CHEPSTOW, a town of England, in Monmouthshire, situated near the mouth of the river Wye, partly in a deep hollow, but chiefly on the steep side of a hill. The houses are tolerably built, and the streets, though irre gular, are broad and well paved.
Chepstow was formerly surrounded with walls, and was defended by a strong castle, which seems to have been built in the time of the conquest by William Osborn, Earl of Hereford. The remains of this dous pile occupy a large tract of ground, and extend along the brow of a perpendicular cliff, of which its walls in many places appear to form a part. The river Wye runs at the bottom of this cliff, and flowing through some of defends it on one side, while on the land side it is protected by an immense moat, and by the lofty bastion towers by which its walls are flanked. The grand entrance on the east, which is by a circular arch between two round towers, is a fine specimen of the ly Norman architecture. This entrance leads into the first court, containing the grand hall, kitchen, and other apartments. The second court, which is now used as a garden, is entered from the first by a gate at the side of a round tower ; and in the third court, which is ed from the second, is situated the roofless chapel, with pointed arched windows, and tiers of semicircular arches along the wall. A winding staircase at the south ern extremity of the third court conducts to the ments, and the entrance to the fourth court is by a sally port in the wall. The most interesting part of this tle is the grand tower at the south eastern angle of the first court, in which Henry Martin, one of the murderers of Charles I., was confined for thirty years. Tills tower has generally been represented as a dark and miserable dungeon ; but Mr Coxe's description completely dicts this opinion. " The first story of this tower, (says he,*) contains an apartment which was occupied by self and his wife ; above were lodgings for his domestics.
The chamber in which he usually lived is not less than thirty-six feet in length, and twenty-three in breadth, and of proportionate height. It was provided with two fire places, and three windows, two of which appear to be the original apertures, and the third was probably en larged for his convenience." The present parish church of Chepstow consists chief ly of the remains of the old priory for Benedictine monks. Within the church, the circular arches of the nave still exist, and the remains of the ancient choir and cross aisle may be traced by the foundations on the outside. The former entrance was by a beautiful semicircular arched doorway, decorated with fine mouldings. A smaller arch, ornamented in the same way, is on each side of the doorway.
The bridge over the Wye, half of which is in Glou cestershire, has a level floor, and was formerly support ed by timber piers about forty feet high. It underwent,
however, a thorough repair in 1791. The wooden piers still remain in the Gloucester side, but on the other side they have been replaced by stone piers. The massive central pier which separates the two counties is of stone. The wooden piers present a very narrow surface to the stream.
There is an ebbing and flowing well in a garden in Bridge-street, remarkable for the excellence of its wa ter. It is about 14 feet deep, and frequently contains 14 feet of water. A little before high tide, the water begins to subside ; at high tide it becomes perfectly dry, and soon after the ebb the water returns. The flow of the well is in no respects affected by wet and dry weather.
As the channel of the river Wye is very narrow in proportion to that of the Severn, and is confined by perpendicular rocks, the tide flows up to the town with great velocity, and sometimes rises to the height of fifty six feet. Mr Coxe found, that at high water the depth of the river was forty-seven feet three inches, the distance from the surface of the water to the floor of the bridge six feet. As the tide once rose to a notch in the rail two feet ten inches above the floor of the bridge, it follows that the highest tide was fifty-six feet one inch.
Chepstow is the port for all the towns on the rivers Wye and Lug, and vessels of 600 tons burden are built for the Baltic trade. The inhabitants, who are full of activity and enterprise, carry on a considerable trade in the corn and provisions which arc produced in the sur rounding country. The merchants import their own wines from Oporto, and from Norway and .Russia they receive deals, hemp, flax, pitch, and tar, with which they supply llerefordsliirc, and the eastern part of Monmouth shire. Great quantities of timber are sent from Chep stow to Portsmouth, Plymouth, Deptford, and Wool wich; grain is exported for the Bristol market ; and oak bark, cider, coals, grindstones, millstones, and iron, to several parts of Ireland, Liverpool, and other places. Convenient quays arc erected on the banks of the Wye for the numerous vessels by which it is frequented.
About two miles to the west of C0cpstow is the cele brated mansion of Piercefield, remarkable for its beauti ful and picturesque scenery. The following Table con tains the statistical information in the population returns in 1811, for the parish of Chepstow.
Number of inhabited houses, 921 Number of families, 151 Houses building, 9 Houses uninhabited, 8 Families employed in agriculture, 3 Families employed in trade, manufactures, and handicraft, 180 Families not comprehended in any of these classes, 268 Number of males, 1,158 Number of females, 1,423 Total population, 2,531 Sec Evan's and Britton's Beauties of England and !Vales, vol. xi. p. 175 ; and Coxe's Historical four in Monmouthshire. (91-) Ci EQU E. Sec CHEe