Caldicot including Dewstow & Highmoor Hill

(A description written in 1891)

A Parish on the shores of the Bristol Channel, and watered by the Nedern brook, 6 miles south-west from Chepstow, 1.1/2 miles north-east from Severn Tunnel station on the South Wales section of the Great Western railway; in the Southern division of the county, lower division of the Hundred of Caldicot; Petty Sessional division, Union and County Court district of Chepstow; middle division of the rural deanery of Netherwent, archdeaconry of Monmouth and diocese of Llandaff.

The church of St Mary is an ancient building of limestone, with freestone dressings, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, but with some traces of earlier work, and consists of chancel, nave, north aisle and an embattled tower, placed between the nave and the chancel, containing a clock and 8 bells, one of which is of pre-Reformation date: the porch has a staircase leading to what may have been a parvise: there is a figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, some-what defaced, and at the side of the porch door a rudely-cut consecration cross, and in the wall is a very curious half-length recumbent figure: there are also two old incised slabs in the nave: the restoration of the church was completed in August 1851: there are 450 sittings: there is a good modern lych-gate at the entrance to the churchyard. The register of Burials dates from the year 1716; Marriages, 1709. The living is a vicarage, £190 yearly tithe rent-charge, gross yearly income £240, with 39.3/4 acres of glebe, in the gift of Keble College, Oxford, and held since 1885 by the Rev. Edward Vernon Collins M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford. Parish Clerk: John Hicks

There is a Mission chapel, with belfry and one bell, in connection with the parish church at Highmoor Hill, erected in 1876.

At Dewstow, about a mile from the village, there is said to have been an ancient Chapel, dedicated to St David, but of this there are no remains.

There are chapels for Wesleyan Methodist and Bible Christians.

Herbert and Kemeys charities producing £55 yearly, are distributed in money to the second poor.

Post, M.O. & T.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Moses John Squibbs, receiver. Letters from Chepstow arrive at 8 a.m. & 12.50 p.m; dispatched at 4 & 6.10 p.m; & on Sundays at 9.30 a.m. Wall Letter Box at Deepweir, cleared at 4.10 & 6.30 p.m.

Schools:

National School (mixed), enlarged in 11882 & 1887, for 300 children; average attendance, 220; Alfred John Smith, master

County Police Station:

Arthur Wilcox, constable in charge.

The Caldicot Tin Plate Works, situated close to the South Wales railway, which runs through the parish, afford employment to a great number of hands.

Caldicot Castle is a magnificent stronghold, formerly belonging to the De Bohuns, Earls of Hereford and hereditary High Constables of England: the general design is oblong, having a round keep on its own moated mound at the north-west corner, and horseshoe towers at the south-west and south-east angles, and a grand gatehouse in the centre of the south face. … in 1521 the property vested in King Henry VIII , who made it parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster, by whom it was sold in 1857, and is now owned by Mr. J R Cobb, who has roofed the gatehouse and resides there: Mr Cobb allows inspection to persons interested in architectural antiquities on sending cards.

Charles Edward Lewis Esq. J.P., D.L. of St Pierre, is lord of the manor and principal landowner: Joseph Richard Cobb Esq. of Caldicot Castle, and others are also landowners. The soil is light and sandy; subsoil, clay, gravelly and limestone. The chief crops are wheat and barley. The area is 1,875 acres of land and 1,220 of water; rateable value, £9,595.

The population in 1881 was 1,401

(extracts from Kelly's 1891 Directory of Monmouthshire, transcribed by J. Doe)

 

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