Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for RAGLAN, or Ragland

RAGLAN, or Ragland, a village, a parish, and a hundred, in Monmouthshire. The village stands on a smallaffluent of the river Usk, 1¼ mile W S W of Raglan-Foot-path r. station, and 7 W S W of Monmouth; gives the title of Baron to the Duke of Beaufort; and has a post-office‡ under Newport, Monmouth. The parish is in Monmouth district, and comprises 4,083 acres. Real property, £5, 796. Pop., 905. Houses, 195. The property is divided among a few. Raglan Castle stands on a rising ground, ½ a mile N N E of the village; was built, in the time of Henry V., by the Herberts; occupies the site of a previous castle of the Morleys; passed to the Somersets; was the residence of the Earls of Worcester; was garrisoned in 1642, by the Marquis of Worcester, indefence of Charles I.; gave shelter, for some time, to thatmonarch; made successful resistance in his cause till verynear the end of the war; surrendered to Fairfax in Aug., 1646; was subsequently dismantled; is now one of thefinest baronial ruins in England; exhibits the latestforms of the feudal castle, passing into the modern style of fortification; covers a space of about one-third of a mile in circuit; includes a terrace 260 feet long, a greatmachicolated gateway with hexagonal towers, a stonecourt 100 feet by 60, a fountain court, a hall 62 feet by 28, a great kitchen, Charles I.'s tower, the hexagonalyellow tower 193 feet in circuit, and other parts and features; belongs now to the Duke of Beaufort; and is the head-quarters of the Monmouthshire Archery club, and a favourite resort of picnic parties. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Llandaff. Value, £270.* Patron, the Duke of Beaufort. The church is early perpendicular, with an embattled tower; was recently restoredat a cost of £2, 500; and contains monuments of the Somersets. There are a Baptist chapel, and charities £6. The hundred contains also 20 other parishes, and parts of 3 others; and is cut into two divisions, higher and lower. Acres, 27,090 and 16, 543. Pop. in 1851, 5,032 and 2, 751; in 1861, 8,024. Houses, 1, 718.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Rhaglan CP/AP       Rhaglan Hundred       Monmouthshire AncC
Place names: RAGLAN     |     RAGLAND     |     RAGLAN OR RAGLAND
Place: Rhaglan

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