Abergavenny town walls
| Abergavenny town walls | |
|---|---|
| Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales | |
|
View from the remains of Abergavenny's town wall | |
  Abergavenny town walls | |
| Coordinates | grid reference SO299141 |
| Type | City wall |
Abergavenny's town walls are a sequence of defensive walls built around the town of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales.
History
After the Norman invasion of Wales in the 11th century, a castle was built at Abergavenny; this included a relatively small, walled town.[1] This town had a rectangle of wooden walls, protected by a "V" shaped ditch, stopping just short of the modern Cross Street.[2] In the 12th century this ditch was filled in, possibly because of a pressure on land in the town, and the town of Abergavenny then appears to have lacked any defences until the late 13th century.[1]
In the late 13th century a larger town wall was built around Abergavenny in stone, forming an oval shape, approximately 350 m by 215 m across.[3] The wall was paid for and maintained by murage, by which the king allowed a city to raise taxes on the imports of particular goods.[4]
By the 21st century, only occasional masonry remains of the medieval walls, although the line of the wall can be seen in the form of later buildings and walls.[3]
See also
References
- 1 2 Creighton and Higham, pp.158-159.
- ↑ Clarke and Bray, pp.187-188.
- 1 2 Creighton and Higham, pp.158-159; Abergavenny Town Wall, Gatehouse website, accessed 10 October 2011.
- ↑ Abergavenny Town Wall, Gatehouse website, accessed 10 October 2011.
Bibliography
- Clarke, Stephen and Jane Bray. (2003) "The Norman town defences of Abergavenny," Medieval Archaeology Vol. 27, pp. 186–189.
- Creighton, Oliver Hamilton and Robert Higham. (2005) Medieval Town Walls: an Archaeology and Social History of Urban Defence. Stroud, UK: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-1445-4.
Coordinates: 51°49′16″N 3°01′07″W / 51.8211°N 3.0185°W