Place:Shirenewton, Monmouthshire, Wales

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

Wikipedia describes the present community:

Shirenewton (Welsh: Drenewydd Gelli-farch) is a village and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 3 miles due west of Chepstow, 5 miles (8 km) by road. The village stands around 500 feet (154 m) above sea level, and has extensive views of the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel.

History

Before the Norman invasion of Wales, the Shirenewton area formed part of the forest of Wentwood (Welsh: Coed Gwent). At the time of the Domesday Book (1086), it was part of the lands at Caldicot which were held by Durand, the Sheriff of Gloucester. Durand and his successor as sheriff, his nephew Walter FitzRoger (died circa 1129) also known as Walter de Gloucester, had part of the forest cleared around the year 1100, and established a small settlement which was known as "Sheriff's Newton (or New Town)" or, in Latin, Nova Villa. The manor then became known as Caldecot-cum-Newton, and in some documents the village was called Newton Netherwent. "Netherwent" is the English name given to the Welsh cantref of Gwent-is-coed (Gwent beneath the wood, i.e. Wentwood), with "-went" deriving from the Roman town of Venta which became Caerwent. The name "Sheriff's Newton" became contracted over the years into Shirenewton.

After Walter retired to become a monk at Llanthony Priory, he was followed as Sheriff by his son, Milo Fitzwalter, 1st Earl of Hereford (Miles de Gloucester), who became Earl of Hereford and Lord High Constable of England in 1141. The area north west of the village became known as the Earl's Wood about that time, hence modern Earlswood.

The Mounton Brook runs through the parish, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries provided the water power to operate five paper mills in the Mynydd-bach area - White Mill, Itton Mill, Dyer's Mill, Itton Court Mill, and Pandy Mill. These made brown and blue packing paper, using rags, straw and old rope as raw materials. There were three more mills just downstream at Mounton.

The Church of St. Thomas à Becket was built by Humphrey de Bohun. Much of the current church, such as the fortified tower, choir, chancel and nave, date from the 13th century, although it was rebuilt and restored in 1853.

Mynydd-bach is a settlement separated by the width of a single field from Shirenewton. The name means, in Welsh, "little hill".

In 1935, in a move to reduce the number of parishes within Chepstow Rural District, the parish of Newchurch West was absorbed into Shirenewton. The new parish became the "community" of Shirenewton when the historic county of Monmouthshire was abolished and replaced by Gwent in 1974.

Research Tips