and Chepstow does not appear to have figured very prominently until the time of Cromwell. It was then twice besieged-first by Waller, who took it for the Parliamentary party in 1644-45, and secondly by Colonel Ewer in 1648. In the interval it had been recovered for the Royalists for a time by Sir Nicholas Kemys, famed for his enormous strength. The fact of Cromwell himself being for some time present during the second siege leads to the inference that some importance must have been attached to the Castle. After the Civil Wars it ceased to be of any military importance, but has, at times, been used as barracks, and various small industries such as glass works have been carried on within its walls. During the Civil War it was used as a place of imprisonment for two noteworthy prisoners, Jeremy Taylor having been confined there for a short time in 1656, and Henry Marten, the regicide, was there imprisoned for upwards of twenty years. Architecturally the Castle, although picturesque, is not remarkable. In length it extends about 750 feet, and is divided into four wards or courts, each capable of separate defence. The most important ruin is that of the keep, situated between the second and third court. It apparently was built, and additions made to it, at different periods. The lowest story is built of large rough stones, similar to those in the keep, where King John held court at St. Briavels. In the later Plantagenet times, other buildings were made, and the banqueting hall, with private apartments, built over the original wall. Some few courses of Roman brick, possibly brought hither from Caerwent, are observable in the walls. The chapel was probably at the side of the first court, and there is the ruin of a small oratory in Martin's Tower. A vaulted chamber is also noteworthy, with a hatch opening towards the river for the purpose of lowering and raising stores.

From the Castle buildings the party proceeded to meet the carriages in the Monmouth road, at the extremity of the Castle Dingle, the more active portion preferring the walk to Piercefield Park, the grounds of which had been kindly opened by their owner, Mr. Henry Clay, for the enjoyment of the three miles of sylvan walks along the summit of the cliffs leading to the base of the Wyndcliff. The alternations of scenery viewed by occasional peeps between the curtains of foliage from the Alcove, the Platform, the Camp, the Double View, and the Halfway Seat on the summit of the Apostles' rocks, where

Pleased Vaga, echoing through its winding bounds,

coursed in the deep ravine below, were all admired, and so was a fine Beech tree between the Halfway Seat and the grounds of the mansion, and some very fine Yew trees indigenous here. It has been remarked by the author of A Week's Holiday in the Forest of Dean, on page 62 of his book, when writing of the conspicuous lines of Yew trees as seen from the heights of St. Briavels, that the Yew trees follow in a remarkable manner, and by their presence mark out the lines of the out-crop of the iron ore, the mine as it is technically called here, the term being applied to the whole series of iron-bearing beds.

Some few managed to extend their walk along the summit of the cliffs, passing the Pleasant View, the Giant's Cave, the Lover's Leap, and the Temple, to the northern exit into the main road, thence onwards by the Moss Cottage to Tintern, distant 5 miles from Chepstow.

The majority of the party, adhering to the programme of the day, returned to Chepstow, and, after a refreshing afternoon tea at the Beaufort Arms, resumed their seats in the special railway carriages for the return journey home along the bank of the Severn which river was now viewed under its aspect of low water.

Bloomfield in his "Banks of Wye" thus refers to the walks upon, and views from, the summits of the precipitous cliffs between Chepstow and Tintern :

"No loitering here lone walks to steal.
Yet shrink from the abyss below;
Her echoing precipices roar.

As youthful ardour shouts before,
Here a sweet paradise shall rise
At once to greet poetic eyes.

Beneath impenetrable green

Down, 'midst the hazel stems, was seen
The turbid stream, with all that past;
The lime-white deck, the gliding mast;
Or skiff with gazers darting by,
Who raised their hands in ecstasy,
Impending cliffs hung overhead;
The rock-path sounded to the tread
Where twisted roots, in many a fold,
Through moss, disputed room for hold.

The stranger who thus steals one hour
To trace thy walks from bower to bower,
The noble cliffs, thy wildwood joys,
Nature's own work that never cloys,
Who, while reflection bids him roam
Calls not this paradise his home,
Can ne'er, with dull unconscious eye
Leave them behind without a sigh.

Banks of the Wye.-BLOOMFIeld.

Wordsworth thus records his impressions of this spot-the "Righi" o the

A FEW ROUGH NOTES ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD AND SURROUNDING DISTRICTS OF CHEPSTOW.

By Mr. JAMES DAVIES, of Hereford.

THE neighbourhood and surrounding country of Chepstow, from the river Severn, with the Forest of Dean, on the east, to the river Usk, with the Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire hills on the west, have in connexion with the geography of Ancient Britain an early history with many peculiar and interesting features which are worthy of note. The two districts, eastward and westward of the river Wye, lay within the Roman Province of Britannia Secunda, and included the towns or stations of Caerleon and Caerwent, Burrium (Usk), Gobannium (Abergavenny), Blestium (Monmouth), on the western side of the Wye, as well as a station near Lydney, on the eastern side, the name of which is not recorded, but it is noticed by that eminent antiquary, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in his map of Ancient Wales, before and after the invasion of the Romans.

These Roman stations were naturally connected by roads for necessary military and commercial intercourse, and two very important roads (of the seven which were ultimately constructed in the Province of Britannia Secunda) passed through a portion of this district. The first was the Via Julia Maritima (probablv named after Julius Frontinus, the conqueror of the Silures, the ancient British inhabitants of those parts). This road commenced at Aquæ Solis (Bath), (or Aquæ Sulis, as modern antiquaries have discovered its nomenclature to be), and crossing the river Severn, a little above Chepstow, led to Caerwent, and thence to Caerleon, whence it proceeded to Tibia Amnis (Cardiff), Bovium (near Ewenny), Nidum (Neath), Leucarum, (Lwchwr), Maridunum (Carmarthen), Advicesimum (Castle Fleming), and finally ended at Menapia (St. David's.) This road appears to have been constructed upon the site of an ancient British Trackway, known as the British Akeman Street, and, as will be perceived, ran pretty much upon the same line as the present Great Western Railway through South Wales. This road is described by Richard of Cirencester, who gives the exact mileage between each station; and it is curious, as well as important, in the identity of the several places. It is as follows:

*M.P. signifies mille passus-one thousand paces, from which Roman measurement we have deduced our mile of 1760 yards.

Another important road, the Via Orientalis, commenced at Caerleon, and passing Burrium (Usk), Gobannium, (Abergavenny), entered Herefordshire, and crossing the river Wye near The Old Weir, to Magna Castra (Kenchester), led to Bravinium, near Leintwardine, and ended at Uriconium (Wroxeter). This Iter is recorded both by Antoninus and Richard of Cirencester, with a difference of only one mile in the distance. According to Antoninus the respective distances are as follows:

On the eastern side of the river Wye there does not appear to have been much Roman occupation. There was the unknown (at least in name) station at Lydney, and a road is indicated in Sir Richard Colt Hoare's map as leading from this station through the Forest of Dean to Ariconium, near Ross, in Herefordshire. There was probably also a vicinal road to Glevum (Gloucester). It is noticeable that the Romans worked for iron and coal in the Forest of Dean; but, in consequence of its woods affording a protection in barbarous days, the native inhabitants were so addicted to outrage people residing on the outskirts of the Forest that its recesses were not much penetrated.

At a period antecedent to, and concurrent with, and subject to, the Imperial Power in this country, there was the ancient British rule; and the district westward of the river Wye in earlier times was inhabited by the Silures, a war-like race, to whom Tacitus, in his Life of Agricola, refers, when he mentions that the swarthy complexions and curled hair of the Silures, and the contiguity of Britain to Spain establish a probability that the Ancient Iberi crossed over and took possession of those settlements. But it is to be feared that we cannot place much reliance upon the details of Tacitus, who does not appear to have been in Britain, but gathered his information of this country and its people from the only available source of soldiers and travellers.

After the Imperial Power in this country ceased, and the Britains alone ruled, the district westward of the Wye obtained the name of Gwent. Amongst the Records of the Lives of the Cambro-British Saints it is stated, in that of the life of St. Cadoc, who lived about the latter part of the sixth century, that there reigned formerly on the borders of Britain called Dyfed-Latin, Demetæ, or South Wales,- -a certain Regulus named Glywys, from whom all the country in that district was called Glywysig, and who is said to have had ten children, the eldest of whom was called Gwynlliw, from whose name the country which he governed was called Gwynllwg, or Wentlog, and hence the name of Gwent. An incident worthy of notice with respect to this district is that, according to the Archæologia Britannica of Edward Llwyd, there was a separate Welsh dialect, known as the Gwentish British, which was spoken in Gwent, and parts of Glamorganshire and Breconshire, as well as in the Southern parts of Herefordshire.

The late eminent antiquary, Dr. Ormerod, of Sedbury Park, was of opinion that certain earthworks on the east side of the river Wye opposite Tintern were remains of Offa's Dyke, as the name had been traditionally handed down, and again, that certain earthworks running across from the Wye to the Severn were also remains of this dyke. This dyke is stated by the older authorities to have terminated near Bridge Sollars in Herefordshire; but after all there is much uncertainty about this earthwork. It was evidently a boundary at some early period, but from the circumstance of its being cut through by Roman roads in five places in North Wales, a doubt has been cast upon its later construction. However, if existing in the time of the extension of Offa's dominions, he may have adopted it as a recognised line of demarcation. Offa's dominions are described by old writers as extending from sea to sea, i.e., from the mouth of the river Dee to that of the Severn, but as the river Wye formed such a favourable boundary from the junction of the dyke at Bridge Sollars, it may be urged that there was no necessity for any further line running parallel with the Wye.

Upon consulting the Ordnance Map, it will be seen that nearly all the names of the parishes and places in the Forest of Dean are of Anglo-Saxon formation; indeed, the name of "dene," which may be rendered a valley, a wood or forest, or secluded place, is Anglo-Saxon, and very descriptive of its physical characteristics; so that there appears to have been an English occupancy concurrent with British,- -as in all parts bordering on Wales-whereas the names on the Monmouthshire side are mostly of Welsh origin. I have not met with any speculative opinion as to the derivation of "Chepstow," but it appears to mean "the market." The term "chapman," i.e., one who buys and sells-a merchantwill best explain the interpretation, as will also the well-known street in London called "Cheapside." This town, situated on the boundary of the two districts, was the place where each people found a mart for the sale of their produce and commodities, and the Anglo-Saxon words "Cepe," or "Chepe," which means "business," and "stow" a "place," indicate the locality of the market place. The Rev. Jonathan Williams, in his History of Radnorshire, in a casual allusion to the name of the district between the Severn and Wye, states that "Ffer-llys" is a compound word signifying a country copious in grass, which Virgil would