HISTORIC MONMOUTHSHIRE TOUR

GROUPS ONLY (minimum 8 persons)

First stop is at Wales’ youngest city Newport to Tredegar House, set amidst 90 acres of award-winning parkland and one of the finest late 17th century mansions in the UK. The earliest surviving part of the building dates back to the early 1500’s. Guided tour of the spectacular grand staterooms combined with the history of the Morgan family and the notorious pirate, Sir Henry Morgan.  Nearby, Newport Transporter Bridge, built to cross one of the greatest tidal variations in the worldwide. Designed by an eminent French bridge engineer  in 1906 and still in working order.

Raglan Castle, one of the last stone built castles in Britain, not only a strategic location but also provided the occupants with fine views of the surrounding countryside and the hills beyond.   This castle may look less sturdy and imposing than some of Wales' earlier, more robust fortresses but it must have been strong enough, for it withstood the longest siege of the Civil War from June to August 1646.  Despite centuries of depredation, it remains one of the finest late medieval buildings in the British Isles. 

A town steeped in history, Isca Silurum, established as a permanent garrison for the Second Augustian Legion 5,600 strong, now the town is named  Caerleon, 'Fort of the Legions'.  Explore the  amphitheatre built in 90AD, Europe’s only remaining legionary barrack blocks and the Fortress Baths.  History continues with the arrival of the Normans in the 11th-century, how a duel in the 17th-century founded a charity school, see the Tudor Inn where Idylls of the Kings was written, and why battlement walls were needed in the 19th-century

Images courtesy of © Crown copyright (2008) Visit Wales