Woolly says – Another busy week behind us and with the sun still baking us all we headed towards a most exciting place, well I thought the name was exciting and as I clambered into the car, I sang my new song for Jo again. ‘Usk, Usk, Usk, I’m taking my tusk tusk tusk to Usk Usk Usk’.
His new song was driving me slightly demented as was his conversation which had been focussed around his tusks in Usk!
Woolly says – It was a very catchy song, and the human is just plain miserable. Usk is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, located on the River Usk after which it was named. The name of the river itself means “abounding in fish” or simply “water” which might explain why so many people head there to fish. The Roman legionary fortress of Burrium was founded on the River Usk by the military commander Aulus Didius Gallus in around AD 55 but by AD 75 the Romans had moved on, the Normans also realised Usk’s geographical and military importance within the region, and the powerful de Clare family built Usk Castle as part of their plans for controlling the area’s resources and people which was one of the places on my list to visit.
Pulling into the castle’s carpark an excited barking boy and I excited the car and headed up the short slope and under a rather impressive archway that was the base for a rather large crown guarded by two lions.
A lovely lady took our money and pointed us in the direction of the castle keep. Built in 117 it had replaced the wooden motte and bailey castle that had stood there previously. With parts of it held up with scaffolding I climbed the steps and peeked inside.
Empty windows and fireplaces showed where the floors had once been although each floor level wouldn’t have been very big as the whole tower was less than twelve feet by twelve feet, an iron grate caught my eye, and I wondered how many fires had been lit in it and how many toes had been warmed next to it.
Retracing our steps, we walked along the garden area to the main castle gate that had stood in place 1214, not the biggest entrance to a castle but the view on entering was lovely.
Lovely topiary bushes and a garden that had been planted amongst the former castle walls.
The view over the town included a tithe barn which sadly wasn’t open to the public. It also allowed us to see the rear of the keep.
A small tower once one of seven was covered in ivy making a lovely contrast with its grey brickwork.
The former great hall had been added in 1314 and was now part garden and part ruin.
The treasure tower had a magnificent topiary cross which probably hadn’t been there when it was constructed in 1289.
Tucked slightly behind was the former chapel which had retained its altar and had been made into a lovely space to sit and enjoy the surroundings.
A small room had an ached ceiling with painted pictures of all of the families that have lived in the castle, it was rather sweet and certainly met Alfie the Dogs sniffing criteria as he shoved his snout into every nook and cranny.
Although small it was a wonderful place to go, and I rubbed my tusks in glee with my find in Usk. We drove the short road into the town itself and parked up in the main car park. The town is famous for its blooms in spring and a rather natty cycle gave us an idea of how well they looked after all thing’s flowers.
Our next stop was actually one of the reasons that Usk had come onto my radar, after an interesting chat with our summer neighbour Steve, who had worked on the town church a few years ago and was responsible for replacing the weathervane on the church tower, a job that sounded rather tricky, I thought it might be good to see how the weathervane was going.
The parish church of St Mary originated as part of the Benedictine priory founded by Richard de Clare in the 12th century. The northern aisle of the convent church was added in the 13th century for the use of the town’s residents, and after the Dissolution of the nunnery in 1536 the nave was also incorporated as part of the parish church. It was an impressive structure and the church tower looked more castle than church which was interesting. Placed right at the top was the weathervane still standing proud.
We wandered through the graveyard which used the foundations of the old priory.
Entering the impressive doorway, we entered the hushed interior realising that a service was taking place. I crept inside by a few paw spaces and tried to take in the surroundings. A lovely wooden arched ceiling covered one side of the church with a corner dedicated to the Baptism rolls from many years. Wooden pews lined the body of the church but sadly I wasn’t able to see much more as we silently left the people at prayer.
Outside the sun was blazing down and not wanting Alfie the Dog to overheat we headed across the town square pausing to admire the lovely clock tower which was erected to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.
The main street through the town had one side of the road completely in the shade, which was ideal, the buildings weren’t of much note although the Three Salmons Public Hose still had its livery and bait stables.
We reached the end of Usk, and the human came to a stop, staring at the police station, I looked up at her and wondered what part of it had caught her attention.
The actual police station had stopped me, nothing of great interest with it except the rarity of an actual police station in a small town in this day and age, large towns like Dudley and Stourbridge had long since lost there’s and now police came from several miles away whereas here in this small community, they had one all to themselves, a dying thing sadly.
Woolly says – Having quickly grown bored of the police station, I took my tusks in Usk to look at the River Usk. The Usk Bridge was built between 1746 and 1752 to a design by William Edwards, the first stone bridge replacing one of wood. it withstood the great floods of 1795 although in 1836 two of its arches were destroyed by the river and widening and strengthening work had to take place.
Having ambled along the riverbank allowing panting boy to drink his fill of the Usk and paddle to his hearts content we headed back onto the town road to find lunch. I liked Usk and so did my tusks, a quiet town with a lovely castle and hopefully a feast to fill my tummy.