Monmouthshire Antiquarian Association Blog

  John Edward Lee, Charles Roach Smith and Aspects of Mid Victorian Archaeology Jeremy Knight Charles Roach Smith, c. 1865 From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository This image is on display at the British Museum.     In the summer of 1848, the founder of the Monmouthshire Antiquarian Association, John Edward Lee, received a visitor at his house, The Priory, at Caerleon. Charles Roach Smith (1807-1890) had been attending the Worcester conference of the British Archaeological Association, of which he was co-founder and Secretary and took the opportunity to visit Caerleon and Caerwent before returning to London. The two men were probably already known each other, since Lee was a member of the Association and they had a great deal in common. Pictu re of John Edward Lee copyright  Caerleon Antiquarian Association     The story of Lee’s foundation of our Association and of the Roman Legionary Museum at Caerleon has been told several t...

  Thomas Mawson in Monmouthshire  I was invited to write an article on Thomas Mawson in Wales for this Spring’s edition of Oriel, the magazine of the Friends of National Museum Wales. Mawson was the foremost landscape architect of his time (1861-1933) and the most notable of his designs in Wales are Dyffryn Gardens and Belle Vue Park, about which I have written in a blog for the MAA last year. My recent research covering the whole of Wales revealed more than I expected, especially in Monmouthshire. Mawson had four commissions in our county, one in Blackwood at Maes Manor and three in Newport, of which two are parks and one a private house.  Maes Manor at Blackwood near Newport was originally known as Maesruddud and is now an hotel set in the countryside. British Listed Buildings notes it warrants Grade II status as an example of a small early C20th industrialist's country house retaining its original character, and representative of the early C20th prosperity of th...

  The Lost Plaques: Goscombe John's plaques to the memory of Alderman Thomas Jones, ship owner, coal exporter and Mayor of Newport in 1892-3.  A newspaper drawing of Thomas Jones' memorial plaque When Thomas Jones died in New Zealand on October 18, 1903 his Welsh friends asked the Welsh artist Goscombe John to create two memorial plaques to commemorate his life in Wales. One of them was to be created in bronze. Questions come to mind. Who was Thomas Jones and why did he deserve this honour and where are the plaques today? However his story is relevant because just as we are trying to defeat Corona Virus he was trying to defeat tuberculosis a bacterial disease of which many people were dying in his lifetime. The disease had been known since ancient times but in the 18th and 19th centuries it increased due to the growth of industrialisation leading to large urban areas. It affected the rich and the poor and was not effectively defeated until and the BCG vaccine became available ...

The Magical Marshlands of Monmouthshire by Mary Evans As our world has become smaller and our travel plans restricted our local area has taken on a new focus and significance. For many of us this has led to rediscovering locations we haven’t visited for a long while or even better, discovering a new place of interest on our doorstep. Here in Monmouthshire we have beautiful countryside supporting a wide range of wildlife and although not as long or scenic a coastline as our neighbouring Glamorgan Heritage Coast, we do have the fascinating area of the Gwent Levels.   These stretch east of Cardiff to Chepstow alongside the splendid Severn Estuary and are an intriguing mixture of heritage, mystery and tradition. An ancient land of ditches, dinosaur footprints, religious places, salmon fisheries, skeletal boat remains, tiny islands and now sculptures. Over several sunny days in September with my husband as driver and navigator we explored new locations and revisited others in...