Place:Portskewett, Monmouthshire, Wales

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Portskewett (Welsh: Porthsgiwed or Porthysgewin) is now a community (parish) and village in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located four miles southwest of Chepstow and one mile east of Caldicot, in an archaeologically sensitive part of the Caldicot Levels on the Welsh shore of the Severn Estuary. The Second Severn Crossing passes overhead carrying the M4 motorway. It was a civil parish in Chepstow Rural District in the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales from 1894 until 1974.

The name Portskewett is generally believed to derive from the Welsh Porth-is-Coed, meaning "the harbour below the wood", or alternatively "the harbour of the area below the wood" - that is, the post-Roman cantref of Gwent Is Coed, centred on Caerwent about 3 miles away. An alternative derivation is from Porth Ysgewydd, "the port of the elder wood".

Portskewett is mentioned in ancient Welsh stories as one of the three chief ports of Wales. The harbour later silted up. It is now a marshy area at Caldicot Pill, close to the Second Severn Crossing and industrial sites, including the entrance to the Severn Tunnel.

From Norman times until 1919, the village was part of the St. Pierre estate, and was held by the Lewis family of St. Pierre. It declined in importance after the Norman period and for many centuries it was an agricultural village of no distinction, although it does appear that some iron mining continued near the village until at least the 17th century. In 1662 Thomas Lewis of St. Pierre, lord of the manor, granted the right to mine iron in the manor to Henry Rumsey.

By the 19th century the village was in decline. Between 1801 and 1861 the population of the parish, which includes Sudbrook, fell from 216 to 175. However, it expanded rapidly later in the 19th century, as housing was built for workers on the Severn Tunnel and with industrial development at nearby Caldicot. At the turn of the 20th century the population was some 900, steadily rising to about 1,300 by the 1970s.

Black Rock, on the Severn estuary immediately southeast of the village, has been an important crossing point of the River Severn for many centuries. By the 18th century, a regular ferry service crossed the Severn estuary from Black Rock to New Passage on the Bristol side, carrying passengers, cattle and iron ore. In 1863, the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway built a branch from the main line to Black Rock. Trains would travel out onto a wooden pier, where the passengers would alight to climb aboard the ferries. The pier was severely damaged by fire in 1881 and demolished after the Severn Tunnel opened in 1886, but parts can still be seen at low tide.

At Black Rock a traditional method of fishing for salmon with lave nets is practised. The fishermen come from local villages and are the last such fishermen in Wales.

The estuary has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world (traditionally reported as the second highest though more recently reckoned to be third highest).

Sudbrook

Sudbrook is a village located 4 miles southwest of Chepstow and 1 mile east of Caldicot. It lies close to the Second Severn Crossing on the Severn Estuary, and adjoins the village of Portskewett. It was largely built in the late 19th century for workers on the Severn railway tunnel. At that time it was also known as Southbrook.

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