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England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Monkswood St Matthew

 

The Parish

The parish of Monkswood, more correctly the extra-parochial district of Monkswood, lies in central Monmouthshire. Monkswood is located about 3 miles northwest of the small market town of Usk. Monkswood does not have a village as such being merely a scatter of farms and cottages lying alongside or nearby to the A472 road which connects Usk with Pontypool. Monkswood refers to the nearby abbey at Tintern who maintained an outlying grange at Monkswood. The main economy of the area would have been based on pastoral farming and little has changed today. Monkswood is drained by the Bethin Brook which heads eastwards to join the River usk just north of the town turning south to reach the Bristol Channel through the port of Newport. Monkswood is sited at just 50 metres and sits on a low ridge between the valley of Bethin Brook & Usk, the land gently undulating to local heights reaching over 170 metres to the southwest. Monkswood, albeit licensed for marriages, was not a formal parish, its acreage covered just over 1,000 acres and it would have supported a population of around 150 parishioners. There is no mention of Monkswood in Domesday Book as this did not cover this area.


The Church

St Matthew's church sits on the northern side of the A472 although you are hard pressed to see it from this busy road and the site is best reached from the narrow lane leading northwestwards towards Penpedairheol. Regrettably St Matthew is a Victorian replacement for a mediaeval predecessor being built between 1882 and 1884. Consisting of a nave, slightly lower chancel and a double bell gable the church is small as befits its size of congregation. The church is clearly of little architectural interest, Pevsner describes it as "small and undistinguished" in the few lines he devotes to it. From Cefn Mawr Lane the site is accessed by a short gravelled path running between the garages of fronting properties. The site is well screened by trees but has few obstructions to photography one within.


The Records

Register No Covering Dates Deposited With Register Style Quality Standard Comments
1 25th March 1754 - 31st December 1787 Registers prior to 1788 have not survived and there are no surviving Bishop's Transcripts
2 24th November 1788 - 18th December 1812 Gwent Record Office - Reference - D/PA/105.1 Plain, unruled book included within composite register Grade 3 register - Due to fading of the original there is likely to be some misreads but hopefully few in number None
3 12th May 1813 - 15th April 1837 Gwent Record Office - Reference - D/PA/105.3 Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register Grade 2 register - Not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads Some damage to the register edges requires deciphering of signatures to complete entries


Goytre St Peter
Goytre St Peter
Kemeys Commander All Saints
Trostrey St David
Goytre St Peter
Usk St Mary
Usk St Mary (detached)
Usk St Mary (detached)
Llanbadock St Madoc
Llanbadock St Madoc

1790 1800 1810 1820 1830

Register Reference Date Groom Forename Groom Surname Groom Status Groom Abode Bride Forename Bride Surname Bride Status Bride Abode
1 24/11/1788 Edward ROGERS   Llanarth Elizabeth JENKINS    
2 23/05/1790 William WATTS     Martha EDWARDS    
3 03/06/1791 James HOWELL   Llandenny Anne JENKINS    
4 11/02/1793 Thomas ROSSER     Elizabeth HUGH    
5 17/11/1793 David WILLIAMS     Margaret SANDERS    
6 03/03/1794 John BARKLEY     Elizabeth POWELL    
7 15/12/1794 Thomas JENKINS     Anne ANDREWS    
8 14/06/1796 William LEWIS     Rachel WILLIAMS    
9 24/07/1796 William EDWARDS     Anne LEWIS    
10 02/10/1796 William DAVIES Single Trostrey Rachel PHILLIPS Single  
11 14/05/1799 John LEWIS   Llanbadock Rachel JONES    
12 06/07/1799 William WILLIAMS   Llanover Elizabeth SAUNDERS    
13 13/04/1801 Philip WILLETTS     Elizabeth EVANS    
14 20/06/1801 Thomas EDWARD Single   Mary THOMAS Single  
15 15/11/1801 Francis ROLINS     Mary PHILIPS    
16 24/01/1804 William THOMAS Single   Charlotte JERRY Single Goytre
17 23/02/1805 William MORGAN Single   Elizabeth MORGAN Widow  
18 22/10/1807 William EDWARDS Widower Goytre Anne ROSSER Single  
19 09/07/1809 Evan MORRIS Single   Mary JENKINS Single  
20 30/12/1809 William RICHARDS Single Llanbadock Margaret WILLIAMS Widow  
21 03/07/1811 John GROYNE Single   Mary MORGAN Single Usk
22 14/05/1812 John THOMAS Single   Elizabeth DAVIS Single  
23 18/10/1812 Thomas WILLIAMS     Margaret LEWIS    
1 12/05/1813 John WILLIAMS Single Goytre Johanna EDWARDS Single  
2 24/05/1813 John WILLIAMS Single   Ann ATKINSON Single  
3 03/10/1813 William WILLIAMS Single   Mary WILLIAMS Single  
4 04/12/1813 John ANDREWS Single Panteg Mary BARCLAW Single  
5 15/08/1814 John THOMAS Widower   Sarah HARRIS Single  
6 28/08/1814 William PHILLIPS Single   Ann ROSSER Single Llanover
7 04/09/1814 Roderick RODERICK Single   Margaret WATKINS Single  
8 06/12/1814 Samuel HOWELL Single   Ann MATTHEWS Single  
9 29/12/1814 Thomas ROBERTS Single   Mary JENKINS Single  
10 07/04/1816 William PRITCHARD Single   Ann ROBERTS Single  
11 25/06/1820 John ARNEY Single   Lettice PRICE Single  
12 30/05/1825 Thomas MORGAN Single   Mary PRICHARD Single  
13 17/05/1831 Thomas HICKEY Single   Mary EVANS Widow  
14 23/06/1832 Evan JOHN Single   Elizabeth WILLIAMS Widow  
15 14/05/1834 Leonard JONES Single   Margaret LAURENCE Single  
16 17/05/1834 James JASPER Single   Ann RAWLINGS Single  
17 25/05/1834 William BLACKHALL Single   Caroline JONES Single  
18 23/09/1834 David EVANS Widower   Ann JONES Single  
19 24/12/1834 Samuel CRUMP Widower Llanbadock Mary ROBERTS Widow  
20 06/02/1835 John WIGGINTON   Usk Martha MILES    
20 06/02/1835 John WIGGINTON   Usk Martha WIGGINTON    
21 15/10/1835 Thomas STEPHENSON Single   Mary WILLIAM Single  
22 00/00/1836 John WILLIAMS Single Trevethin Rachel MILES Single  
23 07/02/1837 William POWELL Single   Frances WILLIAMS Single  
24 15/04/1837 Samuel PLAISTED Widower Trevethin Bridget ADAMS Widow  

Corrections to Tinstaafl Transcripts