Devauden
Encyclopedia
Devauden is a village
in Monmouthshire
, south east Wales
. It is located between Chepstow
and Monmouth
near the top of the Trellech
ridge on the B4293 road.
passed through Devauden. Roman coins
from the period of Antoninus
were found in the village in 1840.
Devauden was said in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
to have been the place where the Britons were overwhelmed and defeated by the combined forces of the Saxon
monarchs, Ethelbald of Mercia
and Cuthred of Wessex
, in 743. The name may be derived from the Welsh
Ty'r ffawydden, or "house of the beech
tree". Until the mid-20th century the village was often known as The Devauden.
Devauden and the nearby hamlet
of Fedw or Veddw (from Welsh Y fedw, birch
grove) were originally clusters of illicit cottages built as a base by woodcutters, mule drivers, quarrymen and labourers linked to the wireworks at Tintern
and the Angiddy valley. The village was historically part of the parish
of Newchurch
.
On October 15, 1739, John Wesley
preached his first sermon
in Wales on the village green
at Devauden. He wrote in his journal: "Upon a pressing invitation, some time since received, I set out for Wales. About four in the afternoon I preached on a little green at the foot of the Devauden ... to three or four hundred plain people on "Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." After sermon, one who I trust is an old disciple of Christ willingly received us into his house.."
James Davies (1765–1849) was schoolmaster at Devauden for over 30 years during the early 19th century, and was responsible for establishing a village school in 1815. In 1830 the school was converted into a chapel
, and a new schoolroom was built next door. Davies gained a strong local reputation for enduring personal hardship in order to help the poor in the community. The school closed in 1986. The parish church
is dedicated to St. James.
, is an extensive area of mixed woodland
owned and managed by the Forestry Commission
, popular with walkers. It was established as a hunting forest around 1280 by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk
, the lord of Striguil
or Chepstow Castle
. It covers about 3,300 hectare
s, and was originally enclosed by a fence stretching 7.8 km. Around 1340, it was occupied and taken over by a band of outlaw
s led by William de Derneford and his son Robert. It was re-enclosed with a stone wall around 1630, and at the same time a stone lodge was built in the centre of the forest, with views back towards Chepstow, for the use of visitors to the forest. Later, the wood became notorious as a haunt of highwaymen
. Historically, the woodland lay within the parish of Newchurch East.
was opened in 1953, funded by a local resident, Mrs. Hood, on land donated by Lady Curre. The pub, the Mason's Arms, dates from around 1800.
The village is located within the Wye Valley
AONB. The recently created garden at Veddw House is an increasingly popular visitor attraction.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
, south east Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It is located between Chepstow
Chepstow
Chepstow is a town in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the River Wye, close to its confluence with the River Severn, and close to the western end of the Severn Bridge on the M48 motorway...
and Monmouth
Monmouth
Monmouth is a town in southeast Wales and traditional county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is situated close to the border with England, where the River Monnow meets the River Wye with bridges over both....
near the top of the Trellech
Trellech
Trellech is a village in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales, near Monmouth and the location of an archaeological site. The village is designated as a Conservation Area....
ridge on the B4293 road.
History
There is evidence that an ancient ridgeway between Monmouth and the coast at MathernMathern
Mathern is a historic village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, about 5 km south west of the town of Chepstow, close to the Severn estuary, the Bristol Channel and the M48 motorway. The village is designated as a Conservation Area...
passed through Devauden. Roman coins
Roman currency
The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius , the sestertius , the dupondius , and the as...
from the period of Antoninus
Antoninus
Antoninus is an Ancient Roman family name which derived from the given name Antonius the Latin form of Anthony.*Any of the Antonines, including:**Antoninus Pius **Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus *Caracalla...
were found in the village in 1840.
Devauden was said in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
to have been the place where the Britons were overwhelmed and defeated by the combined forces of the Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
monarchs, Ethelbald of Mercia
Ethelbald of Mercia
Æthelbald was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands, from 716 until 757. During his long reign, Mercia became the dominant kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and recovered the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during the seventh century under the strong Mercian kings Penda and...
and Cuthred of Wessex
Cuthred of Wessex
Cuthred or Cuþræd was the King of Wessex from 740 until 756. He succeeded Æthelheard, his relative and possibly his brother....
, in 743. The name may be derived from the Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
Ty'r ffawydden, or "house of the beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
tree". Until the mid-20th century the village was often known as The Devauden.
Devauden and the nearby hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Fedw or Veddw (from Welsh Y fedw, birch
Silver Birch
Betula pendula is a widespread European birch, though in southern Europe it is only found at higher altitudes. Its range extends into southwest Asia in the mountains of northern Turkey and the Caucasus...
grove) were originally clusters of illicit cottages built as a base by woodcutters, mule drivers, quarrymen and labourers linked to the wireworks at Tintern
Tintern
Tintern is a village on the west bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire, Wales, close to the border with England, about 5 miles north of Chepstow...
and the Angiddy valley. The village was historically part of the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Newchurch
Newchurch, Monmouthshire
Newchurch is an extensive rural parish and small hamlet in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. It is located 6 miles south east of Usk and 6 miles north west of Chepstow, between the B4235 and B4293 roads.- History and amenities:...
.
On October 15, 1739, John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
preached his first sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
in Wales on the village green
Village green
A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...
at Devauden. He wrote in his journal: "Upon a pressing invitation, some time since received, I set out for Wales. About four in the afternoon I preached on a little green at the foot of the Devauden ... to three or four hundred plain people on "Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." After sermon, one who I trust is an old disciple of Christ willingly received us into his house.."
James Davies (1765–1849) was schoolmaster at Devauden for over 30 years during the early 19th century, and was responsible for establishing a village school in 1815. In 1830 the school was converted into a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
, and a new schoolroom was built next door. Davies gained a strong local reputation for enduring personal hardship in order to help the poor in the community. The school closed in 1986. The parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
is dedicated to St. James.
Chepstow Park Wood
Chepstow Park Wood, located immediately south of the village towards IttonItton
Itton , is a small village in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales, about north-west of Chepstow. The village covers about a radius, with about 70 properties across a rural area...
, is an extensive area of mixed woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
owned and managed by the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
, popular with walkers. It was established as a hunting forest around 1280 by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk
Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk
Roger Bigod was 5th Earl of Norfolk.He was the son of Hugh Bigod , and succeeded his uncle, Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk as earl in 1270....
, the lord of Striguil
Striguil
Striguil or Strigoil is the name which was used from the 11th century until the late 14th century, for the port and Norman castle of Chepstow, on the Welsh side of the River Wye which forms the boundary with England...
or Chepstow Castle
Chepstow Castle
Chepstow Castle , located in Chepstow, Monmouthshire in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye, is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain...
. It covers about 3,300 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s, and was originally enclosed by a fence stretching 7.8 km. Around 1340, it was occupied and taken over by a band of outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s led by William de Derneford and his son Robert. It was re-enclosed with a stone wall around 1630, and at the same time a stone lodge was built in the centre of the forest, with views back towards Chepstow, for the use of visitors to the forest. Later, the wood became notorious as a haunt of highwaymen
Highwayman
A highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travellers. This type of outlaw, usually, travelled and robbed by horse, as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads...
. Historically, the woodland lay within the parish of Newchurch East.
Amenities
The Hood Memorial HallVillage hall
In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...
was opened in 1953, funded by a local resident, Mrs. Hood, on land donated by Lady Curre. The pub, the Mason's Arms, dates from around 1800.
The village is located within the Wye Valley
Wye Valley
The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an internationally important protected landscape straddling the border between England and Wales. It is one of the most dramatic and scenic landscape areas in southern Britain....
AONB. The recently created garden at Veddw House is an increasingly popular visitor attraction.