in 1996. The town's representation in Parliament

5400-417: The council in 1974. Chepstow was granted a town charter in 1524 by its Marcher Lord, Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester . After the county of Monmouth was formed, Chepstow was included within the Hundred of Caldicot in 1542. A Corporation of bailiffs and burgesses controlled the town until the time of Charles II , when its charter lapsed, apparently as a result of a dispute. The town came under

5500-422: The current member is David Davies , first elected in 2005. In elections for the Senedd , the town is part of the Monmouth constituency ; the current MS is Peter Fox (Conservative). Until January 2020 Chepstow 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

5600-410: The dark side of Morris dancing. We’re the punk rockers of the morris world. We are drinkers with a dance problem." Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Cymru Wales and BBC West on BBC One , and by ITV Cymru Wales and ITV West Country on ITV1 . Television signals are from either the Wenvoe TV transmitter, supplemented by a low power relay transmitter situated north east of

5700-409: The demolished bridge were sent in the late 1930s by the author Dornford Yates to be used in his French home 'Cockade', but the Fall of France in 1940 interrupted this project. They were shipped after the war to his new house in Umtali , Rhodesia (now Mutare , Zimbabwe ). Recovered timbers from the bridge were used for shelves and wall panels in the library at Anglesey Abbey. The south end of

5800-430: The early 1930s to mid-1980s. Red & White was a major employer in Chepstow for the fifty years it existed. The company became defunct as part of the privatised National Welsh bus company but was re-established as Stagecoach Red & White following the acquisition of the assets of National Welsh by Stagecoach . Although the name Stagecoach Red and White was subsequently dropped, the legal name of Stagecoach South Wales

5900-446: The early 19th century, as Cardiff, Newport and Swansea became more suitable for handling the bulk export of coal and steel from the Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire valleys. However, shipbuilding was briefly revived when the National Shipyard No.1 was established during the First World War and for a short period afterwards, when the first prefabricated ships, including the War Glory , were constructed there. The influx of labour for

6000-432: The east. To the north, the A466 up the Wye valley connects the town with Monmouth (16 miles (26 km)), and to the north-east the A48 links it with Gloucester (29 miles (47 km)). Chepstow railway station is on the main line between Maesteg and Cheltenham Spa . Most connections to Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington are via Newport or Severn Tunnel Junction (8 miles (13 km)). Chepstow

6100-411: The highest in the country at the time. Records from 1399 describe it as "feeble and ruinous and on the point of being lost", and a new bridge built in 1546 was described less than thirty years later as having "fallen into great ruin and decay and likely to fall." In 1576, an act of Parliament, the Chepstow Bridge Act 1575 ( 18 Eliz. 1 . c. 18) (the first act to make specific reference to Monmouthshire )

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6200-444: The late twelfth century and, a century later, by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk . Bigod was also responsible for establishing a weekly market and annual fair, in the town which had grown up on the slopes between the castle and priory, and for building the Port Wall around it shortly after 1274. A toll gate controlled entry to the market area; this Town Gate was rebuilt in the 16th century. The town faced some hostile attacks from

6300-423: The long-term goal of establishing a dedicated cinema and art space for the town. Group community activities also take place in the Palmer Community Centre and Bulwark Community Centre. The town had, for a short period, its own online local radio station, Chepstow Radio. Chepstow is twinned with Cormeilles , France . The town is the base for The Widders Border Morris Men who were formed in 2001. Some of

6400-455: The many mills on the tributaries of the Wye. An important aspect of Chepstow's trade was entrepôt trade: bringing larger cargoes into the manageable deep water of the Wye on high tide and breaking down the load for on-shipment in the many trows up the Wye to Hereford past the coin stamping mill at Redbrook, or up the Severn to Gloucester and beyond. Chepstow also traded across the estuary to Bristol on suitable tides to work vessels up and down

6500-409: The members were bikers who coined the group's name, claiming they looked like the 'Black Widows', a bike gang from film Every Which Way but Loose . In 2010 the team were invited to represent Wales in a Celtic music festival in France. The black, skull-like face-paint, used by the team members, was originally used to mask identities. The team's foreman Mick Widder has described the group: "We’re from

6600-493: The parapets. During the 1840s the bridge gained a reputation as a popular place for suicide attempts. In 1841, the American daredevil Samuel Gilbert Scott was killed while performing an act in which he hung by a rope from a scaffold on the bridge. In 1844 Thomas Hood wrote the poem " The Bridge of Sighs ", which concerns the suicide of a prostitute there. The bridge was depicted by the French Impressionist Claude Monet in his series of 41 works from 1900 to 1904, and by

6700-418: The river bed. After the Normans established a castle at Chepstow (then known as Striguil ), a wooden bridge was constructed across the river at or close to its current site. The first records of a bridge at Chepstow date from 1228. The wooden bridge is known to have been replaced several times. Rebuilding was made difficult by the tidal range, requiring ten 40-foot-high (12 m) timber piers, perhaps

6800-399: The river has also been landscaped in association with a flood defence scheme. Chepstow is located on the west bank of the River Wye, some 3 miles (4.8 km) north of its confluence with the Severn estuary. To the north of the town, the Wye passes through a limestone gorge, and there are limestone cliffs at Chepstow both north and south of the town centre and on the opposite (east) side of

6900-480: The river opposite Chepstow, at Tutshill and Sedbury. Those areas, though located in England rather than Wales, are now effectively suburbs of the town. Chepstow is administered by Monmouthshire County Council , one of the 22 unitary local authorities in Wales formed in 1996. As of 2022, the town elects six county councillors, for the wards of Bulwark and Thornwell (2 members); Chepstow Castle and Larkfield (2 members); Mount Pleasant; and St Kingsmark. Following

7000-465: The river, visiting, drawing and painting the " picturesque " views of the area, which included those of Tintern Abbey , Piercefield House , and the ruined Chepstow Castle . In the 19th century a shipbuilding industry developed, and the town was also known for the production of clocks, bells, and grindstones. In 1840 leaders of the Chartist insurrection in Newport were transported from Chepstow to Van Diemen's Land . The port's trade declined after

7100-465: The river. The town is overlooked by the inland cliffs at Wyndcliff near St Arvans , about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the town, and, from parts of the town, the Severn estuary and its bridges can be seen. The historic centre of Chepstow occupies part of a bend in the River Wye, and slopes up from the river to the town centre and beyond. As well as cliffs used for rock climbing, percolation of acidic groundwater has dissolved limestone to produce caves in

7200-494: The second largest being Asian/Asian British who make up 1.1% of the population, below the county average of 1.3%. The largest religious group is No religion with 47.4% of the population, above the county average of 43.4%, with the second largest being Christian at 45.1%, below the county average of 48.7%. According to the 2021 census, 9.4% of Chepstow residents could speak, read or write Welsh , 2% could understand spoken Welsh only and 88.6% had no skills in Welsh at all. The town

7300-461: The shipyards, from 1917, led to the start of " garden suburb " housing development at Hardwick (now known locally as "Garden City") and Bulwark . The shipyard itself became a works for fabricating major engineering structures. From 1938, Chepstow housed the head office of the Red & White bus company, on Bulwark Road. New housing development in the twentieth century took place to the north and south of

7400-451: The start of the war through to the bridge completion, women became the preponderant members of the construction workforce. This resulted in the project being referred to for many years as "The Ladies' Bridge". Lind used elm wood from the old bridge for the dining room floor of Hamstone House , his house that he commissioned and built in 1938 at St George's Hill in Surrey. Georgi Markov ,

7500-504: The stretch near Chepstow formed part of the original Dyke. It is possible, though not clearly substantiated, that Chepstow may have superseded Caerwent as a trading centre, and been used by both Saxons and the Welsh. The Lancaut and Beachley peninsulas, opposite Chepstow, were in Welsh rather than Mercian control at that time, although by the time of the Domesday Book Striguil was assessed as part of Gloucestershire. After

7600-518: The town centre to a new site beside the motorway in 2011. There are smaller industrial estates in Bulwark, and close to the town's railway station, and the Newhouse Farm industrial estate is also a major distribution centre. Other notable locally based businesses have included Architen Landrell, a manufacturer of tensile architectural structures , whose closure was announced in December 2015; and MVM Films ,

7700-639: The town centre, and more recently beyond the A466 road to the west of the town. The town developed rapidly after the opening of the Severn Bridge in 1966, which replaced the car ferry between Beachley and Aust and allowed easier commuting between Chepstow and larger centres including Bristol and Cardiff. Over £2 million was invested in regenerating the town centre in 2004–05. This scheme, which includes sculptures and other public art , encountered some local criticism over its high cost, but gained several national awards reflecting its high design quality. The area beside

7800-616: The town centre, together with a Lidl store at Bulwark and a B & M store close to the motorway junction at Thornwell. The town has one bank and many independent cafes and restaurants. It also has several independent shops, though the family-run department store, Herbert Lewis, closed in 2018 after 140 years. National chains represented include W.H. Smith , Peacocks , Boots , Superdrug , and Poundland . The pedestrianised St Mary's Street contains antique shops, gift shops, an independent book shop, coffee shops and restaurants. There are also regular farmers' markets and produce markets in

7900-518: The town centre. A regular open air weekly market at the racecourse closed in 2014. The town's livestock market closed in the early 1960s. According to the 2001 Census, Chepstow had relatively high proportions of its population working in the retail and wholesale sectors of the economy (19.6%, compared with 16.3% for Wales as a whole), property services (11.3%, compared with 8.5% across Wales), and transport and communications (9.4% compared with 5.5% across Wales). The proportion working in manufacturing

8000-534: The town was known for its imports of wine . Chepstow was given its first charter in 1524, by Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester , and became part of Monmouthshire when the county was formed. The town appears as "Strigulia", "Chepstowe" and "Castelh Gwent" on the Cambriae Typus map of 1573. The castle and town changed hands several times during the English Civil War , and the regicide Henry Marten

8100-478: The town, or the Mendip TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Wales , BBC Radio Cymru , BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Gloucestershire both can also be heard, Heart South Wales , Nation Radio Wales and Sunshine Radio . The town is served by the local newspapers, Chepstow Beacon and South Wales Argus Chepstow Racecourse is the leading horse racing facility and course in Wales. It

8200-674: The west, and of the City of London and Canary Wharf to the east. The first bridge on the site was designed in 1809–10 by John Rennie for the Company of Proprietors of The Strand Bridge (the Strand Bridge Company). The Strand Bridge Company built the bridge privately, in return for charging tolls to cross it. Originally named 'the Strand Bridge', following the victory of the Battle of Waterloo,

8300-452: The year that are open to all. In the early 2000s the community organised major son et lumière pageants covering aspects of local history, using local residents under professional direction. Since 2012, an annual series of "Castell Roc" music events has been held inside Chepstow Castle each August, featuring performances by artists such as Leo Sayer , Dr Hook , Bad Manners , and Jools Holland . The Chepstow Museum , first established by

8400-488: Was a small Roman fort in the area, the only evidence found so far has been of Roman material and burials, rather than buildings. After the Romans left, Chepstow was within the southern part of the Welsh kingdom of Gwent , known as Gwent Is-coed (i.e. Gwent this side of the woods ). To the north of the modern town centre, a small church was established dedicated to St. Cynfarch (alternatively Cynmarch, Kynemark or Kingsmark),

8500-587: Was as part of the county of Monmouth seat, from 1536. Between 1885 and 1918 it formed part of the South Monmouthshire constituency, and since then has been within the Monmouth county constituency . The town has remained within the Monmouth constituency in subsequent elections, although the constituency boundary has changed several times. The constituency has returned a Conservative MP at most recent elections;

8600-443: Was at Tintern . The Romans built a crossing some 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) upstream of the current bridge at Chepstow, and this is thought to have continued in use for centuries thereafter. There was a small hospital and chapel dedicated to St. David on the Gloucestershire side of the bridge, which was described as ruined in 1573. Some remains of the Roman bridge were revealed in 1911 by Dr. Orville Owen during his excavations in

8700-666: Was befriended by seamen, watersiders, Harbour Board workers and taxi drivers. The monument, built in 1945, is on Queens Wharf, opposite the Wellington Museum . It includes a bronze likeness of Paddy, a drinking fountain, and drinking bowls below for dogs. Another piece of the stone is situated under the sundial in the Wellington Boat Harbour Park, next to Clyde Quay Marina, an area of historical significance in Wellington Harbour. Several stone balusters from

8800-665: Was declared by campaign group Surfers Against Sewage to be the first "Plastic Free Town" in south Wales. Chepstow is located close to junction 2 of the M48 motorway , at the western end of the Severn Bridge . The bridge was opened in 1966 and has the second longest span of any bridge in the UK; it replaced the Aust-Beachley ferry . Before the Severn Bridge was opened, the Old Wye Bridge across

8900-425: Was established in the town – and heavy engineering, including the prefabrication of bridges and wind turbine towers. Chepstow is also well known for its racecourse , which has hosted the Welsh National each year since 1949. The town had a population of 12,350 at the 2011 census, decreasing to 11,900 (rounded to the nearest 100) at the 2021 census . It is served by the M48 motorway , and its accessibility to

9000-489: Was later imprisoned and died in the castle. The port continued to flourish; during the period 1790 to 1795, records show a greater tonnage of goods handled than Swansea , Cardiff and Newport combined. Chepstow reached the peak of its importance during the Napoleonic Wars , when its exports of timber, for ships, and bark, for leather tanning , were especially vital. There were also exports of wire and paper , made in

9100-483: Was lower than the average (15.2% compared with 17.3% across Wales), as was the proportion working in health and social work (9.3% compared to 13.0% across Wales). In terms of occupational groups, the proportions of residents in higher status managerial, professional and associate technical posts was higher than average (totalling 44.1% compared with 35.4% across Wales), and the proportions in administrative, personal services and processing work were lower. In 2018 Chepstow

9200-578: Was made directly responsible to the courts of Westminster rather than falling under the Court of Great Sessions in Wales . Most legislation for Wales was applied to it using the phrase "Wales and Monmouthshire", and the issue of whether Monmouthshire should be considered as part of Wales for administrative purposes was finally clarified in law by the Local Government Act 1972 which incorporated it within Wales. Chepstow developed from mediaeval times as

9300-526: Was not fully completed until 1945. It is the only Thames bridge to have been damaged by German bombers during the Second World War. The building contractor was Peter Lind & Company . At the outbreak of war, despite an immediate order being issued by the Ministry of Transport, that the bridge construction was of national importance, the supply of male labour to execute the heavy works became acute. From

9400-507: Was opened in 2000, having been developed under the United Kingdom Government's Private Finance Initiative . It was built and is operated by Kintra Ltd, at an annual charge of £1.2m to Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust . The hospital building incorporates mementoes from the past, including the old Admiralty portico moulding from the front facade of the former Mount Pleasant Hospital, which was located on an adjacent site now developed as

9500-517: Was opened on 24 July 1816, with an elaborate ceremony. The bridge is the largest iron arch road bridge remaining from the first half-century of iron and steel construction, before the technological innovation of suspension bridges . It is described by architectural historian John Newman as "a supremely elegant composition of five shallow segmental lattice arches carrying the gently curved roadway... This superstructure rests on reassuringly strong tapering piers of squared ashlar ...". Ornate ironwork on

9600-450: Was passed making Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire responsible for the repair of their respective halves; there are records of payments made by Gloucestershire parishes to help maintain the bridge until the 19th century. Neglect continued, however, and in 1605 it was said that the bridge was again "broken, fallen down and quite carried away with the Stream... whereby the said Passage and Highway

9700-475: Was placed on hold due to the Second World War . Scott, by his own admission, was no engineer, and his design, with reinforced concrete beams (illustrated) under the footways, leaving the road to be supported by transverse slabs, was difficult to implement. The pairs of spans on each side of the river were supported by beams continuous over their piers, and these were cantilevered out at their ends to support

9800-460: Was produced in a warm, tropical marine environment, when Europe was closer to the equator. The rock of Sedbury cliffs and those under Chepstow Castle are Carboniferous Limestone , hundreds of metres thick in the area, made of particles and shells of sea creatures from 330 to 360 million years ago. Layered outcrops of darker Black Rock Limestone, which makes up a broad part of Chepstow's bedrock, are very clear in cliffs along Craig yr Afon, part of

9900-538: Was removed and temporary reinforcements were put in place. In 1925, a temporary steel framework was built on top of the existing bridge and then placed next to it for the use of southbound vehicles (the postcard image shows this, and the settlement especially to the left of the fifth pier). In the 1930s, London County Council decided to demolish the bridge and replace it with a new structure designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott . The engineers were Ernest Buckton and John Cuerel of Rendel Palmer & Tritton . The project

10000-493: Was superseded, except for local traffic, by the A48 road bridge opened in January 1988. The bridge now carries local traffic on the unclassified road between Chepstow and Tutshill , and is controlled by traffic signals at each end. It was closed to vehicle traffic for several months in 2015, for maintenance work for the bridge's bicentenary in July 2016. A member of the group coordinating

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