Floodlighting Abergavenny Castle

Our society runs the sponsorship scheme to floodlight Abergavenny Castle.
Under the scheme, you pay £5 for a week of your choice to celebrate someone's birthday, a wedding or anniversary or in remembrance of someone.
It would be a special Christmas present for the person who has everything.
A certificate will be posted to you or, if you wish, directly to the person you have chosen to receive it as a gift.

Click here for an application form

E-mail for more details

Our society

MEMBERSHIP: The society, formed in 1977, now has a membership of nearly 400. Lectures are held on a monthly basis usually on the third Thursday from September to May at the Borough Theatre at the Abergavenny Town Hall with Fairtrade tea/coffee available after the meetings. Check the 'Home Page' or 'Lectures' Page' on left; and local press for updates.

HOW TO JOIN ... AND HOW TO CONTACT US:
From the AGM in May, membership of the society will cost just £10 per person a year. Members can choose to pay the annual subscription by Standing Order. If you would like more details please e-mail us on abergavennyhistory@ukonline.co.uk.

Newcomers are welcome to join at any time during the year. Just come along to one of our lectures at the Abergavenny Borough Theatre which start at 7.30pm usually on the third Thursday of the month (see 'Lectures page').

In 2007, the society started its 30th anniversary season with a talk by the noted archaeologist Julian Richards, presenter of BBC TV's Meet The Ancestors and Blood of the Vikings. In 2002, the Silver Jubilee was celebrated with lectures by Professor Mick Aston of Channel 4's and S4C's TV series Time Team and also Frank Olding, the former curator of Abergavenny Museum, who presented the BBC2 Wales series, Reading the Ruins. Among other noted lecturers have been the historian John Davies, Professor Chris Williams; Professor Miranda Aldhouse-Green and the broadcaster and journalist Trevor Fishlock.

WELSH VERSION: The society would like to thank Rural Community Action for a £600 grant awarded in 2005 to have the website translated into Welsh. Please click on the Cymraeg link on top left.

EVENTS: Social events include quiz nights and the annual Christmas dinner which is held instead of a lecture in December. Each summer we run coach trips to historic places both locally and further afield, and each member receives an annual newsletter in August.

SUMMER TRIPS 2008: Trips included a guided visit to Stonhenge with archaeologist Julian Richards, a visit to Berkeley Castle and Chavenage; the medieval ship at Newport; a short break to the north-east of England, including Hadrian's Wall and York; a repeat tour of industrial sites in Blaenau Gwent, a trip to Carmarthen and a tour of Cotswold churches.

TOWN AND MARKET WALKS: We run a number of guided walks for visitors and residents alike. The 'Town Tour' lasts about one and a half hours and includes a guided walk around Abergavenny Castle and then through the town ending near Tan House, now Pegasus Court. Walks are held at the end of July and beginning of August and by arrangement throughout the year for groups.

In summer 2008, in partnership with Abergavenny Farmers' Market, we organised the 'Market Tour' detailing the history of the Abergavenny markets. This new walk has proved to be very popular and lasts under an hour with tea and cake provided by the Farmers' Market Association and Friends of the Earth at the Market Hall at the end of the walk. Farmers' markets are held on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month. The 'Market Tours' have finished for this year but will be resumed next spring or summer. We can organise one before then by arrangement for groups.

COMMITTEE:
Chair: I M Morgan; Secretary: G Wakley; Treasurer: S Morgan.
Other committee members: P. Beynon, J. Butt, C Haslam, K. Key, B. and D. Powell, R. Rogers, B. Seabourne, M Seabourne, M Senior, J. Skinner, S. Smith, J. White.
Membership Secretary: S Smith.
Floodlighting Secretary: P Beynon.
Lecture Secretaries: B. and D. Powell.
Newsletter editor and Churchwatch Secretary: K Key.
Visits' Organiser: J Skinner, Visits' Treasurer: M Seabourne.

PRESIDENT: The Honorary Life President is G. Jones. Other life members are F. Olding; A. and K. Spink, R. and C Davies, K Key, D and E Edwards.

GUIDED WALKS: Every summer at the end of July and August, the society arranges conducted walks around the castle and town. These 'town tours' have for some years been provided for townspeople, schools, organisations and visitors during the Abergavenny Arts Festival. Other walking tours can also be arranged on request.

PROJECTS

DVD OF ABERGAVENNY'S HISTORY: We have compiled a film detailing the story of Abergavenny. Nine committee members have researched archives and records of significant moments in the town's past to prepare the definitive history of the town.

WAR MEMORIES: In 2002 we completed a series of tape recordings about memories of life in Abergavenny during World War II, a project which is available for research. A booklet, A Town Remembers: Wartime Abergavenny 1939-45, was published in November 2002 and was sold out within two months. A second edition was printed and a few remaining booklets are available for sale at £4 each with £1.50 post and packaging. Please e-mail the society if you would like to buy a copy or would like further details.

NEW PLAQUES: We have unveiled 14 plaques to add to the town's original history trail of nine plaques. In addition, we intend to introduce a series of "child-friendly" plaques to encourage youngsters to learn more about the town in which they live. We are also planning a tribute to Lord and Llanover who helped to keep alive Welsh traditions.

FLOODLIGHTING: If you're looking for an unusual present then we might have a solution for you. The society - not the council - runs a floodlighting sponsorship scheme for Abergavenny Castle under which you pay £5 for one week to commemorate someone's birthday, wedding, anniversary or as an extra special Christmas present.

A special certificate will be sent to the person saying which week has been chosen for them. The floodlighting scheme was started by Freda Key and has proved to be very popular. The Floodlighting Secretary is P. Beynon. E-mail for more information.

CASTLE GARDENS: The castle garden near the museum has recently been transformed with a Victorian theme, thanks to a number of grants. For some years, the Society had looked after the garden planted with herbs from medieval times but sadly it had become overgrown and the number of volunteers had declined.

But interest in the garden has been revived and a renovation scheme hs recently been completed. The Society has received a number of grants - one for £1000 from Rural Community Action, £1,950 from Monmouthshire County Council's Community Economic Development Scheme and £1,000 from the council's Community Pride scheme. Monmouthshire Youth Service also contributed £350. Others involved include Coleg Gwent.

The money has gone towards the cost of clearing the ground, tools, plants, information board and leaflets. Two half-circular wrought-iron Victorian benches have been added.

If you like gardening then we would like to hear from you. More volunteers are wanted to help our gardening team tend the colourful displays which so enhance the pathway around the museum. Contact the Curator at the Museum or e-mail the Society.

CHURCH WATCH: The society is looking for more volunteers who can spare two hours a month to attend St Mary's Priory Church and act as guides for visitors. Please contact Ken Key or e-mail the society for more details.

GEOPHYSICS: The Abergavenny Local History Society has paid £500 for a geophysics survey of the ground between the castle's curtain wall, the lodge and the ground around part of Castle Street. It is an interesting area since the Roman and medieval walls may have crossed it and many other things may be revealed. The survey will extend our knowledge of the 'Orchard' site excavated by Patrick Ashmore in 1972 and the Ewer's Garden site excavated by the Abergavenny Archaeology Group in the late 1960s.

History of the society

The roots of the society lie in the committee which worked to open the castle museum back in 1959. The Friends of the Abergavenny Museum committee had managed to save from demolition the crumbling Regency hunting lodge on the site of the Norman keep and had raised funds to create the first Abergavenny Museum.

The museum was handed over to the Abergavenny Council in 1971 which is commemorated in the Jackson plaque alongside the path to the museum. The chairman was Alfred Jackson while his brother Ernest, was the secretary. Duggan Thacker was the skilled curator of the first museum.

After some time, the Friends of the Museum, the late Mrs Freda Key, Mrs Ruth White (now of Somerset) and Gwyn Jones found themselves without a function. So they decided to use their love of local history to form the Abergavenny Local History Society.

In 1977, Gwyn Jones became the first Chairman, Freda Key, the Treasurer, while Ruth White was the Secretary.

ABERGAVENNY TOWN CENTRE STREET SURVEY: During the early 1980s, 10 members of the society undertook a research survey of the shops and premises in Abergavenny town centre, more than 200 buildings in all. As well as recording on film the frontages and architectural features of the shops, they traced the history of each property through the recollections of older people, 19th and early 20th trade directories, and researched census and other returns. The book of the town centre survey is available for study in Abergavenny Library, the museum and Monmouthshire County Record Office.

In 1985, we won the Local History Society of the Year awarded by the British Association for Local History.

The society is now one of the largest and most active groups in the town. A wide range of projects has been undertaken which underlines the strength of the society.

The summer trips are so popular that demand for places means that not everyone can go on each outing. But the organisers try to please as many people as possible and also arrange trips to a wide range of sites varying from pre-history to more recent industrial archaeology.