History

The Wye Valley & Vale of Usk's past, present and future are momentous, exuberant and progressive. See for yourself.

Wales' National Collections are FREE!

Go underground and sense life at the coal face at Big Pit Mining Museum: step back through Wales' past at the open air Museum of Welsh Life or voyage through Wales' natural history at the vast Cardiff Museum and Gallery.

Explore our Roman legacy. City wall and villages emain clearly visible at Caerwent. Caerleon's legacy includes a legionary museum, fortress baths, barracks and amazing amphitheatre which, according to local tradition, was the legendary Court of King Arthur.

Blaenavon - World Heritage Site is an industrial archaeologist's paradise. Here iron making and coal mining transformed the landscape, and was the backdrop to the novels of Alexander Cordell.

Visit Blaenavon Ironworks, Big Pit Mining Museum, Pontypool and Blaenavon Steam Railway, the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and Clydach Gorge and see how.

Our museums reveal a rich and varied past.

Regular exhibitions and education workshops revive bygone days.

Follow the story and record of:- Abergavenny's historic market town

• port trade at Chepstow
• Roman times at Caerleon
• Horatio Nelson and King Henry V at Monmouth
• the Chartist Uprising at Newport
• rural life at Usk.

Formidable Fortresses - Wales' finest await you

Turbulent times have bequeathed to us some of the most notable castles.

Here you can visit Europe's second largest, Caerphilly; one of Britain's first stone-built, Chepstow; the most sumptuous, Raglan, and the most flamboyant, Castell Coch.

These and other battle-worn residences leave you captivated.

Tintern Abbey in Spring Religious Solitude - Sublime Preservation

Medieval Tintern Abbey is the best preserved in Wales. Wordsworth and Turner chose it as a subject for their poetry and paintings, inspired by its beauty.

Turner also chose secluded Llanthony Priory. St Mary's Priory Church, Abergavenny remains a place of worship and houses unique treasures.

A Lasting Lament - Courage and Treason

Imposing buildings house mighty memories of trials and tribulation. Monmouth's Shire Hall Courtroom held The Chartists' Trial. Here, three campaigners were ordered to be hung and quartered for treason. The Skirrid Inn, reputed to be Wales' oldest pub, was used as an inn, courthouse, prison and gallows. Scorch marks of the hangman's rope still remain.

Historic Houses - Opulent and Lavish Living

Monmouth's Shire Hall 17th century Tredegar House is the finest historic house in South Wales. Tour the grand house and 90 acres of parkland to see why.

Whereas Elizabethan and Tudor Manor Houses Llanvihangel Court and Penyclawdd Court are still family homes, others exhibit the glory of their gardens.