682 MON M O U 
brown marl, which is remarkable for producing a furface 
abounding with infular hills, frequently in a conical form, 
but none of which rife lo majeftically as the lugar-loaf 
and adjacent mountains of Monmouthlhire. 
Conlidered in an agricultural point of view, Monmouth- 
fhirc may be properly divided into three diftribts. The 
fir ft, comprifing the louthern part of the county, conlifts, 
almoft entirely, of moor or marfti lands, with a portion off 
meadow-grounds. The fecond divifion, which takes in 
the eaftern line of the county, is particularly fertile. The 
third divifion forms the weftern and moft hilly part of the 
county. The kinds of corn generally railed are wheat, 
barley, and oats, with a very fmall proportion of peal'e 
and beans. Thefe are, of courfe, principally produced 
in the eaftern divifion ; the other two being much more 
grazing than farming diftricts. The cattle reared are 
oxen, lheep, and mules. The firft are principally bred in 
the northern parts, and fed in the fouthern : thefe gene¬ 
rally grow to a large lize, are extremely docile, and well 
fitted for the labours of the field. The lheep are natu¬ 
rally of an inferior kind ; but the ftock has been greatly 
improved of late years, by various erodes with the Cotef- 
wold, Southdown, and Dorfet, breeds. Mules are very 
abundant here ; and are a peculiarly fine race, ftrong in 
the bone, and of exquifite fymmetry, running fourteen 
hands high, and are fo valuable as to fell for thirty or 
forty pounds each. The breed is conftantly kept up to 
its priftine ftandard of excellence by the importation of 
ftallion alfes from Spain. But whether this traffic (liould 
be encouraged is extremely doubtful, confidering the fu- 
perior qualifications of the horle, the breeding of which 
animal is, in confequence, almoft wholly neglebted in this 
county. Indeed the Monmouthlhire horfes are by far the 
moft miferable race of their fpecies in our ifland, neither 
adapted for the faddle, norufeful for agricultural purpofes. 
Monmouthlhire was formerly celebrated for its manu¬ 
facture of ftockings and knit caps, but that trade almoft 
entirely difappeared loon after the eftablilhment of the 
iron-works in the reign of queen Elizabeth. Since that 
period, the iron-bufinefs, though in different degrees at 
different times, has conllituted the chief employment of 
the manufacturing claffes in the county. This branch of 
trade has of late years increafed to a prodigious extent; fo 
that Monmouthlhire will, in all probability, loon take the 
precedence, as an iron-diftriCt, of every other countv in 
Great Britain. At Pontypool and at Ulk there are ftill 
coniiderable manufactories of japanned goods, generally 
diftinguilhed by the name of Pontypool-ware, becaufe firft 
invented in that town; but this trade has buffered much 
from the competition of Birmingham, joined to the un¬ 
favourable ftate of our foreign relations. The commerce 
of Monmouthlhire, which is very coniiderable, is almoft 
entirely confined to the towns of Chepftow and Ulk. 
Monmouthlhire, to the antiquary, is particularly in- 
terefting: Caerwent was firft the capital of the Silurian 
dominions, and afterwards a Roman ftation. To trace 
the direction of the Roman roads, particularly of the 
Julia Strata, in their pafiage through this country, is a 
iubject of much difficulty. The Julia Strata is moft difi- 
tinClly vilible in the vicinity of Caerwent, running in the 
direction of Penhow. A few traces of it can likewife be 
difeovered near Caerleon and Newport; but its courfe 
between thele towns is wholly uncertain. Of the roads 
which ftruck off from the Julia Strata, one led from Ifca- 
Silurum to Burrium, where, dividing into two ramifica¬ 
tions, one proceeded to Gobannium and the other to 
Bleftium. Another has evidently run in a lbuth-weft- 
ward direction, from Abergavenny to Neath, or to home 
ftation in Gloucefterlhire. This road is called by the na¬ 
tives Sarn-Mv, or the Long Paved Caui'eway ; and in the 
neighbourhood of Bydwelly ftiil remains almoft entire. 
Befides thele, various other marks of Roman civilization 
have been di(covered in this county at different periods, 
confifting of aqueduCts, baths, telfellated pavements, co¬ 
lumns, ftatues, bas-relievos, 1'udatories, hypocaufts, al- 
T II S II I R E. 
tars, votive and fepulchral ftoues, farcophagi, urns, me¬ 
dals, coins, fibulie, &c. Numerous encampments of dif¬ 
ferent forms and fizes are likewife diftributed over this 
county ; iome of them no doubt originally Britifh, and 
afterwards altered by the Romans, Saxons, or Danes ; and 
others of them originally Roman, and altered in the fame 
way by the warriors of a later period. A few feem to be 
Saxon or Danilh entirely. 
Caftles and other places of more permanent defence, are 
no lefs frequent here than encampments. Several of thefe 
have claims to very high antiquity; but the precife pe¬ 
riod of their ereCtion is unknown. The moft diftinguilh¬ 
ed among them are the caftles of Caerleon, Ulk, and Scen- 
freth, which are laid to be of Britifh origin. The reft 
are no doubt of a much later date, and moft probably not 
earlier than the period of the Norman conqueft ; for the 
Saxons, having never been pofleffors of the whole county, 
could leave but few fpecimens of their architecture, and 
thofe of a period when it is difficult to diftinguifh it from 
that of the early Normans ; but the Gothic is moft preva¬ 
lent. From thefe circumftances, as well as from hiftorical 
evidence, it is probable that the greater part of the caftles 
in this county owed their origin to the Normans, and 
were built or repaired after the introduction of Gothic 
architecture; none, perhaps, except Scenfreth, are wholly 
Saxon or early Norman ; a few exhibit an intermixture of 
the Norman and Gothic; and the reft are entirely Gothic. 
The churches are fingularly piCturefque, from their 
fituation, form, and appearance; they ftand in the midft 
of the fields, and on the banks of the rivers; are often 
embowered in trees, and generally at a coniiderable dif- 
tance from any habitation. A whimfical and not unpleaf- 
ing effeCt is lbmetimes produced by the coat of plafter or 
lime with which they are covered. The body of the 
church is ufually whitened, occafionally alfo the tower ; 
in fiome inftances the tower is uncoloured, and in others 
the battlements only are white-w'afhed. This intermix¬ 
ture of colours is ingenioully accounted for by Effex in 
his remarks on ancient brick and Hone buildings in Eng¬ 
land .- “ The Normans frequently raifed large buildings 
with pebbles only, and lbmetimes with pebbles intermixed 
with rag-ftones. As this rough manner of building with 
rag-ftones and other irregular materials, required a coat of 
plaftering to make them fair without and neat within, we 
find that thofe fmall churches and other buildings which 
were built in this manner, were always plaftered in the 
infide, and frequently on the outfide, with a compofition 
of lime and land, the remains of which may be traced in 
many of the Saxon and Norman churches, and in fome 
more modern.” Thefe churches exhibit different ftyles 
of architecture ; many of them, particularly in the moun¬ 
tainous diftriCts, are very ancient, and it is probable that 
a few were eonftruCted by the Britons, fome by the Saxons, 
and feveral at an early period of the Norman monarchy, 
as is evident from the rounded arches and mouldings pe¬ 
culiar to thofe ftyles ; but the far greater part were built 
fince the introduction of Gothic architecture. The firft 
are generally of a Ample form, of fmall dimenfions, fhaped 
like a barn, without any diftinCtion in the breadth or 
height between the nave and the chancel, and without a 
belfry. The fecond fpecies is of fomewhat later date: 
the chancel is narrower and lefs lofty than the church ; a 
fmall belfry is alfo placed over the roof at the weftern ex¬ 
tremity, with one or two apertures for bells, the ropes of 
which defeend into the church. The third fpecies con- 
fill of a nave, a chancel, and a tower or belfry, which is 
lbmetimes placed at the weftern extremity, lbmetimes in 
the middle, and lbmetimes at the iides. The tower was 
at firft rude and maflive, afterwards increafed in height and 
lightnels, was ornamented with battlements, and in later 
times with pinnacles. A few, particularly thofe in the 
eaftern parts of the county, are provided with lleeples, 
and are fcarcely earlier than the thirteenth century. 
Many of the churches have undergone iittie change fince 
the sera of the Reformation, and exhibit traces of the 
i Roman- 
