Lancaut
| Lancaut | |
|---|---|
 Ruins of St James' church at Lancaut |
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 Lancaut
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| Lancaut shown within Gloucestershire | |
| OS grid reference | ST5396 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHEPSTOW |
| Postcode district | NP16 |
| Dialling code | 01291 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Lancaut (Welsh: Llan Cewydd) is a deserted village in Gloucestershire, England, located alongside the River Wye, around two miles north of Chepstow. It occupies a narrow-necked promontory formed by a curve of the river, which acts as the border between England and Wales. Little remains of the village today, except for the roofless church of St. James.
The peninsula forms a strong natural defensive position and the ramparts of an Iron Age fort, known as Spital Meend, across this neck may still be identified today. The site of the fort looks both north and south up and down the Wye, as well as eastwards towards the Severn estuary.
The name of Lancaut (historically, sometimes also spelled Llancourt) is an anglicisation of the Welsh: Llan Cewydd, or 'Church of Saint Cewydd', an obscure Welsh saint of the 6th century.Offa's Dyke, which was constructed in the late 8th century to define the area controlled by the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia and to deter incursions by the Welsh from the west, passed to the east of Lancaut, and incorporated part of the defences of the Spital Meend hillfort. The peninsula and parish of Lancaut, though on the eastern bank of the river, remained under Welsh control until the 10th century; by 956 it had been incorporated within the English king's manor of Tidenham.
The village was never large, but in 1306 contained 10 tenant households, and in 1551 had 19 adults. By 1750 the village had only two inhabited houses, and in 1848 the parish was recorded as having a mere 16 inhabitants. The civil parish was merged with Tidenham in 1935. Today there is little remaining of the village except for a still-working farm.
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Wikipedia