Welsh Journals

President: RICHARD HANBURY TENISON Chairman: BETTY SAGE Secretary: JENNY RENDER 8 Pentonville, Newport, Gwent (0633) 213229 Editor: MRS. ANNA TUCKER 'Hadlow', Llanwenarth Citra, Abergavenny, Gwent NP7 7EY GWENT LOCAL HISTORY Formerly "Presenting Monmouthshire" No. 69 Autumn 1990 EDITORIAL 1990 has been a very auspicious year for Abergavenny because it is 900 years since Hamelin de Ballon chose a low hill in the valley of the River Usk on which to build a castle and extend Norman influence into Wales. He also founded the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary nearby in 1090. From these beginnings a town began to grow and rapidly became established as a market centre for the surrounding area. The start of this 900th year for Abergavenny was marked by a torchlight procession (on a rather wet and drizzly evening) from St. Mary's church (now the parish church but formerly the priory church endowed by Hamelin de Ballon) to the four medieval gateways of the originally walled town. Many other celebrations have marked this year but one which we can record in the pages of this Journal is a competition organised by the Abergavenny Local History Society for school children based on the history of the area. Some remarkable work has been done. A large wall hanging done in textiles produced by the children of Harold Road School, Abergavenny graces the cover of this Journal. It depicts various aspects of the town, church and castle, and was carried out under the guidance of artist-in-residence, Tina Rivers. The collage now hangs in the hall of Harold Road School. In this edition we have two articles about evacuees in Gwent. One written by an evacuee himself and the other an article based on a dissertation researching into evacuees in South East Wales. It would be very interesting to hear from others regarding this wartime movement, both from native Gwent people who housed evacuee children or from those like John Talbot who came to Gwent as a result of these safety measures. Gwent also hosted Spanish evacuees during the Spanish Civil War and it would be intersting to hear from those directly involved with this activity too.