Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/878

Rh MONKWEARMOTJTH-SIIORE. 870 MONMOUTH. monastery was entirely destroyed by the Danes, and again in 1070 by Malcolm, King of Scotland. Al- though rebuilt, it shortly after declined as a seat of learning, and in 10S3 the majority of the monks were removed to Durham by William de Carilepho, who made it a cell subordinate to the monastery of St. Cuth- bert in that city. At the Dissolution the revenue was valued at 26 9s. 9d., and the site granted to Thomas Whitehead. The town, which had sprung up under shelter of the monastery, is situated on the declivity of an eminence, at the base of which flows the river Wear. This place, which at the beginning of the present cen- tury consisted of a few narrow streets, is now a town of considerable importance, containing a population of 15,000, and extending over an area of 2 miles in length and 1 mile in breadth. The inhabitants are engaged in ship-building, and in the various branches of trade con- nected with the shipping interests of the port of Sun- derland, to which it is a creek. At the E. end of the town is a capacious dock, in which ships are loaded with coals, and rigged and fitted out for sea. Also ironworks, roperies, and ship-building yards, with their respective manufactories. Besides the town of its own name, the par. did include the tnshps. of Fulwell, Hylton, and Southwick, now separated. About a quarter of a mile N.W. of the bridge over the Wear is the Pembertou coal-pit, which occupied upwards of seven years in sinking, and, with reference to the level of the sea, is supposed to be the deepest shaft in the world, being 1,800 feet in perpendicular depth from the surface, and nearly as much below the level of the water in the Wear. A few years since the water broke into this important pit, but by great perseverance it was conquered, and the shaft secured so that the men were able to recommence work in the bank pit in February, 1862. The living is a perpet. cur.* in the dioc. of Durham, val. 225. The church, which is believed to have been built about 634, is dedicated to St. Peter. The tower is supported on four circular arches, and has some Norman windows. The interior of the church has effigies of a Hilton, &e. The parochial charities produce about 13 per annum. In addition to the parish church, there are two district churches, viz. All Saints and the new church at South- wick, the livings of which are perpet. curs.,* the former vol. 160, in the patron, of the crown and bishop alter- nately. There are places of worship for Baptists, Inde- pendents, Presbyterians, and Wesleyans. Attached to the church are two schools a National one for boys, and a girls' school, containing upwards of 300 scholars. Some remains of the monastery are still visible near the church. At Fulwell, in this parish, a human skeleton of gigantic stature, measuring 9J feet, was dug up in 1759, aud in the vicinity stags' horns have been found. MOXKWEARMOUTH-SHORE, a tnshp. in the par. of Monkwcarmouth as above. MONK-ZEAL, a par. in the hund. of North Tawton, co. Devon. See ZEAL MONACHORUM. MOXMOKENNOCK. See DUNMANOOE, co. Kildare, Ireland. MONMORE, a bog in the bar. of Moyarta and Ibrickan, co. Clare, Ireland. MONMOUTH, a par., market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, having separate jurisdiction, but locally in the lower div. of the hund. of Skenfreth, co. Monmouth, of which it is the county town, 130 miles W. by N. of London, and 79| miles from Worcester by the West Midland section of the Great Western railway, which has a branch of 18 miles from Pontypool Road to Monmouth. This place, which was anciently called Abermynwy and Trefynu-e by the Welsh, and subsequently Mongu-y or Monmouth from its situation at the mouth of the river Monnow, is supposed by some antiquaries to occupy the site of the Roman station Hlcstium, mentioned in the Itinerary of Antonine, but no antiquities have been discovered tending to confirm that opinion. In the Saxon times it was a place of considerable importance, and was defended by a castle and walls of immense strength, which the Saxon kings built to secure their conquests between the Severn and the Wye. It appears from the Domesday book to have been a royal manor in the Saxon times, and after the Conquest was bestowed by William I. on one of his followers, AVilliam Fitz-Baderon, who assumed the name of William de Monmouth. In the baronial wars of Henry III. it was burnt by Simon de Montfort, but was subsequently rebuilt, and reverted to the crown in the reign of Edward I., and through his brother Edmond descended to John of Gaunt, and after- wards to Henry IV., whose sou Henry V., nicknamed " Harry of Monmouth," the hero of Agincourt, was born here in 1387. It afterwards descended by inheritance, as part of the Duchy of Lancaster, to Henry VI., who being attainted, it was granted by Edward IV. to William Lord Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke, and again reverted to the crown in the reign of Henry VII. Previous to the close of the 17th century it came into the possession of Henry, the first Duke of Beaufort, whose illustrious representative is the present proprietor. The remains of this fortress stand upon the ridge of an eminence close to the bank of the Monnow, and a little to the N. of the town. In Leland's time both the castle and walls of the town were entire, but dilapidated. He makes particular mention of the four gates of the town, which he distinguishes by the names Monk's Gate, Eastern Gate, Wye Gate, and Monnow or Western Gate ; the last only now remains entire, with parts of the two round towers which flanked the Eastern Gate. Of the castle the principal remains are the baronial hall, 63 feet in length by 46 feet in breadth, the circular tower, 6 feet in diameter, which- contained the winding staircase lead- ing to the grand apartments, and the chamber Where Henry V. was born. This last is 58 feet long by 24 broad, and the joists which supported the floor still pro- ject from the sides. The walls of this fortress were built of red gritstone, from 6 to 10 feet thick, filled up in the interstices with pebbles and cement, as directed by Vitruvius, and some of the vaults may be attributed to Saxon if not to Roman workmanship. The present town stands at a little distance from the site of the ancient British town, at the point of confluence of the rivers Wye and Monnow, the latter almost encircling it. From the river it appears to be built on an eminence, but from the high grounds on the opposite bank of the Wye it is seen to be situated in the centre of a luxurious vale, surrounded on all sides by hills of various elevation, some of which are richly clothed with wood. It consists chiefly of one spacious street, with several cross streets on either side, those leading towards the Wye containing several good blocks of buildings. The main street extends from the market place, ambitiously called Agincourt-square, to the river Monnow, over which is an ancient stone bridge, with an arched gateway called Welsh Gate, erected in 1272, and having two side passages under which Henry V. has doubtless often passed. There are also three other bridges the first a stone bridge over the Wye, forming the entrance to the town from the Gloucester road ; the second called Tibb's, over the Monnow, is of wood ; and the third over the little river Trothy. The streets are well paved and lighted with gas. The houses are in general well built, many of those in the principal streets have gardens and orchards attached to them. The suburbs of Monmouth, which has of recent years con- siderably increased, stretch beyond the Monnow, and occupy the site of what was probably the ancient British, town. The principal public buildings are the townhall, a modern structure built upon pillars, forming a hand- some colonnade ; the front presents a niche cuntaiuiug a statue of Henry V. in an awkward attitude, with an in- scription recording his birth in the town, August 9, 1387. The market and slaughter house, which has recently been completed at a cost of 8,000, stands almost upon the edge of the cliff overlooking the Monuow: and iu;u- the farther end of the town is the county gaol and house of correction, built on Mr. Howard's plan, and j 'resenting the appearance of an ancient castle. There are b< the union poorhouse, three commercial banks, suvtial hotels, a savings-bank, public library, gas and water- works, and several paper and corn mills. In l^,, I an Act was obtained for removing the markets held in the town