After the Conquest, this district was bestowed on William Fitz Osborne, earl of Hereford, who built Monmouth castle, and continued the line of defence against the Welsh frontier along the Wye, while a second line of fortifications along the Usk valley marked the continued advance of the Normans, who by o85 had subjugated almost the whole of Gwent. The lordship of Overwent fell to Hamelin de Baladun, who founded the castle and priory of Abergavenny, and from him passed to Brian Fitz Count and, later to Walter Fitz Miles, earl of Hereford. The lordship of Netherwent remained for many centuries with the Clare family. Penhow castle was a stronghold of the family of St. Maur or Seymour, from whom are descended the present dukes of Somerset, and Grosmont and Skenfrith castles of the family of Braose. Gwent still ranked as Welsh territory at the time of Domesday, but the town of Monmouth, the castle of Caerleon, and the district of Archenfeld, are assessed under Herefordshire, and the three hardwicks of Llanwern, Portskewet and Dinam under Gloucestershire. The Norman lords of the present county held their lands "per baroniam," so that the king's writ did not run in them, and the lives and property of the poorer inhabitants were entirely at the mercy of these lords marchers. The county still exhibits remains of 25 Norman cas tles. The province of Gwent was formerly divided into four cantrefs, each comprising several commotes. Cantref Uwchcoed, or Upper Gwent, comprised the commotes of Erging and Ewyas, now principally in Herefordshire, and the greater part of the present hundreds of Skenfrith, Abergavenny and Usk; Cantref Iscoed, or Lower or Nether Gwent, comprised the present hundred of Raglan and parts of Caldecot and Usk; Cantref Gwentlwg comprised the present hundred of Wentlwg; while the fourth cantref, Cantref Coch, now forms the forest of Dean in Glouces tershire. Leland, (16th century) describes Gwent as comprising the three divisions of low, middle and high "Venteland," and at this period it included 24 lordship marches, each governed by its own ancient laws and customs, and ruled by its own lord. Under the act of 1536 for the abolition of the marches, these 24 lord ships were united to form a shire with Monmouth as the shire town, and the sheriff's court held alternately at Monmouth and Newport. The shire was divided into six hundreds—Abergavenny, Caldecote, Raglan, Skenfrith, Usk and Wentlwg—the bounds being subsequently ratified by act of parliament of 1542-43. No sheriffs were appointed until 1541, and the legal authority of the lords marchers was not finally abolished until 1689. The act of 1536 did not expressly separate the county from Wales, and it was only gradually that Monmouthshire came to be regarded as an English county, being included in the Oxford circuit for the first time in the reign of Charles II.
Ecclesiastically Monmouthshire has been almost entirely in the diocese of Llandaff since its foundation in the 6th century. Monmouth was in the diocese of Hereford, and a few parishes formed part of the diocese of St. Davids until 1836, when the whole county was placed under the bishop of Llandaff. It con tains, wholly or in part, 134 ecclesiastical parishes.
Architecture.—Of Norman fortresses, the more interesting are: Caldicot, the seat of the De Bohuns, with a round keep of the 13th century, gatehouse and other portions, still partly in habited ; Chepstow, one of the finest examples of the Norman fortress extant, in an imposing situation on a cliff above the Wye; Newport, Abergavenny, the gateway and hall of Grosmont, once the residence of the dukes of Lancaster ; and Usk castle, rebuilt by the Clares in the time of Edward IV. Raglan castle, begun in the reign of Henry V., is a very extensive ruin, still in good preservation. Charles I. resided in it after the battle of Naseby, and in 1646 it was delivered up to the parliamentary forces after a stubborn resistance of ten weeks against Col. Morgan and Gen. Fairfax.
At the Reformation Monmouth possessed two hospitals and 15 other religious houses; of these only Llanthony abbey and Tintern abbey (both Cistercian) are important. Llanthony abbey in the Black mts. was founded by William de Lacy in 1103, and the church, dating from about 1200, is one of the earliest exam ples in England of the Pointed style. The ruins consist of por tions of the nave, transept, central tower and choir. Tintern
abbey (q.v.), founded by Walter de Clare in 1131, occupies a position of great beauty on the Wye, and is amongst the finest monastic ruins in England. Churches worthy of mention are Abergavenny, belonging to a Benedictine priory, and containing a number of old tombs; Chepstow, partly Norman, and possess ing a richly moulded doorway; St. Woolos' church, Newport, also Norman; the Norman chapel of St. Thomas, Monmouth, Christchurch, principally Norman ; Mathern, Early English, with a tablet to Tewdrig, king of Gwent in the 6th century; and Usk, formerly attached to a Benedictine priory.
Agriculture.—Along the Severn shore the soil is deep and loamy, and admirably suited for the growth of trees. The most fertile land is that resting on the red sandstone, especially along the banks of the Usk, where wheat of fine quality is raised. In the mountainous regions more attention is paid to the grazing than to the raising of crops. There are a considerable number of dairy farms, but sheep-farming is much more largely followed. Only about seven-tenths of the total area of the county is under cultivation. There is a large extent of hill pasture, and a con siderable acreage under orchards. The river fisheries of Mon mouthshire have been famed from early times, Caerleon with seven fisheries in the Wye and the Usk being mentioned in Domesday.
Mining.—The coal-mines and iron-works which Monmouth shire shares with south Wales are very important. The industry of coal-mining is said to date from the time of Edward I., but the industry lapsed until the construction of the Blaenavon-Newport canal (1792-95). In 174o Monmouthshire contained only two furnaces, making goo tons annually. In 1790 three new furnaces were constructed at Blaenavon, and since then the industry has steadily grown. These, in order from east to west, with the principal townships in each are as follows :—Afon Lwyd (Panteg, Pontypool, Abersychan and Blaenavon) ; Ebbw Fach (Aber tillery, Nantyglo and Blaina), joining the Ebbw (Risca, Ebbw Vale) ; Sirhowy (Bedwellty and Tredegar) ; Rhymney (New Tredegar and Rhymney). Besides coal, considerable quantities of fire-clay and some iron are raised.
The area of the administrative county and associated county borough is acres; pop. The county com prises six hundreds. Municipal boroughs are Abergavenny, Mon mouth, and Newport, a county borough. Monmouthshire is in the Oxford circuit, and assizes are held at Monmouth, and it has one court of quarter sessions. The boroughs of Monmouth and New port have commissions of the peace, but no separate court of quarter sessions. The parliamentary divisions are Abertillery, Bedwellty, Ebbw Vale, Monmouth and Pontypool, each returning one member; and the parliamentary borough of Newport returns one member. By the act of 1536 two knights were to be returned for the shire and one burgess for the borough of Monmouth, but the first returns for the county were made in 1547 and for the borough in 5553.
See Victoria County History, Monmouthshire; W. Coxe, An Histor ical Tour in Monmouthshire, 2 pts. (I8oi) ; N. Rogers, Memoirs on Monmouthshire (1708) ; David Williams, History of Monmouthshire (1796) ; G. Ormerod, Strigulensia. Archaeological Memoirs relating to the district adjacent to the Confluence of the Severn and the Wye; M. E. Bagnall-Oakeley, Account of the Rude Monuments in Mon mouthshire (Newport, 1889) ; J. A. Bradney, A History of Monmouth shire (5904, etc.) ; also the publications of the Caerleon Antiquarian Association.