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Burglaries
There have been
several break-ins in the village! Please be vigilant and make sure
you lock all your doors. Burglars have targeted patio doors,
sheds, and garages.
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Spring is almost here! Get
your seeds and plants via St Mary's Church. We
are also entering the Best Kept Village Competition again. For this and all the latest planned
activities please see 'What's On' page.
And in anticipation of Spring here is 'The Daffodils' poem.
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I
wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and
hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden
daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and
dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that
shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in
never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw
I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them
danced, but
they
Out-did the sparkling leaves
in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund
company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the
show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In
vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward
eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with
pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
by William
Worsdworth (1770 - 1850)
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Llanvair Discoed (Welsh: Llanfair Is Coed) is a small
village in Monmouthshire,
south-east Wales, between Chepstow and Newport.
The village is mentioned in the Domesday
Book of 1086 as 'Lamecare'. The name
means Mary's (Mair > Fair)
church (llan) under (is) the wood (coed). The
'd' at the start of Discoed only appears in more recent versions of
the name. The correct Welsh language name is Llanfair Is Coed or
Llanfair-iscoed. The wood refers to Wentwood, which at the time
of the Kingdom of
Gwent separated the cantref of Gwent Is Coed ("this side of the
wood", as envisaged from Caerwent), from that of Gwent Uwch Coed
("beyond the wood").
The village contains a small ruined castle, believed to have been built by the FitzPayn
family, as lords of Llanvair Discoed, in the 13th century. The ruins
of the castle are now situated within the boundaries of a private
property. The last resident of the castle was a member of the Kemeys family who died
defending Chepstow Castle. The Kemeys family owned and managed a lot of
the land around the area, explaining why so many places have 'Kemeys' in
the name. If you would like to know more about Llanvair
Castle and other Welsh castles click here.
Llanvair Discoed is a popular village and most residents
have lived here for many years. The centre of
village life is St Mary's Church
and The Woodlands
Tavern.
Immediately to the north of the village is Gray
Hill
with its standing stones
and medieval village. From the 900ft (273m) summit there are
wonderful views of the Severn Estuary, Wentwood Reservoir and
the surrounding countryside.
Thank you
to Gwyn Lewis, a former resident of the village for much of the
information listed on the History
page.
