About Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Situated in the South Eastern corner of Wales, Great Britain, only 20 miles from the English border, lies the market town of Abergavenny. The town lies in the valley of the River Usk and is surrounded on three sides by hills which form the southern end of the Black Mountains.
The town is steeped in history, with evidence showing that the Romans occupied a timber fort from 50 - 150 AD. The fort, then known as Gobannium, which translates as the place of the ironsmiths, was halfway along the route between the Roman fortresses at Caerleon and Brecon.
As with many towns in Monmouthshire, the first main settlement came with the building of a Norman castle. The town grew up around the castle and survived several attacks from local Welsh tribes, including Owain Glyndwr, and the Black Death.
The town grew in prosperity, mainly thanks to its market and the tanning and weaving industries that grew up from the sixteenth century. The opening of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal in 1812, and the industrialisation of the neighbouring South Wales Valleys ensured both the market's and the town's prosperity grew. By the mid-19th century, Abergavenny had become a thriving railway town.
During the Second World War, Rudolf Hess, Hitler's ill-fated deputy was imprisoned in the town's asylum after his landing in Scotland in 1941.
Abergavenny is twinned with the towns of Beaupreau in France, Oestringen in Germany and Sarno in Italy.
