ABERGAVENNY MANOR AND LORDSHIP

Identity: confirmed — The supplied F243024 record, authority GB/NNAF/M172278, and historical forms Burgavenny, Fenni and Y identify the Abergavenny manor/lordship in Monmouthshire. The associated Gwent Archives and National Library of Wales records explicitly concern the lordship of Abergavenny, its rentals, terriers, courts, surveys and perambulations.
Representative point: 51.8194073, -3.0174476
Basis: supported_manorial_centre — Abergavenny Castle was the principal medieval lordship centre and seat associated with the Lords of Abergavenny. The castle site is documented at OS grid reference SO 299 140, with the decimal position given by the Cadw/ICOMOS register and associated heritage gazetteer.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Not established as a single polygon; surviving extent evidence spans the medieval lordship and early-modern/19th-century estate administration.
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The lordship was a composite territorial jurisdiction rather than a simple modern administrative unit. Gwent Archives records identify lands and manors associated with it across numerous Monmouthshire parishes, including Abergavenny, Llanvihangel Crucorney, Llangattock Lingoed, Llanvetherine, Llanellen, Llanfoist, Llanwenarth, Llantilio Pertholey, Trevethin, Aberystruth, Llanhilleth, Tregare, Bryngwyn, Bettws Newydd, Coed Morgan, Llanarth, Clytha, Mamhilad, Goytrey and Lanover, with additional associated lands in Herefordshire. A 1821 survey of the Barony of Abergavenny and related plans survive, but the accessible evidence does not supply a sufficiently recoverable, continuous historical perimeter for safe polygon injection. The manor of Abergavenny itself was also distinguished in some records from the wider lordship, sometimes appearing as Abergavenny Bedell or as part of the borough.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Abergavenny Manor and Lordship, MDR record F243024: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F243024 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor identity and authority reference GB/NNAF/M172278.
- Gwent Archives: Abergavenny, Lord, manuscripts [c.1560]-1959, GB0218.D1583: https://www.gwentarchives.gov.uk/media/ng4jnefd/d1593-lord-abergavenny-papers.html — Lists the Survey of the Barony of Abergavenny, the parishes and manors covered by it, associated estate plans, rentals and territorial holdings.
- Survey of the Barony of Abergavenny, D1583/188: https://www.gwentarchives.gov.uk/media/ng4jnefd/d1593-lord-abergavenny-papers.html — Describes a survey volume with a map and plans of lands in the Abergavenny barony, including the town and castle of Abergavenny and numerous Monmouthshire manors.
- Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens: Abergavenny Castle: https://coflein.gov.uk/media/17/264/cpg317.pdf — Documents Abergavenny Castle as a medieval castle site at OS grid reference SO 299 140 and identifies the surviving castle precinct and motte.
- Abergavenny Castle, Parks & Gardens database entry: https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/abergavenny-castle — Provides the decimal coordinates 51.8194073, -3.0174476 for Abergavenny Castle.
- Some account of the ancient monuments in the Priory Church, Abergavenny: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Some_account_of_the_ancient_monuments_of_abergavenny_%28IA_someaccountofanc00morg%29.pdf — States that Abergavenny was the capital of the lordship and describes the lordship as the country of Overwent, supporting the castle/town as the manorial centre and indicating the wider territorial character of the lordship.
- Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust, Penyfal Hospital, Abergavenny: archaeological desk-based assessment: https://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GGAT/media/ReportPDF/50_A48_PenyfalHospitalAbergavennyDBA.pdf — Distinguishes the rural manor of Abergavenny, also called Abergavenny Bedell, from the wider lordship and notes that the associated field system lay within the lordship.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The supplied record names a manor and lordship, but the historical lordship was territorially composite and should not be substituted with the modern county or parish boundary.
- The available sources establish the central site and a broad multi-parish extent, but do not provide a safely recoverable continuous polygon for the historical manorial territory.
- The wider lordship included or was associated with lands in both Monmouthshire and Herefordshire; therefore a Monmouthshire-only polygon would risk omitting historically associated territory.
- Abergavenny Castle is used as the representative point for the lordship centre, not as the boundary of the whole manor or lordship.