Old Llanvair Discoed by Bill Marsh I remember this little village, situated below Grey Hill and Wentwood, when it only had twelve houses in the village itself, plus five on the South side of Grey Hill belonging to Ben Davies, Will Morgan, Richard Davies, Mr Bazzard and Tom Stevens making a total of seventeen. There were also three farms, the church, the school and a pub, called 'The King's Arms'. There were also the ruins of two houses above the "Slades", which once belonged to Joey James and Jimmy Lewis. I was born in 1912, in The King's Arms public house. A local nickname for the pub was "The War Office", which it gained atthe time of building Wentwood Reservoir in 1894, when the men would visit the pub for a drink. After a few pints a row would start, and they would go out into the field at the back of the pub and fight one another, after which they would go back into the pub again the best of friends! My father bought The King's Arms in 1906 from a Mr Frank Norriss. My father worked for him in his younger days as a lad, breaking in young horses for different people. There were some tough characters around in those days, such as George Hayward (nicknamed "Old Gloster" following his service in the 1914-18 war), Len Hale, "Curly Jack", Gilbert Fleck, George Broome, George Clarke, Phil Lewis and many more. At harvest time, these chaps followed the threshing machines around from farm to farm. These machines, or 'threshing drums' as they were called, were owned by Mr E. G. Price of Caerwent House, Caerwent. They were pulled around from farm to farm by steam traction engines, which also provided the drums with power by way of a belt drive from the traction engine flywheel. The three farms in Llanvair Discoed were owned in those days by three brothers, Will Pritchard at Hill Farm (or 'Top House' as we called it), Tom Pritchard at Court House Farm, and John Pritchard at Lower House farm. These farms employed some of the local men of the village. I remember the school being built at Llanvair, or at least the latter part of it. My sister Winifred was one of the first teachers. I was taught by my sister when I started school at the age of four in 1916. I have been told that there was a woman blacksmith, by the name of Mrs Pearse, but I am afraid that this was before my time, as the only blacksmith I can remember was a Mr John Townsend, whose son carried on after his father. I was told Mrs Pearse had the blacksmith's shop opposite the village church. The building still stands there, and belonged to the late Misses Chrissy and Dolly Pritchard. I also remember the little cottage called "Church Cottage" which stood near where the shed now stands in the churchyard, as my Brother once lived there. I also remember a house which stood in the castle grounds which was owned by Court House.

The village post office in those days was looked after by a Mr and Mrs James, whose son Percy carried the mail on foot across country, owing to the hills. The mail in those days was brought from Chepstow by the postman on his pedal cycle. He would deliver around the village only, and Mr & Mrs James's son Percy James carried the rest of the mail to the outlying areas. His route took him up Well Lane, as it is now called, his first port of call being the cottage at the. rear of the Kings Arms (Now named "The Woodlands Tavern"!), then Well Cottage, Village Farm or Top House, then up the footpath to Penhein, Bicca Common, back across Grey Hill, to Ben Davies, Morgans, Bazzards, and finally back down to "The Slades". The postman who brought the mail from Chepstow was Bert Andrews. There was a Postman's hut situated in the little plantation next to the school, where the mail would be sorted. After delivering the mail, Mr Andrews used the hut to mend shoes for the people of the village. He would sit in the hut mending shoes until 3:00pm, then off he would go to collect the outgoing mail from the post office and head back to Chepstow. The lane leading up to Grey Hill always had a gate across just below Mr Bazzard's place. This was to stop animals from wandering down to the village of Llanvair from Grey Hill. If any animals did, they were impounded in the Pound over the brook below the Pub. This meant the owner would have to pay a fine, but who had the money I cannot say. Most likely it went to the Parish. There was also a footpath through the front yard of Hill Farm and up across the field out onto the road at the top of Llanvair hill where the bungalows are built. Mr Eric Daw, who lived at Well cottage always used this route on his way to work at Wentwood Reservoir.

When Mr John Pritchard moved from Lower House Farm to "Tally Bont" the farm was bought by a Mr Williams, who farmed it for a while then sold it. This farm changed hands a few times, then a Mr Hockey bought it around 1924-26. The farm relied on rain-water and water running down the brook by the side of well lane to Fill the pond for the animals. This water came from springs at the top end of Hill Farm, and from Mr Will Pritchard's field, so Mr Hockey bought a small piece of land from Mr Pritchard, sank a well and laid pipes down the side of the road to Lower House Farm. The people of Llanvair Village said that Mr Hockey was taking water away from the brook by sinking his well, so he said he would put a stand pipe at the bottom of the garden of the cottage behind the pub, and this kept the villagers quiet. Drinking water was always carried from the well just below Hill Farm, on the left side of the road, spring water, clear and cold as ice, such a refreshing drink in summer time.

The house opposite the King's Arms was called "Forge Cottage", the home of Mr & Mrs Daw, - "Granny Daw" as she was known. Her son Edgar William Daw, whose photo hung on the wall in the kitchen, was killed in the 1914-18 war. Early one morning in June 1920 there was a knock on the door of my father's house, "The Kings Arms", and when the door was opened a stranger was standing there. He asked for a large packet of players and a box of matches, for which he paid one shilling. He then noticed smoke from the chimney of Granny Daw's house, so made his way to the cottage. He knocked on the door, which was then opened, and he asked if he could have some food as he was stranded down the road. He was very well spoken and polite. Granny Daw invited him in and gave him some breakfast, which he offered to pay for. He then noticed the photo of her son on the wall, and asked who he was. He then said he knew him! He then left to go back down the road to Five Lanes, to return to where his car was parked in the fork of the road which leads to Black Pool Hall. At this time Harry Weston lived in one of the cottages at Five Lanes, and when his daughter Ada got up to get ready for work she saw two people messing around with a motor car. She called her father to have a look, and Mr Weston went on his pedal cycle to Caerwent to notify the Police. P.C. Davies then rode back to Five Lanes with Mr Weston, where he arrested the two men, who turned out to be two deserters from the Navy who had jumped ship at Bristol. They explained to P.C. Davies that the car did not belong to them, but to the man who had gone up to the village. The stranger - who had just had breakfast with Granny Daw - returned and was also arrested. He was Percy Topliss, who was wanted at the time as a notorious deserter from the army. Topliss was asked to drive to Chepstow, but on the way he drove down the wrong road, where he stopped the car, pretending he had engine trouble. He got out, saying he wanted to see what was wrong, and then made his getaway on foot. He was later shot in Cumbria. P.C. Davies was first of all congratulated for catching Topliss, and then reprimanded for losing him, but was still promoted to Sergeant! Percy Topliss was featured in a BBC television programme entitled "The Monocled Mutineer" on September 20 1986.

At the age of 15 I went to work for Mr George Evans, who farmed part of Penhein, which he rented from Mr St. John Micklethwait. This was a mixed farm, cattle, sheep and arable land. The cows were milked by hand in those days, not by milking machine as today. The milk was then carried down across the Fields in milk buckets twice daily to Hill Farm. Here it was put into milk churns with the milk from Mr Pritchard's and carted down to Five Lanes. This was done by the late Misses Chrissy and Dolly Pritchard with their horse and trap. This meant early mornings, giving time for Miss Chris to get to Five Lanes and back in time for her to get to Caerwent School, where she was a teacher, travelling in all winds and weathers on her pedal cycle, and in later years a motor cycle! Mrs Tom Pritchard at Court House Farm baked her own bread, enough for the week, and she always baked some small buns for we children. They tasted lovely. After a few years Mr Tom Pritchard moved from the Court House to a farm in West End, Caldicot. The Court House was then bought by Mr Harry Rosser, who farmed there until around 1937. after which was then taken over by the Welsh Land Settlement. Houses were now being built here and there, also at the place know as Trewen (it's pronounced 'Tree-wen'), to house their workers. There was a road leading from Court House along to Penhein drive, and on the left in the field were huge greenhouses where plants such as tomatoes, lettuces and cabbages were grown, which were then planted out in the fields by the work men.

In my early days, I remember Llanvair Discoed as a nice quiet village, where everyone helped one-another If anyone was taken ill or had an accident everyone would offer help. If a mother was taken ill, Mrs so-and-so would step in to do the washing, cleaning, etc. Of course in those days you had to pay for a Doctor's visit, and to get to Caldicot to the Doctor's surgery you would have to walk. If you had a bicycle you could ride, or if you were too ill to walk someone would take you by horse and trap. I very well remember Jim Burton, who used to visit every summer time. He was the real old type gypsy, with his horse & caravan, and his wife Bessie. Of course they always had chickens and a dog. He would tie a piece of string to the leg of each chicken and then to a peg in the ground so as they were unable to wander off. At night we lads would go up into Mr Pritchard's field where they were camping and sit around the camp fire. There was also living in the village in those days Mr & Mrs Lodge, who were both blind. They lived in the cottage which is now owned by Edgar and Betty Daw, Edgar being the Grandson of Granny Daw who lived at Forge Cottage. There was also a Mr Walker who kept the Ironmonger's shop in Chepstow. He owned a T-type Ford lorry with solid rubber rear tyres. He carried supplies to Llanvair such as paraffin, polish, boot laces, torches, and "Carbide" batteries. You name it he had it, as Llanvair never had a shop. Of course, a Baker would call three days a week. We had the choice of three bakers, Mr Adams, Mr Drower or Mr Woodland, all from Caerwent. Mr Drower's daughter Marjorie, now Mrs Morgan, kept the Post Office at Caerwent (and still does so). The bread these bakers made was the 'real stuff', it would keep for two weeks, not like bread today! The Grocer would call for orders for delivery, and the Butcher would call on Saturday evening with his horse and cart, and the people would go out and buy their joints of meat and such. In the early days, around 1916, to get to Newport we had to travel by horse and trap. Motor cars were very few, most people could not afford to buy one, although they were cheap enough to run, with petrol at 9½ pence per gallon. That's old pence - less than 5p in today's money! There was a regular trip to Newport on Fridays, taking in potatoes,eggs, fresh butter, garden produce such as lettuce, radish, onions - anything the garden produced,and poultry, all to be sold in Newport market. We were up early on Friday mornings so as to make an early start, as it was a 2½ hours journey to Newport from Llanvair. One or the other of our family would go with Mother to help carry the produce, and to bring back the clothes, shoes and so on she bought out of the money she had made from the sale of the produce. In 1926-27 buses started to run along the main A48 from Newport to Chepstow, run by companies such as 'West Mon', 'Blue and White' and 'Fisher's'. The 'West Mon' buses belonged to the local farmers in those days, 'Blue and White' belonged to Mr Baldwin, a Pork Butcher from Newport. There was another bus painted chocolate and white which belonged to Mr Fisher who kept the "Groes-Wen" pub in Penhow. West Mon. buses were eventually bought by a Mr Watts of Lydney, and became 'Red & White' Ltd. He also later bought 'Blue and White' and 'Fisher's' which also became part of the 'Red and White' bus company. The bus service made it much easier for the people from Llanvair to do their shopping, as they only had to walk down to Five Lanes and catch the bus to either Newport or Chepstow.

It was the summer of 1934 when a Mr Jones and Mr Turner of Caldicot Tin Works hired a Plane and Pilot from Filton for a business trip to Scotland. They were due to return on a Thursday but were delayed owing to weather conditions, and returned on the Saturday. At around 4pm, something went wrong as they came over Llanvair Discoed, causing the plane to nose-dive into the Field in front of Black Pool Hall Cottage. The Pilot was seen to jump out of the plane but the two passengers, Mr Jones and Mr Turner were still in the plane as it burst into flames. Workmen in the adjoining field ran to assist and pulled the two men free. By this time my mate and I arrived at the scene, and also an ambulance which was travelling along the A48 heading for Cardiff, but had seen what had happened so made for the place of the crash. The two men were put into the ambulance, and my mate and myself went with them to the Royal Gwent Hospital. Mr Turner died on arrival. Mr Jones was very lucky to have survived.

There is one man we must not forget - Bill Davies, who was know as "The Cider Man". He owned a mobile cider mill which went from farm to farm making cider in the Autumn. The apples and pears would be put through the hoppers which crushed them to pulp. The pulp was then spread onto mats and placed in the cider press in layers. As they pressed the apples the cider ran into a tub to which water was then added. Mr Davies loved for us children to drink this new sweet cider as it soon made you run for the loo! In later years Court House Farm was bought by Monmouth Council. The land was split up and added to the Council Small Holdings. The Glass Houses were sold and pulled down, which made way for the building of private houses. The orchard of apple and pear trees alongside the brook which runs down the side of Well Lane was also cleared away for building. Finally, at the closing of Llanvair School, the register (or 'log-book') showed that a pupil of that school was presented with a gold wrist watch for five years unbroken attendance. As I attended that school I was asked if I knew who it could have been. I told them that I did so - it was my Sister, Gwendoline Marsh. And it's here that I close my story of memories of Llanvair Discoed! A. W. 'Bill' Marsh, 1991