When the Agincourt600 commemorations were mentioned at a meeting last year, there were many present who knew little of the battle and even less of the link our community had to this part of history. The Agincourt600 group have organised many events, one of these is the excellent exhibition that Bryan Davies has collated. When […]
Focus Magazines
The local magazines for Abergavenny, Crickhowell, Brecon & Talgarth – Events, News and Advertising
Category Archives: Local History
Law and Order
Hywel Dda was the first in a long line of distinguished Welshmen to shape our social rules.Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports Codes of behaviour and entitlement existed in Britain before the Romans, but it was Hywel Dda, King of Wales, who organised them into a coherent legal system. In the early […]
Remembering Wales’s role in the Battle of Agincourt
2015 marks the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt. For the people of Brecon, Tretower, Trecastle and Monmouthshire it’s a particularly special occasion. Local heroes – including the famous Welsh longbowmen – distinguished themselves in this crucial 15th-century battle. A special events programme has been organised by community groups across Brecon, Tretower, Trecastle and […]
A Tale of Two Siblings
The Davies sisters were wealthy women with a passion for fine art & philanthropy. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports Gwendoline and her sister Margaret were two of the richest single women in Edwardian Britain. They had a combined personal fortune of £1 million and an annual income of around £40,000 to spend […]
Slavery and the Cambrian Connection
Swansea copper paid the African chieftains,and profits from sugar transformed Welsh industry. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports. The transatlantic slave trade flourishing in the 17th and 18th centuries generally followed a triangular route. Ships left Britain for West Africa where they traded goods for slaves. They transported their human cargo across the […]
A Dramatic Discovery
The merchant ship found below the banks of the Usk is offering up a mine of information about medieval life. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports It is more than 12 years since workers digging the foundations for the Riverfront Theatre in Newport hit upon the largest medieval merchant vessel to be found […]
A man ahead of his time?
Dr William Price was undoubtedly eccentric but many of his ideas are commonplace today. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports As a vegetarian who believed in free love and herbal remedies, he would probably have felt at home in a 1960s hippy commune. But William Price was a child of the 1800s. He […]
Steaming into the future
When the first railways arrived in town it was All Change in more ways than one. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports In the mid-19th century Abergavenny was a mess. Filthy streets, dodgy water and erratic gas supplies were the norm. But in 1853, a group of local tradesmen took action and, during […]
In the footsteps of our ancestors
The Trefil moors were once home to Bronze Age tribes and revolutionaries. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports Trefil once had two pubs, two chapels and mainly two families; Evans and Williams, and at 400m above sea level is one of the highest villages in Wales. As well as producing lime for industry, […]
A Tale of Three Castles
Grosmont, Skenfrith and Llantilio Crossenny were more than fortresses guarding the Monnow Valley. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports After the Normans arrived, these earth-and-timber strongholds were built to protect links between Hereford and Wales. They became seats of power and symbols of domination in an area whose population was almost entirely Welsh. […]
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