Chepstow Park Wood is a roughly triangular area of woodland occupying the highest point of a ridge above the Wye, 6.5km to the north-west of Chepstow Castle to which it belonged. It measures some 2.5km east by west, between the B2493 on the west and the minor road to St Arvans on the east, tapering over the same distance to the village of Itton Common on the south.

Unusually well-preserved, the park had two distinct phases of development: during the medieval period; and in the seventeenth century. The park was established by Roger Bigod, fifth earl of Norfolk who became the owner of the great estate of the Marshal family in 1270. Initially called the ‘New Park’, it was bounded by a timber paling or fence enclosing 8150 acres.There are now several entrances but the main one was probably at Pen-y-Parc on the east side and the nearest boundary point to the castle. The park at this time was at least partly wooded; wood was sold from it and a keeper of the charcoal pit is recorded. Parts were also used for grazing. Deer and oxen within the park were listed in 1306. Sporting use was probably mainly hunting deer, and falconry which is also recorded.

After a period of possession by the Crown the second phase of development came in the 1630s when the Earl of Worcester enclosed the park (along the original boundary) in the stone wall visible today. The wall is about 1.5m high on the outside and 0.5–0.7m high on the inside. The park was then probably used for deer coursing (fashionable at the time) along a one-mile track which probably ran from the entrance at Pen-y-Parc, on the east, to the now ruined park lodge. If this is the case, this is the only known deer course in Wales and one of only a handful in Britain. Structures of note within the park include the remains of the lodge, a circular ditched earthwork within which are the remains of a building; two spring-fed ponds, at present very overgrown, and a small reservoir, on the higher ground in the middle of the park; and a substantial raised platform situated close to the boundary to the southwest of Pen-y-Parc.

The park is now largely taken up with commercial conifer plantations, but there are pockets of indigenous deciduous woodland of mainly oak, beech and ash. A network of tracks runs through the park from several entrances, some associated with forestry operations, others older, following more winding courses. Several tracks can be traced from presumed original entrance points. One, leading southwards from the Devauden (north-west) entrance, has the character of a medieval track, being sunken between two banks.

Sources:
Cadw 2007: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, additional and revised entries part 1, 38-41 (ref: PGW(Gt)61(MON).
Ordnace Survey 495 card record: ST49NE16.
Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map of Monmouthshire XXV, sheet 7 (1901).

RCAHMW, 3 July 2022

Cofnod Safle

Chepstow Park Wood, Devauden