Photo-St Briavels
The village of St Briavels in Gloucestershire lies on the east bank of the river Wye, 11 Km (6 1/2) miles upstream from Chepstow in Monmouthshire. The name St Briavels is thought to derive from the Celtic saint-Brieuc. It is a small rural village with two public houses, a garage and two small stores, one which is the local Post Office. Adjacent to St Briavels castle is St Mary's Parish Church, built in 1089 from local sandstone. Each Whit Sunday after the evening service, St Briavels parishioners wait outside to receive the 'dole', small pieces of bread and cheese which are thrown into the air from large baskets and are caught by the waiting crowds. In past times each person who claimed the 'dole' had to pay a penny which then entitled him to cut and take wood from the Hudnalls or the Free Woods. The event is said to date from the time of Milo, Earl of Hereford, in the twelfth century but was first recorded in 1779.
St Briavels Castle
In the historic village of St Briavels, lies St Briavels Castle, once a Norman fortress and a Royal Castle, prison Manor Court and the Administrative and Judicial Centre for the Forest of Dean. Later it became a school, private house and today a Youth Hostel. It was the official residence of the forest's constables and wardens. It was built in 1100 ad of local red sandstone. The castle stands high on a circular, artificial mound, almost on the summit of a hill 800ft (280 m) above the river Wye. It was not a large fortress, but its position was strategically more important because of its rising ground from the south and the undulating ground to the north and northeast. The position chosen made it untenable against any warring factions in that era. It has tremendous views to the west and northwest over the Welsh mountains and Herefordshire and to the north and northeast to the Forest of Dean. On a clear day you can see the river Severn and beyond.
Milo fitz-Walter
St Briavels Castle was built by Milo fitz-Walter in 1131 in Little Lydney, as it was known until the year 1166; it was built to check the inroads of the welsh. Milo became the first constable of St Briavels and held office as Keeper of the Forest, in which he guarded the King's rights and collected the taxes in the Forest of Dean. Milo was killed in 1143 by a stray arrow whilst out hunting in the Vale of Castiard (Flaxley Valley)
Henry II and King John
Henry II made St Briavels Castle the Administrative Centre of the Forest of Dean and is recorded as having visited the castle on three occasions Under the rule of King John, the castle became his favourite Royal castle and hunting lodge and between 1209 and 1211 considerable money was spent on building the Great Hall and Solar, the main function of the hall being a courthouse for forest and civil offenders. King John visited the castle on at least five occasions.
Arrowheads and Crossbolts (Quarrels)
The castle served as an arms factory, or munitions base, storing and producing huge quantities of Arrowheads and crossbolts (Quarrels), which were forged in the castle from iron mined out of the forest. It's recorded that over a 50 year period in the 13th century, half a million Quarrels were made, all by one man, John de Malemont, at a daily rate of 4d. In 1172, Henry II received 100 axes, 1,000 picks, 2,000 shovels and 60,000 nails for his Irish campaign and in 1190, 50,000 horseshoes and spare fastenings were sent with Richard I on his crusade to the Holy Land. Henry III used 6,000 arrowheads in the year 1223. Quarrels were produced for either 'one foot' or 'two foot' bows, with the shaft of seasoned yew or ash and the flights of feathers or leather strips.
Interesting Facts about St Briavels Castle
- In 1276, during the reign of Edward I (1272-1307), the towers on either side of the gateway were added.
- It is said that a long pole hung outside the courtroom on which nine men could be hung at the same time.
- One form of execution that took place was 'oubliette', which means to forget, the prisoner was thrown down a 24ft shaft, the trap door was closed and death was from starvation, if the fall itself wasn't enough.
- The courtroom still remains and graffiti on one of the walls of the gatehouse, which was a prison, says: Robin Belcher. The day will come that thou shalt answer for it for thou hast sworn against me, 1761.
- The 'Keep' collapsed in 1752 and only fragments of it remain (it was about 900ft high), but the chapel, rebuilt in the 14th century still stands against a building with a 13th century doorway.
- A 'Moat Society' was formed to clear the moat and because of the enormity of the task, it was decided to fill it in. The only reminder of it is the small pond on the north side, set in the well kept gardens.
- The castle apparently has its ghosts also. A white lady and a man in armour are said to walk around the buildings.
- A 20ft deep hole under the watch- tower was found to be full of bones, but they were the bones of sheep and cattle. Since the hole was emptied, people say that they have seen a reflection of lights from down in the hole showing through the watch-tower windows.
What Kelly's Directory 1931 says about St Briavels
SAINT BRIAVELS is a parish, bounded on the west by the river Wye, which here divides the county from Monmouthshire, and on the road from Coleford to Chepstow, 4 miles west-by-south from Park End station' on the Great Western and London, Midland and Scottish joint railway, and 2 east of Saint Briavels and Llandogo station on the Chepstow and Monmouth section of the Great Western railway, 8 south by east of Monmouth, 8 north from Chepstow and 5 south from Coleford, in the Forest of Dean Division of the County, hundred of Saint Briavels, petty sessional division of Coleford, rural district of Lydney, county court district of Chepstow, rural deanery of South Forest and archdeaconary and diocese of Gloucestershire; the parish of Saint Briavels is included in the Forest of Dean.
The Church of ST MARY is a cruciform building of stone in the Norman, Early English and later styles, consisting of chancel, transept, nave of 5 bays, with a clerestory on the south side, aisles and an embattled tower, with pinnacles containing 8 bells and a clock; in the south transept are some remains of a monument, with recumbent effigies, to William Warren, 1573 and Mariana (Catchmay), his wife; the tower, which originally stood at the intersection of the nave and transepts, was rebuilt in 1830 on the south side; the church was restored in 1861 at a cost of 2,000 and again in 1882 at a cost of 1,000; a beautiful two manual organ was erected in 1922 at a cost of over 1,500; there are sittings for 400 persons. The register dates from the year 1660.
The living is a vicarage, net yearly value 360, with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford, and held since 1915 by the Rev. John Hayes, of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury.
The old custom of distributing small pieces of bread and cheese among the congregation after the evening service on Whit Monday emphasises the privileges enjoyed by the parishioners in retaining the freedom of pasture and cutting of timber in Hudnalls Wood (a corruption of Hodenhales Wood).
The custom dates back to the year 1206, the wood lies between Bigsweir, Brockweir and Windward Hill, and covers 1200 acres.
There is an iron mission church at Mork. There are two Congregational Chapels and a Wesleyan Chapel. The Charities are of 16 yearly value, derived from charges on land and money in the Funds, principally distributed in money; there are 6 almshouses, endowed by the late Charles Lord-denton esq. The Reading Room and Library founded in 1854 by the late Charles Lord-denton esq. contains a library of about 2,000 volumes and a recreation and billiard room.
ST BRIAVELS CASTLE, originally built for the purpose of keeping back the incursions of the Welsh, has been restored and is now the residence of the Hon. Mrs campbell; the keep, built in the reign of Henry I, fell from age in 1752; the existing buildings, dating from 1276, include the entrance towers which are still entire, as well as the kitchen and the chapel or oratory, erected in 1300.
The Crown is Lord of the Manor. The principal landowner's are Surgn.-Capt. Octavious William Andrews C.B.E.; RN and Richard John Pryce-Jenkyn Esq. JP. The soil is light and loamy; subsoil-limestone and sandstone. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and beans.
This area, including Hudnalls, is 4,777 acres of land and inland water, 11 of tidal water and 2 of foreshore.; the population in 1921 was 1,210 in the civil and 690 in the ecclesiastical parish. Sexton, William Williams.
Brockweir, a hamlet on the banks of the Wye, is partly in the parish and also in Hewlsfield and Woolaston.
Bearse Common, Forest Fence and the Fence, Hudnalls with St Briavels Common, Mocking Hazel Wood and the Castle, all in the civil parish, are reputed to be extra-parochial for ecclesiastical purposes. (From Kelly's Directory 1931)
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