Wentwood

Wentwood (Welsh: Coed Gwent), in Monmouthshire, South Wales, is a forested area of hills, rising to 1,014 feet (309 m) above sea level. It is located to the northeast of, and partly within the boundaries of, the city of Newport.

Geology

Wentwood is underlain by

There is a small number of houses in Wentwood, known as Wentwood hamlet. Gilgal Chapel is a restored church in Wentwood.[2]^[3]

Wentwood Village Welsh: Pentref Coed Gwent
Wentwood Village Location within Newport
Principal area	Newport
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWPORT
Postcode district	NP18 2
Dialling code	01633 Llanwern and Penhow exchanges
Police	Gwent
Fire	South Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
UK Parliament	Newport East
List of places UK Wales Newport 51°37′55″N 2°49′40″W / 51.631899°N 2.827669°W / 51.631899; -2.827669

Ancient woodland

It is the largest ancient woodland in Wales and the ninth largest in the UK. The current wooded area is a remnant of a much larger ancient forest which once extended between the rivers Usk and Wye and which divided the old kingdom of Gwent into two – Gwent Uwchcoed and Iscoed, that is, above and below the wood.

Prehistory

The area contains

In the Middle Ages, the woods belonged to the lordship of Chepstow and provided hunting preserves, and timber, fuel and pasturage for the tenants of nearby manors. The Royal Forest of Wentwood had its own forest laws and courts were held twice yearly at Forester's Oaks, above Wentwood Reservoir.

These courts tried luckless locals charged with a range of crimes within the forest boundaries, from sheep stealing to poaching deer. These crimes were taken so seriously that culprits were hanged from one of the two Forester's Oaks. The last offender dealt with in this severe way was hanged as recently as 1829.

Later history

The edges of the wood were gradually cleared and felled away in the 16th century and 17th century by farmers. In 1678 Wentwood was the scene of riots led by Nathan Rogers and Edward Kemys against the actions of Henry Somerset, 1st Duke of Beaufort who, as Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire and Governor of Chepstow Castle, enclosed some 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of the forest for his own use, and began to fell trees for use in his ironworks at Tintern. The tenants of the area, including Rogers, claimed that the ancient rights to the forest belonged to them, and rioted when 50 of Somerset's armed men arrived to carry away the felled wood.^[4][5]

Many stands of substantial mature

The first conifer plantations were planted at Wentwood in 1880, and most of the native trees were felled during World War I to provide timber for props and supports for the trenches. When the area was replanted by the Forestry Commission in the 1950s and 1960s, the original broadleaved deciduous trees were largely replaced with non-native conifers, damaging the woodland habitat. More recently, broadleaved trees have been allowed to grow back.

Recreation area

Wentwood and its surrounding areas are popular with

In 2006, the Woodland Trust completed the purchase of some 352 hectares (nearly 900 acres) of Wentwood after a high-profile campaign, and plans a programme of conservation and restoration.

In April 2007, an illegal rave event took place in Wentwood, with around 3,000 people before it was broken up.^[9]

Vehicle access to much of the site is restricted, to protect the ancient monuments. Despite this, off-road vehicles have regularly caused problems, culminating in damage to one of the prehistoric burial mounds over the Christmas holidays of 2019.^[10][11]

References