A Stone Groove – Epic Castles 1 | VeryFunkyRecords.com

Jan 08 2014 by AJ Moore

A Stone Groove – Epic Castles 1

Chepstow castle is the oldest stone Castle in Britain. I grew up in Chepstow, my parents my sister and I moved to the area when I was around 6, and the image of this fortress like structure always loomed large in the minds of local people, local business and local heritage. Chepstow is the combination of two old “Anglo Saxon” words, ‘chep’ and ‘stow’ literally meaning market town. The remains of the old wall that once protected the inhabitants now snakes through businesses and cark parks at different points, as the urban conurbations have sprung up over generations and spilled over the wall flooding the surrounding area. The town is steeped in history, an historical trading post on the Welsh border, at one point a prominent ship building port, now the old Gate House sits as the center peace of this ‘Middle Class Haven’ on the border between England and Wales. The castle, one of many in Wales is perfectly situated, both strategically and visually on the river’s meander. A shear 200 ft plus, rock and stone wall face, towering over ‘The River Wye’. The castle is a marvel of stonemasonry and the inner Keep was built almost 1000 years ago, its construction was begun under the instruction of the Norman Lord William fitzOsbern in 1067. No school kid’s education is complete in Monmouthshire without a trip to this relic of another age. I can recall countless trips, bike rides and time wasting teenage drinking sessions in Chepstow, and later many pub crawls, all undertaken with the shadow of the Castle and Town Wall cast all around me.