73-747: The British Arctic Expedition of 1875–1876, led by Sir George Nares , was sent by the British Admiralty to attempt to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound on the west coast of Greenland . Although the expedition failed to reach the North Pole, the coasts of Greenland and Ellesmere Island were extensively explored and large amounts of scientific data were collected. Two ships, HMS Alert and HMS Discovery —captained by Henry Frederick Stephenson —sailed from Portsmouth on 29 May 1875. On this expedition, Nares became
146-826: A Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1876. In 1878 he was appointed in command of Alert , his ship from the Arctic expedition, in which he surveyed the Strait of Magellan . He left the ship on 11 March 1879, and from 1879 to 1896 was employed in the harbour department of the Board of Trade. During this period he retired from the Royal Navy, on 24 April 1886. He was promoted on the retired list twice, firstly in 1887 to rear-admiral, and secondly in 1892 to vice-admiral. After leaving
219-415: A character in the second season, Thomas Watkins , the devious Bellamy family chauffeur , who comes from Abergavenny. In the 1979 spinoff of Upstairs, Downstairs titled Thomas & Sarah , Watkins and Sarah Moffat , another major character, marry and return briefly to Abergavenny. * Much of the 1996 film, Intimate Relations starring Julie Walters , Rupert Graves , Les Dennis and Amanda Holden ,
292-551: A new record, Farthest North of 83° 20′ 26″ N. Meanwhile, senior lieutenant Lewis Beaumont led a dog sled party from Discovery Harbour heading eastward in April 1876 to explore the northwestern shores of Greenland, reaching Sherard Osborn Fjord before turning back on 22 May. Overall the expedition was a near-disaster. The men suffered badly from scurvy and were hampered by inappropriate clothing and equipment. Realising that his men could not survive another winter in
365-588: A nuclear attack. It was closed in 1968 but reopened in 1973 due to the closure of a bunker near Brynmawr . It closed in 1991 on the stand down of the ROC. It remains mostly intact. The title of Baron Abergavenny was first held by the Beauchamp family. In the late 14th century the reversion of the feudal marcher barony (with the castle, town and surrounding lands appurtenant) was purchased from John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, who had no heirs, by William Beauchamp,
438-399: A rock choir, shire horses, motorcycling stunts, vintage cars and steam engines. The Country and Western Music Festival is attended by enthusiasts of country music . It marked its third year in 2016 and was attended by acts including Ben Thompson, LA Country and many more. The event was last held in 2017. The Abergavenny Writing Festival began in April 2016 and is a celebration of writing and
511-582: A total length of 181 miles (291 km). Nares was given command of the Challenger Expedition , a recognition of his experience in this field, but also of his scientific approach to surveying and exploration. His work with William Carpenter in Shearwater had been a key factor in the choice of commanding officer. His officers were all naval surveyors, and the team of civilian scientists, led by Charles Wyville Thomson. Challenger spent
584-656: A year in the Atlantic and after turning east in early 1874 she turned south in the Indian Ocean, visiting the Prince Edward , Kerguelen , and Heard Islands . She reached as far south as 66° 40′S before reaching the ice pack. In the process she became the first steam vessel to cross the Antarctic Circle. Not all similar expeditions had been so successful, and in particular the easy relations between
657-621: Is close to the town centre and includes the Melville Theatre, which hosts a range of live events. The town held its first Abergavenny Arts Festival in 2018 and also hosts the Abergavenny Food Festival in September each year. William Shakespeare 's play Henry VIII features the character Lord Abergavenny. In 1968 "Abergavenny" was the title of a UK single by Marty Wilde . In 1969, it was also released in
730-565: Is located strategically just south of the town centre overlooking the River Usk . It was built in about 1067 by the Norman baron Hamelin de Ballon to guard against incursions by the Welsh from the hills to the north and west. All that remains is defensive ditches and the ruins of the stone keep, towers, and part of the curtain wall. It is a Grade I listed building . Various markets are held in
803-647: The Ayles Ice Shelf and Mount Ayles are named. Other features named after the expedition include the Markham Ice Shelf , Nares Strait , Repulse Harbour and Alert , the most northerly permanently inhabited place on Earth. Pelham Aldrich was a lieutenant on the expedition and commanded the Western Sledge Party to Ellesmere Island, where Cape Aldrich was named in his honour. After the expedition returned to Britain, both Nares and
SECTION 10
#1732765081644876-593: The Beeching cuts in the 1960s and the line to Clydach Gorge is now a cycle track and footpath. The Baker Street drill hall was completed in 1896. Adolf Hitler 's deputy, Rudolf Hess , was kept under escort at Maindiff Court Hospital during the Second World War , after his flight to Britain. In 1964, the Royal Observer Corps opened a small monitoring bunker to be used in the event of
949-531: The Benedictine priory , now the Priory Church of St Mary , in the late 11th century. The Priory belonged originally to the Benedictine foundation of St. Vincent Abbaye at Le Mans. It was subsequently endowed by William de Braose , with a tithe of the profits of the castle and town. The church contains some unique alabaster effigies , church monuments and unique medieval wood carving, such as
1022-535: The Conservative Party , was created 1st Marquess of Abergavenny . Coldbrook Park was a country house in an estate some 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (2 km) southeast of the town. The house was originally built in the 14th century and belonged to the Herbert family for many generations until purchased by John Hanbury for his son, the diplomat Sir Charles Hanbury Williams . Sir Charles reconstructed
1095-599: The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway . The London North Western Railway sponsored the construction of the railway linking Newport station to Hereford station . The line was taken over by the West Midland Railway in 1860 before becoming part of the Great Western Railway in 1863. A railway line also ran up the valley towards Brynmawr and to Merthyr Tydfil ; this was closed during
1168-635: The North Pole in Discovery and Alert in 1875, the British Arctic Expedition . On this expedition, Nares became the first explorer to take his ships all the way north through the channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island – now named Nares Strait in his honour – to the Lincoln Sea . Up to this time, it had been a popular theory that this route would lead to the supposed Open Polar Sea , an ice-free region surrounding
1241-911: The North Wales Coast Line to Holyhead , via Wrexham General . These services are all operated by Transport for Wales . The town is located where the A40 trunk road and the A465 Heads of the Valleys road meet. The latter used to meet the A40 in the town centre but the A465 now runs to the east of the town centre. A network of services link the town with local villages. In addition Stagecoach South Wales operate service 23 to Hereford and Newport approximately every two hours while Newport Bus operates service 83 to Monmouth . Abergavenny Castle
1314-540: The River Gavenny ' ) is a market town and community in Monmouthshire , Wales . Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately 6 miles (10 km) from the border with England and is located where the A40 trunk road and the recently upgraded A465 Heads of the Valleys road meet. Originally the site of a Roman fort , Gobannium , it became a medieval walled town within
1387-512: The Tree of Jesse . Owing to its geographical location, the town was frequently embroiled in the border warfare and power play of the 12th and 13th centuries in the Welsh Marches. In 1175, Abergavenny Castle was the site of a massacre of Seisyll ap Dyfnwal and his associates by William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber . Reference to a market at Abergavenny is found in a charter granted to
1460-838: The Welsh Marches . The town contains the remains of a medieval stone castle built soon after the Norman conquest of Wales . Abergavenny is situated at the confluence of the River Usk and a tributary stream, the Gavenny. It is almost entirely surrounded by mountains and hills: the Blorenge (559 m, 1,834 ft), the Sugar Loaf (596 m, 1,955 ft), Skirrid Fawr (Great Skirrid), Ysgyryd Fach (Little Skirrid), Deri, Rholben and Mynydd Llanwenarth, known locally as " Llanwenarth Breast". Abergavenny provides access to
1533-467: The 2016 National Eisteddfod of Wales . The town derives its name from a Brythonic word Gobannia meaning "river of the blacksmiths", and relates to the town's pre-Roman importance in iron smelting . The name is related to the modern Welsh word gof ( blacksmith ), and so is also associated with the Welsh smith Gofannon from folklore. The river later became, in Welsh, Gafenni , and the town's name became Abergafenni , meaning "mouth of (Welsh: Aber )
SECTION 20
#17327650816441606-672: The Abergavenny Improvement Acts be repealed, supported plans for a new cattle market to be established about 10 miles (16 km) from Abergavenny in countryside at Bryngwyn, some 3 miles (5 km) from Raglan . There was local opposition to this site. The new Monmouthshire Livestock Centre, a 27-acre site at Bryngwyn, opened in November 2013. Abergavenny has hosted the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1838, 1913 and most recently in 2016. In 2017
1679-576: The Abergavenny Leisure Centre on Old Hereford Road. Abergavenny Cricket Club play at Pen-y-Pound , Avenue Road and Glamorgan CCC also play some of their games here. Abergavenny Cricket Club was founded in 1834 and celebrated the 175th anniversary of its foundation in 2009. Abergavenny Tennis Club also play at Pen-y-Pound and plays in the South Wales Doubles League and Aegon Team Tennis. The club engages
1752-695: The Admiralty faced criticism for the expedition's return after less than one year in the Arctic and for the outbreak of scurvy. Much of the criticism focused on the fact that the expedition's officers had continued to issue a rum ration on sledging journeys. An Admiralty report concluded that this decision had been unwise and had contributed to the scurvy outbreak. [REDACTED] Media related to British Arctic Expedition 1875 at Wikimedia Commons George Nares Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares KCB FRS (24 April 1831 – 15 January 1915)
1825-781: The Board of Trade in 1896 he became a conservator of the River Mersey, a post which he held until 1910. He was a member of the ship committee for Robert Falcon Scott 's 1912 Terra Nova Expedition . His wife Mary died in 1905. Nares died at home aged 83 at Kingston upon Thames on 15 January 1915, and was buried in Long Ditton churchyard in Surrey . Among others, the following features are named after Nares: Abergavenny Abergavenny ( / ˌ æ b ər ɡ ə ˈ v ɛ n i / ; Welsh : Y Fenni , pronounced [ə ˈvɛnɪ] , archaically Abergafenni , ' mouth of
1898-567: The French were horrified to find that the Royal Navy was now first in line and that it would be impossible to pass them. Captain Nares received both an official reprimand and an unofficial vote of thanks from the Admiralty for his actions in promoting British interests and for demonstrating such superb seamanship. Among the ships following was the Newport captained by Nares, which would survey
1971-611: The French. Following a posting to HMS Havannah on the Australian station in 1848, during which he served as both midshipman and mate, he returned in 1851 and passed his lieutenant's exam in 1852. While returning to England in Havannah in 1851, Nares had met Commander George Henry Richards , a future Hydrographer of the Navy, who had suggested he apply to Sir Edward Belcher for a place on his search for Sir John Franklin . Nares
2044-512: The Gavenny ( Gafenni )". In Welsh, the shortened form Y Fenni may have come into use after about the 15th century, and is now used as the Welsh name. Abergavenny, the English spelling, is in general use. The town originally developed on the high ground to the north of the floodplain of the River Usk and to the west of the valley of the much smaller Gavenny River though has since extended to
2117-710: The Gulf of Suez, Nares was promoted to the rank of captain in 1869. He commissioned Shearwater in 1871 for the Red Sea, and on the outward voyage the ship conducted studies of the water currents in the Straits of Gibraltar for William Benjamin Carpenter , a biologist who believed that density differences between water masses generated ocean currents. Charles Wyville Thomson and the Royal Society of London obtained
2190-720: The Holy Trinity; the Grade II* listed St John's Masonic Lodge ; Abergavenny Museum ; the Public Library; the Town Hall ; and the remains of Abergavenny town walls behind Neville Street. From 1851, the Monmouthshire lunatic asylum, later Pen-y-Fal Hospital , a psychiatric hospital , stood on the outskirts of Abergavenny. Between 1851 and 1950, over 3,000 patients died at the hospital. A memorial plaque for
2263-631: The Market Hall, for example: Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays – retail market; Wednesdays – flea market; fourth Thursday of each month – farmers' market ; third Sunday of each month – antique fair; second Saturday of each month – craft fair. The Church in Wales church of the Holy Trinity is in the Diocese of Monmouth . Holy Trinity Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Llandaff on 6 November 1840. It
British Arctic Expedition - Misplaced Pages Continue
2336-654: The Pen-y-pound Stadium, maintained and run by Thursday’s football trust, as members of the Ardal South East league (tier 3) for the 2021–22 season. It is also the home of Abergavenny RFC , a rugby union club founded in 1875 that plays at Bailey Park, Abergavenny . In the 2018–19 season, they play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division Three East A league. Abergavenny Hockey Club, formed in 1897, currently play at
2409-696: The Prior by William de Braose. Owain Glyndŵr attacked Abergavenny in 1404. According to popular legend, his raiders gained access to the walled town with the aid of a local woman who sympathised with the rebellion, letting a small party in via the Market Street gate at midnight. They were able to open the gate and allow a much larger party who set fire to the town and plundered its churches and homes leaving Abergavenny Castle intact. Market Street has been referred to as "Traitors' Lane" thereafter. In 1404 Abergavenny
2482-745: The US, under a Marty Wilde pseudonym Shannon , where it was also a minor hit. In The Adventure of the Priory School Sherlock Holmes refers to a case he is working on in Abergavenny. Abergavenny is mentioned by Stan Shunpike, the conductor of the Knight Bus when the bus takes a detour there to drop off a passenger in J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . The TV series Upstairs, Downstairs , features
2555-524: The Usk by means of the historic Usk Bridge is sited at the narrowest point of the floodplain, a site also chosen for the former crossing of a tramroad and the later mainline railway. The high ground at either side is formed by a legacy of the last ice age, the recessional Llanfoist moraine which underlies both the village which gives it its name, the town centre and the Nevill Hall area . The older parts of
2628-429: The canal a few months later. The Admiralty required a survey and report before it would allow the canal to be used by naval vessels. G.H. Richards , Hydrographer of the Navy joined Newport in January 1870. They traversed the canal in both directions, taking soundings and checking the navigation. They approved the canal, subject to completion of improvements that were already under way. In recognition of his work in
2701-415: The castle when excavating the foundations for a new post office and telephone exchange building in the late 1960s. Abergavenny grew as a town in early Norman times under the protection of the Baron Bergavenny (or Abergavenny) . The first Baron was Hamelin de Balun , from Ballon , a small town with a castle in Maine-Anjou near Le Mans . Today it is in the Sarthe département of France. He founded
2774-409: The command of Captain Arthur Cumming . Glatton arrived in the Black Sea too late to see action. He served as a lieutenant in charge of training cadets in Illustrious , and from 1859, in her successor, Britannia . During this time he wrote the best-selling book The Naval Cadet's Guide , which was also republished under the title Seamanship , and was regarded as the best manual of its day. He
2847-400: The communications between Sydney and Cape York Peninsula in the furthest north point of Queensland open. On the long journeys between he conducted surveys of the Great Barrier Reef . His next appointment was to the brand new Philomel -class gunvessel Newport , which he commissioned and took to the Mediterranean for survey work, including a survey of the Gulf of Suez , accessed by
2920-469: The corporation to take the oath of allegiance to William III in 1688, the charter was annulled, and the town subsequently declined in prosperity. Chapter 28 of the 1535 Act of Henry VIII , which provided that Monmouth, as county town , should return one burgess to Parliament, further stated that other ancient Monmouthshire boroughs were to contribute towards the payment of the member. In consequence of this clause Abergavenny on various occasions shared in
2993-406: The corvette Challenger from the Royal Navy for a 3-year expedition of scientific discovery. Although much of the world was well charted, this extended only to the coastlines and to very shallow depths – largely depths significant to the safe navigation of ships. There was a widely held consensus that the oceans were in parts very deep, but almost nothing was known of the make up of the deep oceans,
British Arctic Expedition - Misplaced Pages Continue
3066-426: The deceased has now been placed at the site. After its closure in the 1990s, its buildings and grounds were redeveloped as housing. Some psychiatric services are now administered from Maindiff Court Hospital on the outskirts of the town, close to the foot of the Skirrid mountain. Abergavenny has three public urban parks which are listed on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales :
3139-414: The east of the latter. It has merged with the originally separate settlement of Mardy to the north but remains separate from that of Llanfoist to the south due to the presence of the river and its floodplain ; nevertheless Llanfoist is in many ways a suburb of the town. The ground rises gradually in the north of the town before steepening to form the Deri and Rholben spurs of Sugar Loaf. The A4143 crossing of
3212-448: The election, the last instance being in 1685. The right to hold two weekly markets and three yearly fairs , beginning in the 13th century, was held ever since as confirmed in 1657. Abergavenny was celebrated for the production of Welsh flannel , and also for the manufacture, whilst the fashion prevailed, of goats' hair periwigs . Abergavenny railway station , situated southeast of the town centre, opened on 2 January 1854 as part of
3285-465: The figure of 2% recorded in 1991. The town has one of the two Welsh-medium primary schools in Monmouthshire, Ysgol Gymraeg y Fenni, which was founded in the early 1990s. It is also home to the Abergavenny Welsh society, Cymreigyddion y Fenni, and the local Abergavenny Eisteddfod. Abergavenny was the home of Abergavenny Thursdays F.C. , formed in 1927 and merged with Govilon, the local village side in 2013. The new club, Abergavenny Town F.C. , plays at
3358-430: The first explorer to take his ships all the way north through the channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island —now named Nares Strait in his honour— to the Lincoln Sea . Up to this time, it had been a popular theory that this route would lead to the supposed Open Polar Sea , an ice-free region surrounding the pole, but Nares found only a wasteland of ice. A sledging party under Commander Albert Hastings Markham set
3431-487: The future of Abergavenny Cattle Market were raised after Monmouthshire County Council granted planning permission for its demolition and replacement with a supermarket, car park, and library. In January 2012 the Welsh Government announced the repeal of the Abergavenny Improvement Acts of 1854 to 1871 which obliged the holding of a livestock market within the boundaries of Abergavenny town; that repeal being effective from 26 March 2012. The county council, which requested that
3504-406: The grounds of Abergavenny Castle , Linda Vista Gardens and Bailey Park . A fourth registered garden, at The Hill to the north of the town, forms part of the grounds of a residential development. Abergavenny is twinned with: One of the eleven Victoria Cross medals won at Rorke's Drift was awarded to John Fielding from Abergavenny. He had enlisted under the false name of Williams . One
3577-505: The house in 1746 with the addition of a nine- bay two-storey Georgian façade with a Doric portico . It was subsequently passed down in the Hanbury Williams family until it was demolished in 1954. Held during the first week of August every year, the National Eisteddfod is a celebration of the culture and language in Wales. The festival travels from place to place, alternating between north and south Wales, attracting around 150,000 visitors and over 250 tradestands and stalls. In 2016 it
3650-418: The ice, Nares hastily retreated southward with both his ships in the summer of 1876. However, naval personnel and topographers, among them Thomas Mitchell, did succeed in documenting, by photograph, Inuit and the landscapes of what would become Canada's Northwest Territories and, later, Nunavut . The expedition included future Admiral of the Fleet William May . Petty Officer Adam Ayles , after whom both
3723-451: The nearby Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons National Park . The Marches Way and Beacons Way pass through Abergavenny whilst the Offa's Dyke Path passes through Pandy five miles to the north and the Usk Valley Walk passes through nearby Llanfoist . In the UK 2011 census, the six relevant wards (Lansdown, Grofield, Castle , Croesonen, Cantref and Priory ) collectively listed Abergavenny's population as 12,515. The town hosted
SECTION 50
#17327650816443796-439: The newly opened Suez Canal . The Suez Canal opened in November 1869. On the morning of 17 November, a procession of ships entered the canal, officially headed by the French Imperial yacht Aigle however Newport passed through it first. On the night before the canal was due to open, Nares navigated his vessel, in total darkness and without lights, through the mass of waiting ships until it was in front of L'Aigle . When dawn broke
3869-418: The pole, but Nares found only a wasteland of ice. A sledging party under Albert Hastings Markham set a new record farthest north of 83° 20' 26"N, but overall the expedition was a near-disaster. The men suffered badly from scurvy and were hampered by inappropriate clothing and equipment. Realising that his men could not survive another winter in the ice, Nares hastily retreated southward with both his ships in
3942-507: The sale of sheep on the streets of the town. When the market closed, the site was leased and operated by Abergavenny Market Auctioneers Ltd, who held regular livestock auctions on the site. Market days were held on Tuesdays for the auction sale of finished sheep, cull ewe/store and fodder (hay and straw), and on some Fridays for the auction sale of cattle. After Newport 's cattle market closed in 2009 for redevelopment, Newport's sales were held at Abergavenny every Wednesday. In 2011 doubts about
4015-450: The scientific gentlemen and the naval officers was a testament to the sure leadership of George Nares. It was therefore a measure of his success as the commander of a scientific expedition that he was recalled in November 1874 to lead a similar but more arduous expedition at the opposite end of the earth. Because of his previous experience in the Arctic, he was summoned from this assignment to take charge of another Arctic voyage in search of
4088-544: The second son of the Earl of Warwick; and he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Bergavenny. On his death, his wife Joan held the entire barony in survivorship for life until 1435, at which time it passed into the Nevill family; Joan's granddaughter Elizabeth, heir to the barony, married a Neville, Edward Nevill, 3rd Baron Bergavenny . From him it has descended continuously, the title being increased to an earldom in 1784; and in 1876 William Nevill [ sic ] 5th Earl, an indefatigable and powerful supporter of
4161-428: The services of a head tennis professional to run a coaching programme for the town and was crowned Tennis Wales ' Club of the Year in 2010. Abergavenny hosted the British National Cycling Championships in 2007, 2009 and 2014, as part of the town's Festival of Cycling. A cattle market was held in Abergavenny from 1863 to December 2013. From 1825 to 1863 a sheep market was held at a site in Castle Street, to stop
4234-412: The submarine landscape, nor the life contained within the deep ocean. Challenger was equipped to measure much of this, being loaded with specimen jars, chemical apparatus, trawls and dredges, thermometers and water sampling bottles, sounding leads and devices to collect sediment from the sea bed. Great lengths of rope were provided to allow the sounding of deep oceans, and of Italian hemp alone she carried
4307-485: The summer of 1876. Nares wrote an account of the expedition, Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea during 1875–6 by H.M. Ships "Alert" and "Discovery" and published by Sampson, Low, Searle & Rivington of London. Nares was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876, received the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1877 and was awarded the Gold medal from the Société de Géographie in 1879. These scientific awards were matched by an appointment as
4380-405: The town north of its centre are built upon a relatively flat-lying alluvial fan extending west from the area of St Mary's Priory to Cantref and of similar age to the moraine. In the UK 2011 census, the six relevant wards (Lansdown, Grofield, Castle , Croesonen, Cantref and Priory ) collectively listed Abergavenny's population as 12,515. Gobannium was a Roman fort guarding the road along
4453-630: The town was named one of the best places to live in Wales. The town's local radio stations are currently Sunshine Radio 107.8 FM and NH Sound 1287 AM. Abergavenny is home to an award-winning brass band. Formed in Abergavenny prior to 1884, the band were joint National Welsh League Champions in 2006 and joint National Welsh League Champions in 2011. The band also operates a Junior Band training local young musicians. The Borough Theatre in Abergavenny town centre hosts live events covering drama, opera, ballet, music, children's events, dance, comedy, storytelling, tribute bands and talks. The Melville Centre
SECTION 60
#17327650816444526-402: The trial of Sir Trefor Williams, 1st Baronet of Llangibby , a Royalist who changed sides, and other Parliamentarians . In 1639, Abergavenny received a charter of incorporation under the title of bailiff and burgesses . A charter with extended privileges was drafted in 1657, but appears never to have been enrolled or to have come into effect. Owing to the refusal of the chief officers of
4599-416: The valley of the River Usk, which linked the legionary fortress of Burrium ( Usk ) and later Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum ( Caerleon ) in the south with Y Gaer, Brecon and Mid Wales . It was also built to keep the peace among the local British Iron Age tribe, the Silures . Cadw considers that the fort was occupied from around CE50 to CE150. Remains of the walls of this fort were discovered west of
4672-439: The written word. The Abergavenny Arts Festival, first held in 2018, celebrates arts in their broadest sense and showcases amateur and professional artists from the vibrant local arts scene together with some from further afield. In recent decades the number of Welsh speakers in the town has increased dramatically. The 2001 census recorded that 10% of the local population spoke the language, a five-fold increase over ten years from
4745-496: Was a Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. He commanded the Challenger Expedition , and the British Arctic Expedition . He was highly thought of as a leader and scientific explorer. In later life he worked for the Board of Trade and as Acting Conservator of the River Mersey . He was born on 24 April 1831, the third son and sixth child of Commander William Henry Nares, a British naval officer, and Elizabeth Rebecca Gould, at Llansenseld, near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire . He
4818-443: Was accepted as the second mate of Resolute , and thus gained valuable early experience of the Arctic during the 1852–1854 expedition. In 1854 Nares received his promotion to lieutenant and specialised as a gunnery officer. He joined the new battleship Conqueror in 1854, including service in the Mediterranean during the Crimean War. During this time he was loaned to the Aetna -class ironclad floating battery Glatton under
4891-405: Was also awarded for the same action to Robert Jones , born at Clytha between Abergavenny and Raglan . Another Abergavenny-born soldier, Thomas Monaghan received his VC for defending his colonel during the Indian Rebellion . In 1908 following the formation of the Territorial Force the Abergavenny Cadet Corps was formed and affiliated with the 3rd Battalion, The Monmouthshire Regiment . In 1912
4964-445: Was baptised at the church of St Bridget, Llansanffraid on 22 May. He married Mary Grant, the eldest daughter of a Portsmouth banker, on 22 June 1858. They had four sons and six daughters. His two youngest sons, George Edward Nares and John Dodd Nares entered the Royal Navy. He was educated at the Royal Naval School in New Cross in south London, and in 1845 joined the Royal Navy aboard HMS Canopus , an old battleship captured from
5037-490: Was declared its own nation by Ieuan ab Owain Glyndŵr , illegitimate son of Owain Glyndŵr . The arrangement lasted approximately two weeks. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1541, the priory's endowment went towards the foundation of a free grammar school , King Henry VIII Grammar School , the site itself passing to the Gunter family. During the Civil War , prior to the siege of Raglan Castle in 1645, King Charles I visited Abergavenny and presided in person over
5110-420: Was filmed at many locations in and around Abergavenny. Abergavenny railway station lies on the Welsh Marches Line from Newport to Hereford . The weekday daytime service pattern typically sees one train per hour in each direction between Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central , with most trains continuing beyond Cardiff to Swansea and west Wales. There is also a two-hourly service between Cardiff and
5183-400: Was held in Abergavenny for the first time since 1913. The Chair and Crown for 2016 were presented to the festival's Executive Committee at a ceremony held in Monmouth on 14 June 2016. The Abergavenny Food Festival is held in the second week of September each year. The Steam, Veteran and Vintage Rally takes place in May every year. The event expands year on year with the 2016 rally including
5256-600: Was originally built as a chapel to serve the adjacent almshouses and the nearby school. It has been Grade II listed since January 1974. Other listed buildings in the town include the parish Priory Church of St Mary , a medieval and Victorian building that was originally the church of the Benedictine priory founded in Abergavenny before 1100; the sixteenth century Tithe Barn near St Mary's ; the Victorian Church of
5329-450: Was promoted to commander in 1862 and took command of the training ship Boscawen in September 1863. His next ship was the aging 4-gun wooden paddle sloop Salamander , which he commanded from 1865. Although he had served in the steam-assisted Conqueror over ten years previously, this was his first paddle steamer, and in a further departure, she was employed in surveying duties on the east coast of Australia. His duties involved keeping
#643356