Newchurch, Monmouthshire

Newchurch is an extensive rural parish and small hamlet in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located 6 miles south east of Usk and 6 miles north west of Chepstow, between the B4235 and B4293 roads.History and amenitiesBefore the Norman conquest of south-east Wales, the area was heavily forested as part of Wentwood. There is a Neolithic dolmen or burial chamber at Gaer-llwyd, 1 mile south west of the village close to the B4235.In the early 12th century the Newchurch area was known as Plataland and was given by the Marcher lord of Striguil, or Chepstow, to Tintern Abbey. The monks cleared much of the land for farming, but in 1302 exchanged it with Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, for land at Woolaston in what is now Gloucestershire. The parish still contains much of Wentwood and also, to the east, Chepstow Park Wood south of Devauden.Bigod built a church for the tenants of his land, which became known as Newchurch. The parish church is dedicated to St. Peter. It has some 14th-century features but was largely rebuilt around 1865.