Lancaut

Lancaut is a deserted village in Gloucestershire, England, located alongside the River Wye, around two miles north of Chepstow. It occupies a narrow-necked promontory formed by a curve of the river, which acts as the border between England and Wales. Little remains of the village today, except for the roofless church of St. James.HistoryThe peninsula forms a strong natural defensive position and the ramparts of an Iron Age fort, known as Spital Meend, across this neck may still be identified today. The site of the fort looks both north and south up and down the Wye, as well as eastwards towards the Severn estuary.The name of Lancaut (historically, sometimes also spelled Llancourt) is an anglicisation of the Llan Cewydd, or 'Church of Saint Cewydd', an obscure Welsh saint of the 6th century. Offa's Dyke, which was constructed in the late 8th century to define the area controlled by the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia and to deter incursions by the Welsh from the west, passed to the east of Lancaut, and incorporated part of the defences of the Spital Meend hillfort. The peninsula and parish of Lancaut, though on the eastern bank of the river, remained under Welsh control until the 10th century; by 956 it had been incorporated within the English king's manor of Tidenham.