Place:Itton, Monmouthshire, Wales

source: Family History Library Catalog

Wikipedia describes the present village:

Itton (Welsh: Llanddinol), is a small village in Monmouthshire, Wales, in the community of Devauden about 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Chepstow. The village covers about a 2-mile (3.2 km) radius, with about 70 properties across a rural area. The parish also includes the hamlet of Howick.

The church and Itton Court, the manor house, are located about 1-mile (1.6 km) from the main housing development at Itton Common on the B4293 road between Chepstow and Devauden. The woodland between Itton and Devauden is Chepstow Park Wood.

History

The Welsh language name for the village derives from the dedication of the parish church to St. Deiniol, a 6th-century bishop. The English name first appears in records in the 13th century, as Edyton, Hedyngton or Edeton.

The parish church building itself is Grade II listed building dating in part from the 14th century although it was mostly rebuilt in 1869. The church stands beside Itton Court, originally a mediaeval fortification of the Lords of Striguil or Chepstow. The fortified manor house was later extended. The eastern front was built for the house's owner, John Jeffries, in the early 18th century. In 1749 the house was bought by John Curre whose family extended it and rebuilt parts, particularly in the late 19th century.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Itton from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"ITTON, a parish in Chepstow [registration] district, Monmouth[shire]; 3 miles WNW of Chepstow [railway] station. It includes the hamlet of Howick; and its post town is Chepstow. Acres: 1,738. Real property: £2,106. Population: 196. Houses: 34. The manor, with Itton Court, belongs to W. Curr, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Llandaff. Value: £153. Patron: W. Curr, Esq. The church is ancient and good. Charities, £14."

Itton and Howick were made into separate civil parishes late in the 19th century and were both located within Chepstow Rural District from 1894. In 1935, in a move to reduce the number of parishes within Chepstow Rural District, Itton was absorbed into the civil parish of St. Arvans.

As will be noted in the notes from Wikipedia, Itton and Howick did not remain in the parish of St. Arvans after 1974 (when Monmouthshire became the county of Gwent. Rather they were transferred as one parish to the community of Devauden to the northwest.

Research Tips