RAGLAND, Monmouthshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

The National Gazetteer (1868)] "RAGLAND, a parish and small town in the lower division of the hundred of Ragland, county Monmouth, 7 miles S.W. of Monmouth. It has a station at Ragland Road, about a mile from the village on the Monmouthshire branch of West Midland railway. The town is situated midway on the road from Monmouth to Abergavenny. It is celebrated for the ruins of its moated castle, which stands on a gentle eminence partially hidden from view by a grove of ancient trees. It is said to have been mostly built by one of the Lords Herbert on the old castle erected in the reign of Richard II.

It was gallantly defended by the renowned Marquis of Worcester against General Fairfax, after the entire reduction of Wales, and until the imprisonment of Charles I. at Holmby, when at last the marquis surrendered it to the parliamentarians after a siege of 10 weeks. The ruins of the castle cover a large space of ground in which is the Yellow Tower, 10 feet in thickness and 193 in circumference, also a large gateway with machicolated hexagonal towers, a hall with an oriel window, extensive stone court, a chapel and Charles I.'s tower. There are also a terrace 260 feet in length, and an oak tree, measuring 285 feet in circumference. A fine prospect is obtained from the tower.

The Monmouthshire hounds meet in the neighbourhood. There are quarries of building stone. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £301, and the glebe consists of 25 acres. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Llandaff, value £270. The church, dedicated to St. Cadocus, is a stone structure with a square embattled tower. It stands about the centre of the village, and contains several monuments to the earls of Worcester and the Somerset family. The parochial charities produce about £6 per annum, exclusive of a share with Eton Bishop. The Baptists have a place of worship. This place confers the inferior title of baron on the Duke of Beaufort."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

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