Llanrothal is a small village and historical parish in
Herefordshire
Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...
, England in the
Monnow Valley, on the border with
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...
, Wales. The River Monnow flows near here along the border.
The village is located by road northwest of
Monmouth
Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...
.
It contains a 12th-century church,
St John the Baptist's which stands in a remote position close to the
England–Wales border
The England–Wales border, sometimes referred to as the Wales–England border or the Anglo-Welsh border, runs for from the Dee estuary, in the north, to the Severn estuary in the south, separating England and Wales.
It has followed broadly ...
overlooking the river.
Llanrothal Court, in the village, is an early 14th-century
hall house
The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...
,
with cross-wings added in the 15th or 16th century and further additions from the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries.
It is a Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
Another historically important building in the village is
The Cwm.
Originally a
shooting box
In the United Kingdom, the term hunting generally refers to hunting with hounds, e.g. normally fox hunting, stag (deer) hunting, beagling, or minkhunting, whereas shooting is the shooting of game birds. What is called deer hunting elsewhere is de ...
, and subsequently a farmhouse, it is also Grade II listed, together with the terrace in front of the house, and the retaining wall to the side, which contains rare
bee bole
A bee bole is a cavity or alcove in a wall (the Scots language, Scots word ''bole'' means a recess in a wall) for beekeeping.
A Beehive (beekeeping)#Skeps, skep is placed in the bee bole. Before the development of modern bee hives (such as the d ...
s.
The present building, dating from about the 1830s, is on the site and incorporates part of a demolished 17th-century house that was a
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
and college.
The name Llanrothal may possibly derive from the
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, of or about Wales
* Welsh language, spoken in Wales
* Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales
Places
* Welsh, Arkansas, U.S.
* Welsh, Louisiana, U.S.
* Welsh, Ohio, U.S.
* Welsh Basin, during t ...
"Ridol's church", perhaps after Saint Ruald/Roald or the personal name Hrodwald.
History
During the 17th century
religious persecution
Religious persecution is the systematic oppression of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within socie ...
of the
Catholic Church in Wales
The Catholic Church in England and Wales (; ) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th century, when Pope Gregory I through a Roman missionary and Benedictine monk, Augustine, ...
, Llanrothal was a secret stronghold of outlawed Jesuits and
Recusant
Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...
Welsh gentry such as
Henry Milbourne, who resided in the village and whose family worshipped at The Cwm in the 17th century.
In the early 17th-century the house became the headquarters of the Jesuit mission in South Wales and remained an important Catholic centre until its discovery and sacking by the
Bishop of Hereford
The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...
in 1678,
in the anti-Catholic backlash following the
Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinat ...
.
, or William the Younger, also lived at Llanrothal,
although he is also associated with
Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to:
*Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River
** Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the ...
, in
Caernarfonshire
Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales.
Geography
The county ...
.
Throughout its history, the village has been associated with nearby
Welsh Newton
Welsh Newton is a small village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. It is located close to the border with Wales to which the parish extends towards Monmouthshire. It should not be confused with Newton, a township-chapelry ...
,
and today they together form the Welsh Newton Llanrothal Group Parish Council.
References
Sources
*
External links
"Llanrothal" at genuki.org
{{authority control
Villages in Herefordshire