A Brief History of Abergavenny
By Alan Breeze
The first certain knowledge of a settlement at Abergavenny relates to the Roman period, when a small auxilliary fort was established here as one of a network covering South Wales. The forts were intended to check the war like activities of the Silures, who had fought tenaciously against the Romans.The fort was called Gobbanium, a word which Gwyn Jones sees, in his pamphlet Roman Abergavenny, as almost certainly derived from gobann, a native word meaning `ironsmith`; however it is also possible to consider Gobannium as a latinised form of Gavenny, the local river name. In the course of time the Normans, under Hamelyn de Baludun (otherwise known as de Ballon), built a castle here, around which a walled town grew up. Hamelyn also founded the Benedictine priory, which was to become, in post-Reformation times and after much rebuilding, the beautiful parish church of St Mary.
Abergavenny gave it`s name, in medieval times, to a marcher lordship which was possessed in turn by some of the most powerful barons in the land - de Braose, Cantelupe, Hastings, Herbert, Grey, Beauchamp and Nevill. Williams de Braose bears a particularly evil reputation in Welsh history. He it was who in the year 1177, is reputed to have invited the local Welsh chieftains and their supporters to a Christmas feast at Abergavenny Castle but not one of the guests survived to see the New Year, for the dastardly William had them all slain. This did not end the opposition to Norman rule, however, and the castle was attacked by the Welsh some time about the year 1200 and was partly destroyed. The town itself suffered a like fate in the year 1404, when Owain Glyndwr swept down from the north and laid it in ruins.
The Glyndwr episode was the last time the town was to hear the clash of arms and it seems to have recovered during the sixteenth century, for in 1538 Leland, the Tudor antiquary, was able to call it `a fair walled town, prosperous and well-inhabited`, an opinion which was echoed in 1602 by George Owen, who described it as `a fair town , wealthy and thriving, and the very best in the shire.` It was probably the success of the market, the earliest record of which is dated 1257, which accounted for the wealth of Abergavenny.
In 1542 Henry VIII gave the town it`s royal charter, granting the tithes of certain parishes formerly belonging to various dissolved monastic institutions for the purpose of endowing King Henry VIII Grammar School. A further charter was granted by Charles I in 1638, allowing administration of borough affairs to be vested in a bailiff, recorder and ten capital burgesses. The powers included control of markets, fairs and the woollen trade. A third charter , under which the office of mayor was created , was granted in 1657 by Oliver Cromwell. The charters were subsequently lost, it is said, because the bailiff and recorder refused to take an oath of allegiance to William and Mary. Some of the tithes granted in 1542 were, as a result of Act of Parliament in 1760, vested in Jesus College, Oxford, control of the remainder being given to a body of trustees which was required to maintain the school, releive the poor and build a workhouse.
A study of extant records shows how, from 1794 to 1894, the Abergavenny Improvement Commissioners (`all freeholders of property of a clear annual value of £20`) controlled the affairs of the town. It is to them that we owe so much that we take for granted today. The old market hall built in 1602 was rebuilt, streets were paved for the first time and a police force was provided. The commissioners constructed an entirely new water supply system from a reservoir already in use in Pen-y-pound, using firstly pipes made of elm, but replacing them with iron pipes in 1813. A gas works was built as a private concern in 1823 by one Thomas Davies and the commissioners contracted him to light the town streets with gas (instead of the oil lamps used since 1796). The gas works were purchased by the town in 1863 and in the same year the present cattle market was opened. In 1860 a new reservoir was constructed at Llwyndu and in 1866 an efficient sewage disposal system was introduced. The present town and market halls were built in 1870 on the site of the old market, while public conveniences were provided for the first time in 1871, the same year in which premises were acquired for `the members of the labouring classes to be housed.` In 1884 Crawshay Bailey leased Bailey park (he never actually owned it) and laid it out as a park for the benefit and pleasure of the townsfolk. Ten years later the commissioners bought the freehold, receiving substantial donations towards this end from, among others, Crawshay Bailey`s duaghters.
In 1894 the commissioners handed over their functions to the Abergavenny Urban District Council, then newly created. This was followed on 2 August 1899 by a new royal alderman and twelve councillors, from whom a mayor was to be elected annually. Further civic dignity was achieved on 27 March 1901 when the College of Heralds granted a coat of arms to the town. The local government reorganisation of 1974 meant that most of the functions of the old borough council were taken over by Monmouth District Council.
Today, local issues are decided by Abergavenny Town Council and the regional seat of government at Monmouthshire County Council situated in County Hall, Cwmbran.
(Mayor of Abergavenny 1980-1 & 2002-3)
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