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STROAT, Nr. CHEPSTOW
George and Dragon
Stroat is a small hamlet about three miles to the north east of Chepstow on
the A48. Map reference (approximate). ST 573976. The pub, opposite Stroat
House, was also known as both the George and the Stroat Inn. When known as
the George in 1744 it was also the meeting place of the Tidenham manor
court. In 1891 the annual rateable value was �16.5s.0d. It had a six day
license, presumably closed on Sundays. It closed soon after 1902.
1851,1856 Joseph Stephens (aged 35 in 1851 census)
1876 Abraham Turner
1885 Walter Lewis
1891 James Lewis. (Stroat Inn) Alehouse. Free from brewery tie
(owner John Pullen Rymer)
1892 Mrs Lewis (listed as innkeeper, Stroat. No establishment
specified)
1902 James Lewis
MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.
Wibdon Farm standing on the north-west of the main road at Wibdon may be on
the site of the manor-house of Waldings manor. It consists of a two-storied
range with a higher cross-wing to the south-west. A stone doorway with a
four-centred head is visible externally. Although now rough-cast the house
shows signs of being structurally timberframed and the lower range may
represent a hall block of medieval origin. (Footnote 19) Alternatively the
manorhouse may have been at HIGH HALL on the opposite side of the road which
was described as a capital messuage in 1599 when Henry Lewis, the lord of
Waldings manor, leased it with lands to Christopher Shipman; (Footnote 20)
the Lewises retained ownership of it until 1677 or later. (Footnote 21) By
1723 it was owned by Godfrey Harcourt, (Footnote 22) presumably the man who
was described as a principal inhabitant of Tidenham in 1750. (Footnote 23) In
1804 High Hall was put up for sale with a farm of c. 166 a. (Footnote 24) and
the estate was probably bought then by the owners of Stroat House, to whom it
belonged in 1815 and until at least 1843. (Footnote 25) It was up for sale in
1898 (Footnote 26) and in 1920 it belonged to the Sedbury Park estate.
(Footnote 27) The house was rebuilt in the late 18th or early 19th century as
a stone building of three stories.
Another branch of the James family owned an estate based on STROAT FARM. It
apparently originated in the house and land at Stroat which Richard Darling
owned in 1614. (Footnote 73) Richard Darling of Stroat and his son Anthony
were mentioned in 1630, (Footnote 74) and Anthony was presumably the man who
died c. 1656 leaving a house and lands at Stroat to his widow Susanna.
(Footnote 75) Susanna married secondly Francis James (d. 1684) who may also
have inherited lands in the parish from his father, Alexander James (d.
1680). (Footnote 76) From Francis the estate passed to successive sons
Charles (d. 1735), (Footnote 77) Charles (d. 1768), and Selwyn James (d.
1803). (Footnote 78) Selwyn's son Charles (d. 1812) may have succeeded but in
1815 Stroat Farm and the estate were held by Selwyn's widow Anne who died in
1829. They passed to Selwyn's daughter Susan who married Sir Alexander
Wilson; she owned Stroat Farm and 270 a. in 1843. (Footnote 79) In 1969 the
house with c. 200 a. was owned and farmed by Messrs. G. & T. Reeks. (Footnote
80) The north-eastern end of Stroat Farm is a square gabled block of two
stories and attics dating from the mid 17th century, probably from before
1662 when Susanna Darling was assessed for tax on 6 hearths. (Footnote 81) It
is probably of timber-framed construction, later faced with stone and
rough-cast, and has an original doorway in its back wall and three chimneys
with diagonally-set shafts. Internally there is a contemporary staircase with
a dog-gate. The low south-west range, which is of one and a half stories, may
be part of an earlier house.
STROAT HOUSE and an estate were owned by Somerset Jones, Vicar of Tidenham
(d. 1769); after his death it was held by his widow who married his successor
in the vicarage William Seys, who lived at Stroat House until his death in
1802. (Footnote 82) The estate passed to Anne, daughter of Somerset Jones,
and her husband Charles James of London who died in 1818. (Footnote 83) In
1843 the estate, which then included 226 a., was owned by Mary Webb.
(Footnote 84) Stroat House, a three-storied house faced in rough-cast with
stone dressings, dates from the earlier 18th century. It has an ornate road
front, divided into three bays by rusticated pilasters, with a modillion
cornice, and stone quoins to the angles and window openings. The central
doorway is surmounted by a fan-light and a pedimented hood on shaped
brackets; above it the windows to both floors are roundheaded, but elsewhere
the windows are paired sashes, all retaining their wide glazing-bars. The
staircase, the staircase window, and an archway in the hall are of the
original date. The garden front of the house was remodelled c. 1961. The
pedimented stone gateway to the forecourt, contemporary with the house, was
moved when the road was widened. (Footnote 85)
An estate at Wibdon was in the possession of the Madocke family for a long
period. (Footnote 86) John Madocke of Wibdon died in 1587 and his son Edmund
was dealing with lands there in 1599. (Footnote 87) Edmund died in 1626 and
his grandson John Madocke owned lands in Wibdon in 1630; John died in 1643
and was succeeded by his son Edmund. Edmund was succeeded on his death in
1693 by his son John, (Footnote 88) who was said to have a handsome house and
a good estate at Wibdon c. 1710; (Footnote 89) John died in 1730. By c. 1775
the Madocke's estate had passed to William Sheldon and the house was in
ruins. (Footnote 90)
An estate based on TUTSHILL HOUSE (Footnote 91) (later called Tutshill Farm)
was owned in 1655 by William Huggett who had inherited it from his mother
Welthian, one of the sisters and coheirs of John Hopkins. In that year
William Huggett settled the house and c. 60 a. on the marriage of his son
William, and the younger William settled part of the estate on the marriage
of his son, also William, in 1682. (Footnote 92) The third William Huggett
settled Tutshill House and lands on his son William in 1719 but in 1721
father and son sold the house and lands to Mary Davis who received another
part of the estate by a grant from William Huggett the son in 1727. (Footnote
93) By 1747 the Tutshill House estate had passed to Francis Davis (Footnote
94) who retained it in 1765 when it covered 177 a.; (Footnote 95) it had
passed by 1775 to James Davis of Chepstow. (Footnote 96) The estate later
descended to Mary Davis who in 1808 married Lieut.-Gen. Daniel Burr; on
Mary's death in 1836 it passed to her second son James Henry Scudamore Burr,
later Vicar of Tidenham. (Footnote 97) James died in 1852 and his widow Jane,
who married secondly the Revd. Francis Lewis and lived at Dennel Hill, held
the estate until 1862 when her son Henry came of age. Henry Burr sold the
estate in 1868 to George Ormerod; (Footnote 98) it had been sold by the
Sedbury Park estate by 1920. (Footnote 99) The house, which stands on the
west side of the road leading from the Tutshill crossroads towards Sedbury,
(Footnote 1) was ruinous in 1747. (Footnote 2) The eastern range, which is of
rough-cast stone, may date from a rebuilding soon after 1747, although an
extra story was added later and an addition made on the west in the early
19th century.
An estate called CHASE FARM originated in a sale allotment of 279 a. on the
west of Tidenham Chase which was bought by James Nerot at inclosure in 1815;
(Footnote 3) he sold it in 1818 to Alexander Trotter. The estate was heavily
mortgaged and the interest was in arrears by 1842 when Henry Churchyard
acquired the rights of the other mortgagees, and in the next year he bought
the fee simple from Henry Trotter, Alexander's trustee. By 1870 the estate
had passed to Mary Ann Churchyard who acquired other lands to the east of
Chase farm from the Duke of Beaufort in that year. In 1892 she sold her
estate, then 432 a., to the Marlings, (Footnote 4) who retained it until
1921; the house, which became known as Chase House, was leased separately
while the estate was farmed from a smaller stone house built near-by by Sir
William Marling in 1894. (Footnote 5) The smaller house and 180 a. were owned
by Mr. W. P. Johnson in 1969. (Footnote 6) Chase House, which was then
standing empty, is a two-story building of stone faced in rough-cast built by
James Nerot shortly before 1818. (Footnote 7)
The Webley family held lands in Tidenham from 1656 or earlier, and by the mid
18th century Walter Webley owned a house at Sedbury called THE MEAD. Walter
was apparently the man who died in 1763, and in 1770 his son William Webley
(d. 1779) owned the Mead and an estate of c. 290 a. In 1771 William mortgaged
the estate to James Grimston, Viscount Grimston, whose son, also James,
initiated proceedings for the recovery of arrears on the mortgage in 1778 and
obtained a foreclosure against William's widow Ann and son William Henry in
1788. James sold the estate in 1804 to William Lewis (Footnote 8) who
retained the greater part of the estate, based on Tump Farm, in 1815.
(Footnote 9) In 1843 Lewis's former estate was held by trustees under the
will of Dorothy Clowes, (Footnote 10) and in 1920 it was part of the Sedbury
Park estate. (Footnote 11) The Mead, with the remainder of the estate, was
owned in 1815 by William Bolton (Footnote 12) and in 1843 by William Powell;
(Footnote 13) it also appears to have belonged to the Sedbury Park estate for
a period in the early 20th century. (Footnote 14) In 1969 it was owned with a
farm of c. 90 a. by Mr. J. M. Bradley. (Footnote 15) The house was rebuilt by
William Webley shortly before 1770. (Footnote 16) It is a large rectangular
stone building of three stories and five bays; the front is surmounted by a
parapet with balustraded panels and the central doorway has a fan-light under
a segmental hood and is approached by a flight of steps.
The rectory of Tidenham was leased by Sheen Priory (Footnote 17) in 1537 to
Francis Shakerley who sub-let it soon afterwards to John Horner; Horner
retained it in 1548, but in 1561 Shakerley was attempting to regain the
rectory from him, some doubt having occurred as to the term of years in
Horner's lease. (Footnote 18) A lease of the rectory was later granted to
William Gough of Nass, Lydney, who left a moiety of the premises to his son
William and daughter Mary by his will proved 1599. (Footnote 19) Later the
rectory reverted to the Crown which granted it in fee to Thomas James in
1607. (Footnote 20) The rectory, which in 1704 was said to comprise the corn
tithes and part of the hay tithes, (Footnote 21) then descended with James's
estate at Tidenham, and c. 1710 it was estimated to be worth �80 a year to
Alexander James. (Footnote 22) Ownership of the rectory later became divided
between three of the estates whose descent is traced above. The greater
portion, described as the tithes of corn, grain, and hay of the tithings of
Wibdon and Stroat and the tithes of corn and grain from Sedbury and Beachley
tithings except those of the Beachley manor estate, were retained by the
owners of the Tidenham House estate; by 1770 (Footnote 23) the tithes of corn
and grain from Churchend and Bishton tithings belonged to William Webley's
Mead estate and later descended with the portion of that estate retained by
William Lewis; and by the early 19th century the Jenkins family owned the
tithes of corn and grain arising from its Beachley manor estate. In 1815 the
allotments made to the owners of the rectory at the inclosure of Tidenham
Chase and other lands were 15 a. to Harriet Williams, 8 a. to William Lewis,
and 6 a. to Samuel Jenkins, (Footnote 24) and the corn-rents which were
awarded in 1843 instead of the rectorial tithes from the remainder of the
parish were �303 14s. to trustees for the Morgans and Buckles, �175 to the
trustees of Dorothy Clowes, and �35 to Robert Castle Jenkins. Subsequently
the Duke of Beaufort was found to be entitled to the tithes from 56 a. land
in Wibdon and Stroat for which he was awarded a corn-rent of �11 7s. 7d. in
1844. (Footnote 25)
CHURCHES.
There was a vicarage house containing three bays of building in 1704.
(Footnote 17) The vicar, Somerset Jones, who apparently lived at Stroat
House, (Footnote 18) had allowed the vicarage to fall into disrepair by 1768,
in spite of the remonstrances of the patron James Davis. (Footnote 19) The
vicarage was rebuilt by James Burr in 1842; (Footnote 20) it is a stone house
with Gothic and Tudor details having gables with decorative bargboards.
in 1853 the needs of the growing population of the Tutshill and Woodcroft
area of the parish were recognized by the building of a chapel on the road
between the two hamlets; (Footnote 43) services had been held in the school
there since 1849. (Footnote 44) The chapel, dedicated to St. Luke, is a
Gothic stone building comprising a nave with a bellcot at the south-eastern
corner, a chancel, and a north aisle added in 1872. (Footnote 45) In 1850 the
school at Tidenham Chase was licensed for services, (Footnote 46) and in 1888
the chapel of St. Michael, comprising nave and chancel in Gothic style, was
built on the chase; it was financed by the Revd. Fielding Palmer of Eastcliff
who had officiated at the services in the schoolroom for several years
previously. (Footnote 47) In the late 19th and early 20th centuries services
were also held at the halls built by the Morgan family at Woodcroft and
Stroat. (Footnote 48) In 1969 the chapels at Beachley, Tutshill, and the
Chase were still in regular use for services.
WOOLASTON
The principal road through Woolaston runs from Gloucester to Chepstow. It
follows the course of the Roman road from Gloucester to Caerleon for much of
its route, but south-west of Brookend the Roman road is believed to have
diverged northward past Gumstalls and the church before rejoining the modern
road north-east of Stroat. (Footnote 57) Part of the diversion at Gumstalls
was still a green lane in 1969, and may be the road from Brookend to the
church mentioned in 1545. (Footnote 58) The course taken by the modern main
road has been in use at least since the 10th century, for the crossing of the
Piccadilly brook and the Black brook at Twyford was recorded in 956.
(Footnote 59) That was the place from which Twyford Hundred was named, but
the name was corrupted to Wyeford from the mid 13th century and to Wyvern
Pond from c. 1900. (Footnote 60) Although there was a bridge on the main road
by 1769 a ford then remained on the side road to High Woolaston, (Footnote
61) and the pond was not finally filled until 1963 when a petrol-station was
built on the site. (Footnote 62) The length of the Gloucester-Chepstow road
through the parish was a turnpike road from 1757�8 to 1871, (Footnote 63) but
the only major change in its course was made before 1769 when a more
southerly route at Netherend was abandoned. (Footnote 64) The road from
Wyvern Pond to High Woolaston was called Mislin or Millin Lane in the late
17th century, (Footnote 65) and the lane from High Woolaston to Stroat was
still in use in 1782. (Footnote 66) From Lay Pill a medieval track called
Packer's Way has been traced by the Roman villa westwards towards the
Gloucester�Chepstow road, and a hollow way runs from the church north-west to
skirt Edge Farm and climb towards Tidenham Chase. (Footnote 67) Souters or
Showters Lane, recorded in the 17th and 18th centuries, (Footnote 68) was the
name given to the road at Netherend. One branch to Woolaston Woodside was
called Cormins Lane in 1694, and may have continued as 'the old and usual
way' to St. Briavels mentioned in 1682. At Woolaston Common a lane, which in
1969 survived as a green lane, ran from Upperend to Hewelsfield in 1683,
(Footnote 69) the principal road at the Common being known as Upperends
Street in 1761. (Footnote 70) At Plusterwine lanes from Green Pool to Wickets
Bridge and Mickla Bridge across the Cone brook were mentioned in 1680 and
1681 respectively. Mickla Bridge was only a footbridge in 1681, but in 1969
it was a small stone bridge wide enough to take vehicles.
In the west part of the parish a way from Brockweir to the chase gate in 1681
(Footnote 71) was presumably the same as 'the right road from Brockweir to
Chepstow' which passed over Madgetts Hill north-west of Madgett Farm by the
waste land called Madgetts Green c. 1700. (Footnote 72) It continued
southwards by the green lane from Beeches Farm, the road to Madgett Farm used
in 1969 being made in 1813. (Footnote 73) There was a way from Madgett to the
ferry to Tintern in 1824, (Footnote 74) and from the ferry to Brockweir in
1777. (Footnote 75) The latter was pitched with cobblestones near the ferry
in 1969, and is said to have been cobbled where it crossed the riverside
meadows at Brockweir. (Footnote 76) The ferry to Tintern was established by
the abbey, and in 1535, when the keeper was paid �4 a year, it was believed
to date from the foundation of the abbey in 1131. (Footnote 77) The ferryman
in 1282, Henry le Passur, was said to carry poachers out of the Forest of
Dean, (Footnote 78) and the ferry was presumably used by Bishop Richard de
Swinfield when he travelled from Woolaston to Tintern during his visitation
of Hereford diocese in 1289. (Footnote 79) The ferry became unnecessary after
the building of a bridge c. 1876 for the mineral railway from the Tintern
wire-works to the Wye Valley line. The mineral line was closed c. 1935 but
the bridge was used for vehicular access to Ferry Farm in 1969. (Footnote 80)
The stone farm-house is a two-story building with small attics of
early-19thcentury date. It was probably largely rebuilt after 1813 when it
was becoming ruinous (Footnote 81) but a diagonal chimney shaft of earlier
date has survived at the south end.
The railway from Gloucester to South Wales, which passes through the parish,
was opened in 1851 (Footnote 82) with a station at Woolaston approached from
Plusterwine. The station was used for the conveyance of materials to and from
Cone paper-mill in the late 19th century, but its distance from the village
limited its use by passengers. (Footnote 83) It was closed in 1954 and was
later demolished. The Wye Valley branch line from Chepstow to Monmouth was
opened in 1876, crossing the river Wye half a mile south of Brockweir by a
bridge which was dismantled after the closure of the line in 1964. (Footnote
84)
ECONOMIC HISTORY:
AGRICULTURE.
The Saxon survey specified the 21 hides of the manor occupied by tenants as
27 yardlands at Stroat, 14 at Milton, and 13 at Kingston, a hide above Offa's
Dyke, and part of another hide beyond the dyke let to Welsh sailors.
(Footnote 29) The hide therefore comprised under 3 yardlands, and if as later
at Tidenham, the yardland was equivalent to 36 a. (Footnote 30) the hide must
have been c. 100 a. From each yardland 12d. rent and 4d. as alms were owed.
The services of the geneats on the estate included labouring on or off the
estate, riding and carrying, supplying transport and driving herds, while the
weekly works owed by the geburs at the various seasons were ploughing � a.
and fetching seed to sow it from the lord's barn, building and supplying the
materials for fishingweirs, fencing and ditching, reaping 1� a. and mowing �
a., or other work in the same proportion. The gebur also owed various dues
including 6d. and half a sester of honey at Easter and six sesters of malt at
Lammas, and he had to give three swine out of the first seven he had and the
tenth after that and pay for the mast eaten by the swine; he also had to
plough and sow with his own seed 1 a. for churchscot (cyrcscette). (Footnote
31) In 1066 the tenantry of the manor were 38 villani each with a plough, and
10 bordars; 3 villani and their lands were alienated from the manor before
1071 but by 1086 there were an additional 12 bordars. (Footnote 32)
In 1584 Tidenham manor had 31 free tenants, 40 copyholders, and 6 tenants at
will. There were 7 copyholds in Stroat, 7 in Milton, 3 in Lancaut, 9 in
Bishton, and c. 13 in Sedbury; they were made up of units described as
'tenements of land', and individual holdings varied between half and three
tenements. (Footnote 40) Some of the copyholds of the manor were enfranchised
before 1650, (Footnote 41) but in 1662 there were still 28 copyholds for up
to 3 lives with 19 copyholds let at rack-rent and 26 leaseholds. (Footnote
42) The typical tenure on Waldings and Beachley manors in the 17th century
was by lease for three lives, often with additional rents of hens or capons
owed and sometimes a cash payment instead of a heriot. (Footnote 43) In 1656
Waldings manor had 16 free tenants and 11 leaseholders, while Beachley manor
had 9 free tenants, 6 leaseholders and a single tenant at will. (Footnote 44)
FISHERIES.
The water-borne traffic of the Severn and Wye employed a section of the
inhabitants of Tidenham from 1608 when six sailors were living in the parish.
(Footnote 17) In the 1830s five mariners and three pilots were recorded at
Beachley, (Footnote 18) and pilots lived in the village until the early 20th
century. (Footnote 19) A mariner of Stroat owned sloops in 1808. (Footnote
20) In the early 19th century boatmen, some of them presumably employed on
the passage boats at Beachley, formed one of the largest groups of
non-agricultural workers in the parish. (Footnote 21) There was probably much
small trading by water to the pills along the Severn; in 1663 the Tidenham
manor court threatened with fines anyone taking carts to meet boats on the
Severn at any place but the common pills, (Footnote 22) and in the early 19th
century manure and coal were among merchandise landed at the pills. (Footnote
23) The Wye was much used as a waterway in the 19th century for the export of
stone, timber, and bricks from the parish. (Footnote 24) As a participant in
the trade of the rivers Tidenham was naturally dominated by the neighbouring
port of Chepstow and inhabitants of the parish recorded as owning shares in
ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were mostly in partnership
with Chepstow merchants. (Footnote 25) Ship-building was recorded at Tidenham
from 1591 when a shipwright of Stroat was mentioned, (Footnote 26) and there
was a shipwright living at Beachley in 1602. (Footnote 27) In 1841 there were
two shipwrights at Beachley and two ship-carpenters at Tutshill. (Footnote
28) The 20th-century shipyard at Beachley is mentioned above. (Footnote 29)
Among the natural resources of the parish clay, limestone, wood, and coal
found on Tidenham Chase (Footnote 30) have all been exploited. Two potters
who were presented for digging earth in the GloucesterChepstow road in 1596,
(Footnote 31) and two others recorded in 1608, (Footnote 32) may have worked
the pottery-kiln discovered during road-widening by Stroat House in 1957.
(Footnote 33) By 1793 there was a brickyard at Tallard's Marsh in Sedbury
where tiles were also being made in 1838. (Footnote 34) Another brickyard,
also sited on the Wye for easy distribution of its products by boat, was in
operation on the promontory west of Chepstow Bridge by 1815. (Footnote 35)
Both yards continued production until the late 19th century. (Footnote 36) In
1584 the tenants of Tidenham manor reported that there were no stonequarries
in the manor, (Footnote 37) but in later centuries stone was extensively
quarried. In 1750 an order was made for a quarry at Tutshill to be filled in
because of the danger to travellers, (Footnote 38) and the widespread use of
stone for building suggests that by the late 18th century there were a number
of quarries in the parish. Five quarries were allotted for road-mending in
1815, (Footnote 39) and by the late 19th century there were many small
quarries, notably in the chase area, much of the stone having evidently been
used in the numerous limekilns of the parish. (Footnote 40) In the later 19th
and early 20th centuries the Wye cliffs near Lancaut and Tutshill were
extensively quarried and the stone exported from the parish by trows or
barges. (Footnote 41) Two large quarries sited to make use of the railway, on
the Wye below Dennelhill Wood and in Coombesbury Wood near Tidenham church,
were being worked in 1969. Timber from the woods along the Wye has also been
exported. A timber-merchant of Stroat owning shares in sloops and a trow in
the 1820s was probably connected with that trade, (Footnote 42) and another
timber-merchant of the parish died in 1825. (Footnote 43)
A small group of metal-workers in the parish in 1608 included two smiths, two
nailers, a cutler, and a wire-drawer. (Footnote 44) A firm of nailers at
Stroat ceased business in 1765. (Footnote 45) There were three or four smiths
in the parish during the 19th century and there were still two working in the
1930s. (Footnote 46) Other craftsmen listed in 1608 were three tailors, a
sieve-maker, a weaver, a carpenter, a thatcher, and a shoemaker. (Footnote
47) Carpenters were later fairly numerous: six carpenters, four sawyers, and
a cabinet-maker were recorded between 1813 and 1822 (Footnote 48) and in 1879
there were five carpenters, one also a wheelwright, (Footnote 49) at
Tidenham; a carpenter was still at work there in 1939. (Footnote 50)
Shoemakers were recorded until 1906. (Footnote 51) Members of the Tyler
family followed the trade of mason between 1787 and 1914. (Footnote 52)
.
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