Town Hall (sepia)

4000 B.C.
Neolithic Man hunting wild boar and deer
57-47 A.D.
Roman fort called Gobannium built
1087 A.D.
Norman Castle built. Town grows up alongside
to support it and be protected by it. The Normans called this
town Burgavenny. Also a Benedictine Monastery was built on the
site currently occupied by St Mary’s church.
1241 A.D.
Town enclosed by large walls and four
large gateways.
1542 A.D.
King Henry VIII grammar school founded
– one of the oldest schools in Britain
1797-1812 A.D.
Monmouthshire and Brecknock canal built
1963 A.D.
The Beatles played at the Borough Theatre in Abergavenny on Saturday June 22, 1963.
1968 A.D.
In 1968, the town was immortalised in the song “Taking a trip down to Abergavenny” by Marty Wilde.
2013 A.D.
Cattle market closes and reopens at Bryngwyn near Raglan

Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire (year: 1901) is an excellent website – it’s a transcript of a Victorian directory for the year 1901. It contains descriptions of the towns and villages within Monmouthshire in 1901, and includes details of private residents (ideal for looking up family history)

View the section relating to Abergavenny…

 

Excerpt from Kelly’s Directory of Monmouthshire…The town is paved, lighted with gas, and abundantly supplied with the purest water on the constant supply system, the water being conveyed through pipes from a spring at the base of the Sugar Loaf mountain, the pressure being sufficient to drive the water to the highest house in the town. The works, gas and water are the property of the town. The Abergavenny ancient parish has been formed into two, the municipal area being known as Abergavenny and the remainder as Abergavenny Rural.The area of Abergavenny parish and borough is 825 acres; rateable value, 34,423; the population in 1891 was 7,743, which includes six officers and 97 inmates in the workhouse.