The quiet Welsh village sat atop a forgotten medieval city
At first glance, Trellech might seem like just another one-pub village straddling the Welsh border. Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll realise that this parish in the wooded Wye Valley is one of the most curious places in the country, with a lost medieval city and Neolithic standing stones pointing to an illustrious – if mysterious - past.
It takes guts to pin your aspirations (not to mention life savings) on a muddy field in Trellech in Monmouthshire, but back in 2004, archaeology graduate Stuart Wilson just did that. Moles had been throwing up fragments of medieval pottery – a sign, perhaps, of something far bigger below.
According to Stuart, that something was a forgotten metropolis, so he parted with £32,000 to buy the field at auction and got started on a serious dig. Cynics thought Stuart was mad, but his gut feeling turned out to be right.
Over the course of 15 years, together with volunteers, the former tollbooth worker has excavated treasure after treasure on the 4.6-acre field, not least a fortified manor house, round stone tower and medieval pots and metalwork.
At its zenith in the mid-13th century, Trellech is believed to have been an iron and charcoal boomtown, exploited by the powerful Anglo-Norman de Clare family to produce weapons for their military advances in Wales.
Though the village seems small and sleepy today, then it would have been one of the biggest towns in Wales, with a population of 10,000. Bigger, in fact, than Cardiff, and a quarter the size of London. This rich vein of history is brought keenly to life at the guided archaeological experience days that run from April to October, where you can have a go at unearthing finds for yourself.
But the lost city is merely icing-on-cake stuff. A field or two over stands a site that sheds light on a much earlier period: Harold’s Stones. If there’s any truth in the legend, this trio of off-kilter megalithic stones gave the town its name – tri meaning "three" and llech meaning "flat stones". Hewn from puddingstone, they are thought to be late Neolithic, and the tallest is 4.5 metres high. Why are they here? Nobody knows.
A five-minute walk along LLandogo Road brings you to the Virtuous Well, or St Anne’s Well. This horseshoe-shaped well, where four springs meet, once welcomed pilgrims and travellers from afar, who came for its iron-rich healing waters. Though now appearing rather humble, in the 18th and 19th century people flocked here to cure eye ailments.
Ladies, so the story goes, would drop pebbles in the well to find out when they would marry (each rising bubble symbolised another month to wait). Lore also has it that the monks at Tintern Abbey tapped into the precious "holy" waters via a three-mile tunnel.
The narrow country lane meanders south of here through forest to Tintern, four miles distant. En route is Whitestone, where walking trails lead up through the woodlands of the lower Wye Valley, particularly beautiful during the springtime eruption of bluebells and again when the broadleaf trees turn gold in autumn.
Many an artist and poet has eulogised this area, not least Wordsworth, who penned Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey near the top viewpoint in 1798. He rhapsodised these “steep and lofty cliffs” and “wild secluded scenes”.
On a bend in the river, two miles south, Tintern Abbey beguiles from the first with the wishbones of its impressive Cistercian monastery, whose cloisters and nave are open to the sky. Founded in 1131 by Walter de Clare, lord of Chepstow, the abbey is one of the greatest ruins in Wales, especially if you give the crowds the slip by arriving early or late.
A three-mile walk makes its way along the Wye and up through some of Britain’s loveliest woodlands to the Devil’s Pulpit. This limestone crag affords terrific views of the abbey from above. Legend has it the rock is named after the devil, who implored the monks below to desert their order and come over to the dark side.
Where to stay
Best explored on a long weekend, there are plenty of charming places to stay the night in the area, including the 18th century Tintern Old Rectory, a delightfully old-fashioned B&B, with river views and season-driven food.
Back in Trellech, the late 16th century Lion Inn was originally a coaching tavern, brew house and pig farm. Now it’s an utterly charming boozer and B&B, with open fires in winter and a beer garden in summer, and a no-nonsense menu featuring the likes of crispy pork crackling and locally reared lamb and beef with all the trimmings.
If you’re after something fancier, drive the four miles north to the Michelin-starred Whitebrook restaurant and rooms for a meal to remember.
