Mounton

Summary

Mounton is a hamlet in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom, located two miles west of Chepstow in a rural setting.

Mounton
St Andoenus's Church, Mounton
Mounton is located in Monmouthshire
Mounton
Mounton
Location within Monmouthshire
OS grid referenceST513930
Principal area
Preserved county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCHEPSTOW
Postcode districtNP16
Dialling code01291
PoliceGwent
FireSouth Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Monmouthshire
51°38′10″N 2°42′13″W / 51.6361°N 2.7036°W / 51.6361; -2.7036

The parish was originally part of the holdings of Chepstow Priory, with the name Monktown. It has a tiny parish church dedicated to Saint Andoenus, which was almost wholly rebuilt in 1880 and which lies in the Parish of Mathern and Mounton with St Pierre.[1] One of the gravestones, to a Christopher Cooper, is dated 8 April 1680.[2]

Until the late 19th century the village had three water mills, producing paper, carpets and cloth.[3] These were called Lady Mill, Lark Mill and Linnet Mill. The last owner, John Birt, closed the mills down in 1876 after being accused of polluting Mounton Brook.[4] According to Fred Hando one of the mills produced the paper used for Bank of England notes,[5] but a monograph by the local historian Ivor Waters states that they "rarely made anything but brown and blue packing paper", using old rags, rope and straw as raw materials.[4]

Mounton House, now a special school for boys, was built as a country house in the Arts and Crafts style in 1914 by Henry Avray Tipping, a leading garden designer and writer, assisted by the local architect Eric Francis.

Robin Williams, coach to Great Britain's 2012 Olympic women's pairs rowing champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, is from Mounton. He learnt to row at Monmouth School and went on to win world silver and bronze medals and coached Cambridge to seven Boat Race wins. His GB pair won world gold in a new world record at the world championships in Amsterdam in August 2014.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ "St Andoenus, Mounton" at churchinwales.org.uk Archived 23 December 2012 at archive.today
  2. ^ "MOUNTON, ST ANDOENUS" at churchinwales.org.uk Archived 23 December 2012 at archive.today
  3. ^ Sir Joseph Bradney, A History of Monmouthshire: The Hundred of Caldicot, 1933
  4. ^ a b Ivor Waters, Mounton Valley Paper Mills, Chepstow Society, 1978
  5. ^ Hando, F. J., (1944) "The Pleasant Land of Gwent" – Chapter Eleven, Mathern, Moynes Court and Mounton, R. H. Johns, Newport.
  6. ^ "GB Rowing Team Announce Squad for World Championships". British Rowing. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2022.

External links edit

  • Kelly's 1901 Directory of Monmouthshire on Mounton
  • Mounton House School
  • "Church of St Andoenus, Mounton, Monmouthshire" at stainedglass.llgc.org.uk