Oldcastle
(A description written in 1891)
A Parish on the rivers Honddu and Monnow, at the northern extremity of Monmouthshire and westward of the road from Hereford to Abergavenny, 7 miles north of Abergavenny, one mile and a half north-west from Pandy station on the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford branch of the Great Western railway and 17 miles south-west from Hereford; in the Northern division of the county, Hundred, Petty Sessional division, Union and County Court district of Abergavenny; north-western division of Abergavenny rural deanery, Monmouth archdeaconry and Llandaff diocese.
A portion of the Black Mountains is within the parish and the Hatterall Hills are in the neighbourhood.
The church of St. John the Baptist is a building of stone in the Gothic style, rebuilt in 1864 on the site of the ancient church, and consists of chancel, nave, north porch and a turret containing 2 bells: there are 100 sittings. The register of Baptisms and Burials dates from the year 1784; Marriages, 1783; the older registers have been destroyed. The living is a rectory, tithe rent-charge £48, gross yearly value £80, in the gift of William Barneby Esq. and held since 1887 by the Rev. Plaskitt Charles Lewis, of Queen's College, Birmingham, who is also the vicar of Walterstone, Herefordshire, and resides at the Vicarage, Cwmyoy. Parish Clerk: William Pritchard.
Post: Letters through Abergavenny, arrive at 9.30 a,m, Letters collected by postman about 4 p.m. The nearest money order office is at Pandy & telegraph at Llanvihangel Crucorney.
There are some Roman remains here and supposed entrenchments near the church.
This place is the celebrated residence of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, a zealous adherent of Wycliffe, after his escape from the Tower in the time of Henry the Fifth: he was attainted of heresy and burnt in St. Giles' Fields, 25th December, 1417.
William Barneby Esq. is lord of the manor and sole landowner. The soil is loamy; subsoil, loam. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and two-thirds pasture land. The are is 925 acres of land and 9 of water; rateable value, £410.
The population in 1881 was 53.
(extracts from Kelly's 1891 Directory of Monmouthshire, transcribed by J. Doe)
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