About Angie: Offa's Dyke: Monmouth to White Castle

I ended my first post on Offa's Dyke at the beginning of the Tiddenham section. During 8 years of living in the Forest of Dean, most of them with no ambitions to traverse the whole Offa's Dyke path, I've walked all of the route between there and The Kymin, overlooking Monmouth. On the way, I've stood spellbound more than once at The Devil's Pulpit, drinking in what is arguably the best view on the whole path. You can read about one of the visits here.

Consequently, we decided to continue our walk from Monmouth's famous Monnow Bridge. That leaves a short section un-walked from The Kymin down into Monmouth, but it can wait until I figure out how to do it without having to walk all the way back up to retrieve the car.

The Monnow Bridge has the distinction of being the only surviving medieval fortified river bridge in the kingdom. Its splendid tower and archway must have been a challenge for lorry drivers before the bridge was bypassed with a new one in 2004.

Leaving the houses of Monmouth behind, the path runs beside a field of potatoes, then one of corn, before entering King's Wood.

From the bridge it's a steep, but thankfully short, climb through the woods, followed by a gentle descent into the valley of the River Trothy.

An ancient parish boundary marker, I presume. In olden days, during the 5th week of Easter, parishioners would 'beat the bounds' to ensure that knowledge of these boundaries wasn't lost. If one needed a church for baptism, marriage or burial, it was important to known in which parish one resided.

Near the little river the fields can become too muddy to cross, but not on the day we visited. The ground was as hard as concrete.

Here abouts once stood Grace-Dieu Abbey, though no sign of it survives above ground. This, the last Cistercian abbey to be established in Wales, came into use in 1226 but survived for a mere 7 years, when the Welsh attacked it and raised it to the ground. Like Llanthony to the east – and presumably other abbeys and priories in Wales – these Norman centres of privilege were strongly resented by the local population.

The half-way point on this walk was Llanvihangel Ystern-Llewern. From here, we retraced our steps to Monmouth. On the following Monday we parked at White Castle, walked to Llanvihangel Ystern-Llewern, then all the way back to White Castle again. To preserve the continuity of this blog, I'll continue to describe the walk heading west from Monmouth.

The little church is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels (a very common dedication) or, according to my Offa's Dyke Path Guide, St Michael of the Fiery Meteor. Despite searching the Internet, I could find no explanation of the fiery meteor, nor of its connexion with St Michael. Is there, perhaps, a clue in a translation of Llanvihangel Ystern-Llewern? Google Translate was of no help, though with my limited knowledge of Welsh I can pick out Llan (church) and angel (angel). I await with eager anticipation some enlightenment from my Welsh-speaking readers.

Angie at Llanvihangel, Monday 7th June ... and there again on Monday 14th June

Really! The things one sees on the Offa's Dyke!

The Offa's Dyke path goes through the middle of this cider apple plantation. I've sampled Welsh cider at The Boat Inn in Redbrook and can vouch for its excellence.

Descending into Llantilio-Crosseny I was rewarded with this lovely view of Sugar Loaf Mountain (left) and Skirrid (right), both of which I've climbed on earlier escapades into Wales.

On the bridge over the River Trothy at Llantilio Crosseny

With only a couple of miles to go to White Castle, and energy to spare, we decided to divert into Llantilio Crosseny to explore the church and a moat that I spotted on the OS map.

St Teilo's Church is surprisingly large for the small community it serves, and was a lovely place to sit, rest and cool down on a blisteringly hot day.

Like many Welsh Saints, Teilo had a Cornish connexion (where he was known as Eliud) and also spent a few years in Brittany. He's best remembered, though, in Wales. He died in Llantilio, whereupon his body is said to have miraculously became three identical ones. In truth his bones were probably claimed by three churches, each wishing to attract pilgrims to their sites. Holy bones could make you a lot of money in the Middle Ages.

The moat turned out to be the site of Hen Gwrt, a 14th century moated residence. All that remains is the moat and the island on which the building once stood.

And so, on to White Castle, where our day had begun...