Cylchgronau Cymru

THE USE GLEANER A Local Register of Events and Magazine of Information. No. 1. Published by J. H. CLARK, at " The CotraxY Observer" Office, Usk. PRICE 3d. TO OUR READERS. 2jjN presenting the First Number of a Local Maga- ■£5 zine to the Public, it is necessary to say a few ■words as to the objects sought to be attained by such a publication. Many interesting reports of Public Meetings and Historical Records are lost slight of for the want of a vehicle, or rather a •'repository " for the storing away of facts and statistics with reference to local events, which in after years would become both serviceable and inte¬ resting. It is with the view of providing such a record for future reference that this magazine is started, and, while every attention will be paid to matters connected with the past, care will be taken that there shall be a sufficient "spice" of light reading for the present, to relieve our publication from the charge of dullness, to which periodicals of the kind too frequently lay themselves open. A certain number only of each month's issue will be published, and in no case will be reprinted. We give our readers this intimation., in order that they may, by .giving timely notice, secure a perfect volume for binding. We shall, at all times, be pleased to re¬ ceive contributions concerning matters of interest to Monmouthshire readers, as it is intended to circulate the magazine throughout the county. August 1, 1875. The Editor. CHEPSTOW AND ABERGAVENNY NEW EOAD. Forty years ago, the communication between Chep¬ stow and Abergavenny by coach was tedious and dangerous. The four-horse Brecon coach, with its steady old driver Thomas Jones, had to ascend the steep and rugged hills between St. Arvans and De- yauden green, and descend the long Star Pitch and precipitous road to the Cross Hands beyond Llansoy, from thence through Raglan at one time and through Usk at another. Even this road was preferable to to the one over Penycaemawr, with its ledges of rock, previously traversed by the coach. The opening of the New Eoad from Chepstow to Usk, and thence over the Chain Bridge, about the year 1835, was considered a great event, and opened up a country pre¬ viously but little travelled by carriages. The second meeting of the Trustees appointed under the Act for improving the communication between Chepstow and,„Abergavenny, was held on the 15th August, 1833, when the following gentle- menattended, and took and subscribed the oathof quali¬ fication for trustees : Charles Lewis, Esq, St. Pierre ; Lieut-Col. Lewis, David Carruthers, James Proctor, William Hollis, John Cheslyn, William Morgan of Pantygoiire, F. M'Donnell, Alexander Jones, Ed. Harris Phillips, Esqs., the Revs. Francis Lewis, J. B. Davies, and T. A. Williams. Messrs. Jones, Jones, and Davies, bankers, were requested to act as Treasurers, and Mr John Shepard of Usk, was appointed Clerk. Messrs. M'Donnell and Mostyn, solicitors, of Usk, in addition to a very handsome subscription from Mr M'Donnell, gave the Trust the whole of their professional profits. LLANGWM CHURCH. No clergyman could have displayed more in¬ terest and zeal in the restoration and im¬ provement of his church than has the Rev. W- Price, vicar of Llangwm. For years he has applied the most assiduous attention and made personal sacri¬ fices to that object, and by dint of most extraordinary effoits he succeeded in raising sufficient funds to complete the restoration. This venerable fabric had, for many years, been in. a most dilapidated condition, uutil at length it had gone so far to decay that Divine Service could no longer be held within its walls, and it became the receptacle for rubbish. On the Be v. Wm. Price the present vicar, being appointed to the living, he commenced what (considering that there were no gentry residing in the parish) may be called the Herculean task of restoring the church and building a school-house in the parish, and by his indomitable perseverance he succeeded in these projects. The latter building was opened in the early part of the year 1871, and the sacred edifice was re-opened for public worship on Thursday, the 19th of October, in the same year. The prayers were