Port Wall

The Port Wall in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a late thirteenth century stone wall, which was constructed for the twin purposes of defence and tax collection by permitting users of the town's market only one point of access through the wall at the Town Gate. The wall originally formed a semi-circle extending for some 1,100 metres (3,600 ft), roughly southwards from Chepstow Castle to the River Wye. It enclosed an area of 53 hectares (130 acres), including the entire town and port as it existed at that time. Substantial sections of the wall remain intact, and both the Port Wall and the Town Gate are Grade I listed buildings. The Port Wall is a Scheduled monument.

After the Norman conquest of England and parts of south Wales, Chepstow developed as an important port and trading centre within the Marcher Lordship of Striguil, the town's name deriving from ceape stowe meaning a trading place. The town and its priory were defended by its castle, established in 1067 and reconstructed and extended in stone on several occasions. The port was known for its exports of timber and bark, and its imports of wine from Gascony, Spain and Portugal. Because of its status as a Marcher lordship, dues were levied by the local lord, outside any direct control by the English crown. It has been suggested, but not confirmed, that the priory, castle and river crossing may originally have been defended by earthworks in a line some way to the east of the later stone wall, and that the market place initially grew up outside that line.

In 1270 the lordship came under the control of Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk, after the death of his uncle. Bigod undertook a substantial building programme within and around Chepstow, including, at the castle, a new range of buildings for accommodation for himself and his family, and a massive new defensive tower (now known as "Marten's Tower"); and also, a few miles to the north, the rebuilding of Tintern Abbey. He was also responsible for the building of the Port Wall, usually dated at 1274–78, and the Town Gate; and, in 1294, for granting to his close associate, John ap Adam of Sedbury, the right to hold a regular market at Chepstow. The Port Wall and Town Gate together ensured that only those paying tolls to the lord could attend the market; and had the additional purpose of keeping out undesirable elements, including the occasionally hostile Welsh people living in the countryside to the west of the town. Much of the land within the walls was never built on, but was used as pasture, orchards and gardens, with wharves and shipyards on the river.

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