Posted in Gwent, History, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged architecture, Gwent, Monmouthshire, Usk, Wales on March 8, 2015| 7 Comments »
A winter day at the Priory Church of St Mary, Usk
On a day when winter was still cold and dank, we visited Usk in Monmouthshire. We sometimes go there for lunch at the Three Salmons Hotel, but we were early, so wandered more than usual. New to me was this little Priory Church of St Mary. New to me, but it has been there for 900 years.
Maybe it was the shade of the low winter sun, or the dark colour of the stones, but to me it looked a bit creepy, the sort of place (more…)
Posted in Gwent, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Gwent, Monmouthshire, Usk on March 4, 2013| 8 Comments »
A little lock-up in Bridge Street, Usk…
The small town of Usk has several blue plaques placed by the civic society but I hadn’t spotted this one before. Which is strange, as (more…)
Posted in Glamorgan, Gwent, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Glamorgan, Gwent, Monmouthshire, Wales on January 5, 2013| 7 Comments »
House sparrows in a bush, Tintern, December 23, 2012…
I’m back at work now after a long Christmas and New Year break, and I’m picking over the scraps of our midwinter wanderings. I regret that the weather was mostly very wet and dark, so I was mostly hard pushed to take pictures as a record of where we had been.
Although I have a couple of complete blog picture posts pending, there are lots of (more…)
Posted in Gwent, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Gwent, Monmouthshire, Usk, Wales on December 24, 2012| 17 Comments »
The River Usk flowing through the town of Usk yesterday…
Yesterday, the eve of Christmas Eve, we went for a wander through the Usk Valley in Monmouthshire. There has been flooding in many area of the UK this last week and the River Usk was running red with mud after all the rain – we are all (more…)
Posted in Gwent, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Gwent, Monmouthshire on November 20, 2011| 13 Comments »
Railway carriages at the Old Station, Tintern
My last post was about the Circle of Legends at the Old Station in Tintern, Monmouthshire, but now we come to the Old Station itself.
This is an easily overlooked attraction, but (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Gwent, History, Traditions & Superstitions, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged art, crafts, Gwent, History, Monmouthshire, Wales on November 16, 2011| 6 Comments »
The Circle of Legends in Tintern, Monmouthshire
Back in the summer I was totally smitten by this circle of six ancient wood-carved figures in a forest clearing in Tintern, Monmouthshire.
The figures themselves, sculpted from oak (or in one case sweet chestnut), are not ancient, but the people they represent are historical and mythical characters at the heart of this part of the country.
They were (more…)
Posted in Archaeology, Gwent, History, Trees, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged archaeology, geology, Gwent, History, Monmouthshire, Trees on January 8, 2011| 4 Comments »
Tintern Abbey, December 31, 2010
On the same dark mid-winter day that we visited Usk and Monmouth, we also went to Tintern Abbey in the lovely Wye Valley.
We are members of Cadw and get in “free”, so we always visit when we are in the area. (more…)
The Squirrelbasket 