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Mathern

Mathern
Mathern.jpg
Mathern parish church
Mathern is located in Monmouthshire
Mathern
Mathern
Mathern shown within Monmouthshire
Population 1,056 (2011)
OS grid reference ST522912
Principal area
Ceremonial county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town CHEPSTOW
Postcode district NP16
Dialling code 01291
Police Gwent
Fire South Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Monmouthshire
51°37′05″N 2°41′30″W / 51.61818°N 2.6917°W / 51.61818; -2.6917Coordinates: 51°37′05″N 2°41′30″W / 51.61818°N 2.6917°W / 51.61818; -2.6917

Mathern (Welsh: Matharn; older form: Merthyr Tewdrig) is a historic community (parish) and village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, about 3 miles (4.8 km) south west of the town of Chepstow, close to the Severn estuary, the Bristol Channel and the M48 motorway. The village is designated as a Conservation Area. It is now bisected by the motorway, which passes over the road through the village, with the original village located to the south and the more recent development, known as Newton Green, to the north.

An authoritative local history suggests that the settlement originates from a time when the St. Pierre Pill, an inlet off the Severn Estuary, was larger and much more important than now, and met an ancient ridgeway which passed through Shirenewton towards Monmouth. The inlet was originally known as Porthiscoed ("harbour below the woods"), which, as Portskewett, later became the name of a nearby village.

Mathern was originally known as Merthyr-Tewdrig ("burial-place of Tewdrig"), after the martyrdom of St. Tewdrig, king of Gwent and Glywysing. According to the Book of Llandaff, Tewdrig (or Tewdric) was wounded at Tintern around the year 630, after fighting the invading Saxons with his son Meurig ap Tewdrig. His wounds were washed at a spring, where he died. A church was erected on the site of his burial at Mathern, and he was later revered as a martyr and saint. In his memory, Meurig gave the surrounding land, extending for several miles, to the Bishops of Llandaff. During the 12th century, the shorter name Mateyrn, meaning "place of a king", came into common use for the village; Meurig's name is perpetuated in the neighbouring village of Pwllmeyric.


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