Llangwm Uchaf & Llangwm Ishaf

(A description written in 1891)

Otherwise called UPPER and LOWER LLANGWM, these are jointly one Parish, near the road from Usk to Chepstow and about 2 miles south of the road from Usk to Monmouth, 4 miles east from Usk station on the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool railway, 9 north-west from Chepstow and 15 north-east from Newport; in the Southern division of the county, Hundred and Petty Sessional division of Usk, Chepstow Union, Usk County Court district; western division of the rural deanery of West Usk, archdeaconry of Monmouth and diocese of Llandaff.

The old church of St. Jerome, Llangwm Ucha, erected in the 12th Century, is a building in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave and south porch, and a large square tower on the north side of the chancel containing 3 bells: it was thoroughly restored in 1870, from the designs by J P Seddon Esq. of Westminster, and Ewan Christian Esq. of Whitehall, at a cost of about £1,500, including the rood-screen, considered one of the finest in this part of the kingdom: there are 150 sittings. The register dates from the year 1663.

The parish church of St. John, Llangwm Isha, is an edifice in the Early English style, consisting of chancel and nave and a central turret containing one bell: it was rebuilt in 1850, and services are held in it alternately with the church at Llangwm Ucha: there are 70 sittings, all free. The living is a joint vicarage, tithe rent-charge £187, net yearly value £255, with 23 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of the Diocese, and held since 1890 by the Rev. John Jones M.A. of Jesus College, Oxford, who is also chaplain of the almshouses at Llangeview. Parish Clerk: Joseph Benjamin Jones.

Here is a Baptist Chapel.

Post Office: Thomas Williams, receiver. Letters arrive from Usk, which is also the nearest money order & telegraph office, at 8 a.m; dispatched at 5 p.m.

Schools:

Church of England School, opened in 1871, for 60 children; average attendance, 40; Miss Llewelyn, mistress.

Trevella, now occupied as a farm house, was a mansion of some antiquity, and still presents several indications of its former condition.

The Duke of Beaufort K.G. who is lord of the manor, the trustees of the late James Proctor Carruthers Esq. of The Groudra, near Chepstow, George Lawrence Esq., and Mrs Tudor, of Wyesham, near Monmouth, are the chief landowners. The soil is clayey; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat. The area of the parish of Llangwm Ucha is 2,441 acres; rateable value, £1,728; the area of the parish of Llangwm Isha is 620 acres; rateable value, £547;

The population in 1891 was 263.

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