St James Street, Monmouth
St James Street with Queens Head to the right
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| Location | Monmouth, Wales |
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| Coordinates | 51°48′45″N 2°42′41″W / 51.8124°N 2.7115°WCoordinates: 51°48′45″N 2°42′41″W / 51.8124°N 2.7115°W |
| North | St James Square |
| South | Almshouse Street |
St James Street is a historic street in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It appears as a segment of Whitecross Street on the 1610 map of the town by cartographer John Speed and is within the medieval town walls. On more recent maps, it extends from St James Square southwest to Almshouse Street. In 2010, the street was the site of discovery of Mesolithic era artefacts. St James Street is lined with numerous listed buildings.
By the 14th century, a portion of the street plan of Monmouth had been determined. St James Street is located within the medieval walls of the town, built around 1300. It is depicted on the map of Monmouth (pictured below) created by John Speed in 1610. However, it is not referred to as St James Street on the map. Rather, as discussed by author William Meyler Warlow in 1899, Whitecross Street extended from Church Street all the way to Weirhead Street. Not only was St James Street part of Whitecross Street, so was Almshouse Street. St James Street is a more recent title. Further, the author relates that Whitecross Street derived its name from a white cross which was positioned in the future St James Square near the Dispensary. Inspection of Speed's map reveals the symbol of a cross near East Gate (Dixton Gate), at the expected level of St James Square.
St James Street intersects with the eastern end of St James Square, extending southwest to continue as Almshouse Street. The southern portion intersects with Wyebridge Street from the east. Beyond that, the southern tip of the street also intersects with St Mary's Street from the west. The buildings along the northwest side of St James Street are somewhat more ornate than those on the opposite side. On 8 November 2010, the BBC News reported that during the course of gas main replacement work at nearby St James Square and Wyebridge Street, Mesolithic era artefacts, including flints, were excavated (link to photograph of flints below). This represented the first discovery of Mesolithic human settlement in Monmouth. An article by Sion Morgan of the Western Mail which also ran on 8 Nov 2010 in Wales Online suggested that similar artefacts were found in St James Street as well.
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