Not proofread: Created page with "<section begin="s1"/>and Lee, which subsequently led to the latter's-court-martial and suspension for a year. The readjusted American line was composed of the divisions of Laf..."
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<noinclude><pagequality level="1" user="Slowking4" /><div class="pagetext">{{rh|{{x-larger|728 }}|{{x-larger|{{uc|MONMOUTHSHIRE}}}}|{{x-larger| }}}}<!-- replace "Foo" and "Bar" with the header from the page, delete and input page numbers as appropriate -->
</noinclude><section begin="s1"/>and Lee, which subsequently led to the latter's-court-martial
and suspension for a year. The readjusted American line was
composed of the divisions of Lafayette, Greene, Alexander and
Patterson, while Wayne's brigade, which had been in Lee's
advance from the first, was posted in a favourable position.
The British attacked this line and a warm, though brief, engagement
ensued. Both sides encamped at night on the ground
occupied. The British, having accomplished their object in
delaying Washington's pursuit, continued their march the next
day towards New York. Washington turned to the left, crossed
the Hudson above, and encamped for the remainder of the season
at White Plains, New York, within striking distance of the city.
Each side suffered about the same loss in the battle, that of the
British being 400 (60 due to sunstroke), the American somewhat
less. In this engagement Lieut.-Colonel Henry Monckton (1740-1778)
of the British Grenadiers was killed in leading a charge.
<section end="s1"/>
<section begin="s2"/>'''MONMOUTHSHIRE''', a western border county of England, bounded E. by Gloucestershire, N. E. by Herefordshire, N.W. by Brecknock, W. and S.W. by Giamorganshire (Wales), and S. by the estuary of the river Severn. The area is 534 sq. m.
The surface is varied, and in many districts picturesque, especially
along the valley of the Wye, and between that river and
the Usk. In the west and north the hills rise to a considerable
height, and this mountain region encircles a finely undulating
country. The highest summits are Sugar Loaf (1955 ft.),
Blorenge (1838), and Skirrid Fawr (1601), summits of the hills
which almost encircle the town of Abergavenny. On the other
hand, along the shore of the Severn estuary on either side of
the Usk, are two extensive tracts of marshland, called the
Caldicot and Wentlloog levels, stretching from Cardiff to
Portskewet, and protected from inundations by strong embankments.
Theprincipal rivers are the Wye, which forms the
greater part of the eastern boundary of the county with Gloucestershire,
and falls into the Severn; the Monnow, which forms a
portion of its boundary with Herefordshire, and falls into the
Wye at the town of Monmouth; the Usk, which rises in Brecknock,
and fiows southward through the centre of the county;
the Ebbw, which rises in the north-west, and enters the estuary
of the Usk below Newport; and the Rhymney, which rises in
Brecknock, and, after forming the boundary between Monmouth
and Glamorgan, enters the Bristol Channel a little east of Cardiff
Salmon abound especially in the Wye and the Usk, and troutare
plentiful in many of the streams.
''Geology''.-The oldest rocks in the county are the Silurian strata
(Wenlock Shale and Limestone, and Ludlow Beds) which form
an extensive anticline at Usk; a smaller inlier appears at Rumney
on the south-west borders of the county near Cardiff. These beds
dip under the Old Red Sandstone, a great series of red marls,
sandstones and concretionary limestones (corn stones) which occupies
the north-eastern part of the county; the highest beds contain
rits and conglomerates which give rise to bold escarpments and fofty plateaux (e.g. the Sugar Loaf and Skirrid Fawr) a ongside the outcrop of the Carboniferous Limestone. The western part of the
county, between Ponty ool and the river Rhymney, is occupied
by the eastern end of the great South Wales coal-field, where the
Carboniferous Limestone, Millstone Grit and Coal Measures (Lower
Coal Series, Pennant Sandstone and Upper Coal Series) dip westward
and succeed each other from east to west. The Coal Measures
abound in coal-seams and ironstone, and their densely populated
valleys offer a marked contrast to the a ricultural and pastoral
districts of the rest of the county. The Carboniferous Limestone
comes in again in the south-east near Chepstow, and has imparted
its characteristic scenery to the lower reaches of the Vi/ye. After
a prolonged interval, during which these older formations were
folded, faulted, upheaved and finally carved by erosion into hills
and valleys, the southern portion of the region was submerged
beneath the waters of the Triassic lake in which the Keuper Maris
were deposited. These consist of red conglomerates and marls
which wrap round the heights and fill up the hollows amongthe
older rocks' to the south-west of Chepstow, and the subsidence
continuing, admitted the waters of the Jurassic sea which deposited
the fossiliferous Rhaetic and Lias limestones and shales of Llanwern
and Goldcliff near Newport. Glacial gravel and boulder-clay are
found in the valleys and a broad tract of alluvium borders the
shores of the Bristol Channel.
Agriculture.-Along the Severn shore the soil is deep and loamy,
and admirably suited for the growth of trees. The most fertile
land is that resting on the Red Sandstone, especially along the
banks of the Usk, where wheat of fine quality is raised. In the
mountainous regions more attention is paid to grazing than to
the raising of crops. There are a considerable number of dairy
farms, but sheep- arming is much more largely followed. Only
about seven-tenths of the total area of the county is under cultivation.
There is a lar e extent of hill pasture, and a considerable
acreage under orchards. »
Mining.-The coal-mines and iron-works which Monmouthshire
shares with South Wales are very important. They occur in the
wild and mountainous western part of the count, where a series
of upland valleys, running parallel from to S., has
each its populous minin(g townships and railways, which have in
many cases necessitate remarkable engineering works-such as
the great Crumlin viaduct. These valleys, in order from east to
west, with the principal townships in each, .are as follows: Afon
Lwyd (Panteg, Pontypool, Abersychan and Blaenavon); Ebbw
F ach (Abertillery, Nantyglo and Blaina), joining the Ebbw (Risca,
Ebbw Vale); Sirhowy (Bedwellty and Tredegar); Rhymney (New
Tredegar and Rhymney). Besides coal, a considerable quantity
of fire-clay and some iron are raised.
Communications.-T he principal railway serving the county is
the Great Western, but in the mining districts there are also various
branches of the London and North-Western, Rhymney and Brecon
and Merthyr systems. The Crumlin Canal from the Ebbw Valley,
and the Monmouthshire Canal from Pontypool converge upon
Newport, which is the principal port in the county. The Brecon
Canal runs north from Pontypool into the valley of the Usk.
Population and Administration.-The area of the ancient
county is 341,688 acres, with a population in 1891 of 252,416,
and in 1901 of 292,317. The area of the administrative county
is 349,712 acres. The county comprises 6 hundreds. The
municipal boroughs are Abergavenny (pop. 7795), Monmouth
(5095), and Newport, a county borough (67,270). The following
are urban districts: Abercarn (12,607), Abersychan (17,768),
Abertillery (21,945), Bedwellty (9988), Blaenavon (10,869),
Caerleon (1367), Chepstow (3067), Ebbw Vale (2O, Q94), Llanfrechfa,
Upper (2979), Llantarnam (5287), Mynyddislwyn
(3337), Nantyglo and Blaina (1 3,48Q), Panteg (7484), Pontypool
(6126), Rhymney (7915), Risca (9661), Tredegar (18,497), and
Usk (1476). Monmouthshire is in the Oxford circuit, and
assizes are held at Monmouth. It has one court of quarter
sessions, and is divided into II petty sessional divisions. The
boroughs of Monmouth and Newport have commissions of the
peace, but no separate court of quarter sessions. The parliamentary
divisions are the northern, western and southern, each
returning one member; and the Monmouth district of parliamentary
boroughs, consisting of the towns of Monmouth,
Newport and Usk, returns one member.
History.-The district which is now Monmouthshire formed the
Welsh kingdom of Gwent at the time of the Heptarchy, and,
owing to the extraordinary courage of the Gwentians in resisting
the repeated inroads of the Saxons, no permanent English settlement
was “effected in the district until close upon the middle of
the 11th century. The incursions of the West Saxons began in
the 7th century, and, during the reign of Alfred, Brochmael
and Fermael, kings of Gwent, acknowledged Alfred as their
lord, and sought his protection against their enemies. In the
9th and 10th centuries the district was frequently harried by
the Danes, who in 915, under Ohter and Hwald, sailed round
Wessex and Cornwall to the mouth of the Severn and plundered
all along the banks of the Wye, finally taking prisoner the
bishop of Llandaif, whom they only released on a ransom of
£40. In 926 /Ethelstan obliged the kings of the north Britons
to meet him at Hereford and fixed the Wye as the limit of their
territory. In 976 the Danes destroyed Caerleon, at this time
the chief town of the district. The early IIth century was
taken up with a series of interminable contests between the
Welsh princes for the succession-in South Wales, as a result
of which the Welsh Chronicle relates that in 1047 the whole
of South Wales lay waste, and in 1049, when a fleet of Irish
pirates entered the Severn estuary, Griffith, the king of South
Wales, assisted them in plundering the neighbourhood. In
1065 Harold conquered the whole district between the lower
reaches of the Wye and the Usk, and gave orders for the
construction of a hunting-box at Portskewet for Edward the
Confessor, but very shortly after Caradoc ap Griffith, with
a large body of followers, 'killed all the workmen engaged in
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