Look down to your left and you’ll see the rough stonework of the old wall rising just above the dirt track-if you spot those patches of stone running alongside the greenery, you’ve found it!
Alright, picture this: it's the late 1200s, and Abergavenny is not the peaceful spot you see today. Instead of farm tractors and quiet fields, imagine soldiers marching, merchants shouting, and every so often, someone panicking because a neighbor forgot to lock the city gates. These ancient walls once wrapped Abergavenny in a big oval stone hug-roughly as wide as three football fields end to end-and they were here to keep danger out. But did you know the original walls were made out of wood? I suppose the local Normans learned pretty quickly that wood and rainy Welsh weather don’t mix, so they switched to sturdy stone by the end of the 13th century. People actually paid a little extra tax every time they bought goods just to keep the walls standing. That’s like a medieval subscription service-“Get your apples and keep the Vikings out!” Today, only small chunks of the wall remain, weaving their way behind houses, gardens, and even the odd chicken coop. If you listen closely, maybe you’ll hear a whisper of the old chaos echoing off this ancient stone. Not bad for a wall that’s survived for over 700 years-though now its biggest threat is the occasional runaway sheep!
