Top Historic Sights in Chepstow, United Kingdom

Explore the historic highlights of Chepstow

Tintern Abbey

Tintern Abbey was founded in 1131 by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow. was the first Cistercian foundation in Wales, and only the second in Britain. The present-day remains of Tintern are a mixture of building works covering a 400-year period between 1131 and 1536. Very little of the first buildings still survives today; a few sections of walling are incorporated into later buildings and the two recessed cupboards for b ...
Founded: 1131 | Location: Chepstow, United Kingdom

Chepstow Castle

Chepstow Castle is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain. Located above cliffs on the River Wye, construction began in 1067 under the instruction of the Norman Lord William FitzOsbern. Originally known as Striguil, it was the southernmost of a chain of castles built in the Welsh Marches, and with its attached lordship took the name of the adjoining market town in about the 14th century. I ...
Founded: 1067 | Location: Chepstow, United Kingdom

Chepstow Port Wall

The Port Wall in Chepstow is a late thirteenth century stone wall, which was constructed for the twin purposes of defence and tax collection by permitting users of the town"s market only one point of access through the wall at the Town Gate. The wall originally formed a semi-circle extending for some 1,100 metres, roughly southwards from Chepstow Castle to the River Wye. It enclosed an area of 53 hectares, including ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Chepstow, United Kingdom

Priory Church of St Mary

The Parish and Priory Church of St. Mary was founded around 1072 as a Benedictine priory by William FitzOsbern and his son Roger de Breteuil. By the early 12th century, the monastic establishment had the status of an alien priory in its own right, though it probably never held more than about 12 monks. It superseded an earlier Augustinian priory located about 2 km away. As Chepstow developed as a market town and port aro ...
Founded: 1072 | Location: Chepstow, United Kingdom

St Tewdric's Church

 A church has been located on the site of current St Tewdric"s Church since the 6th century. Following the Norman conquest of Wales, the Celtic foundation was rebuilt in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in the Early English style. The chancel and nave arcades of the existing church date from those periods, though the west pier of the north arcade dates from the previous century. It was later grandiosely enlarge ...
Founded: 12th century | Location: Chepstow, United Kingdom

Mathern Palace

Mathern Palace is a Grade I listed building in the village of Mathern, located south-west of Chepstow close to the Severn Estuary. Between about 1408 and 1705 it was the main residence of the Bishops of Llandaff. After falling into ruin, it was restored and its gardens laid out between 1894 and 1899 by the architectural writer Henry Avray Tipping. In recent years it has been in private hands and used as a guest house. Th ...
Founded: 1408 | Location: Chepstow, United Kingdom

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Monte d'Accoddi

Monte d"Accoddi is a Neolithic archaeological site in northern Sardinia, located in the territory of Sassari. The site consists of a massive raised stone platform thought to have been an altar. It was constructed by the Ozieri culture or earlier, with the oldest parts dated to around 4,000–3,650 BC.

The site was discovered in 1954 in a field owned by the Segni family. No chambers or entrances to the mound have been found, leading to the presumption it was an altar, a temple or a step pyramid. It may have also served an observational function, as its square plan is coordinated with the cardinal points of the compass.

The initial Ozieri structure was abandoned or destroyed around 3000 BC, with traces of fire found in the archeological evidence. Around 2800 BC the remains of the original structure were completely covered with a layered mixture of earth and stone, and large blocks of limestone were then applied to establish a second platform, truncated by a step pyramid (36 m × 29 m, about 10 m in height), accessible by means of a second ramp, 42 m long, built over the older one. This second temple resembles contemporary Mesopotamian ziggurats, and is attributed to the Abealzu-Filigosa culture.

Archeological excavations from the chalcolithic Abealzu-Filigosa layers indicate the Monte d"Accoddi was used for animal sacrifice, with the remains of sheep, cattle, and swine recovered in near equal proportions. It is among the earliest known sacrificial sites in Western Europe.

The site appears to have been abandoned again around 1800 BC, at the onset of the Nuragic age.

The monument was partially reconstructed during the 1980s. It is open to the public and accessible by the old route of SS131 highway, near the hamlet of Ottava. It is 14,9 km from Sassari and 45 km from Alghero. There is no public transportation to the site. The opening times vary throughout the year.