Rogiet
Encyclopedia
Rogiet is a village and community
in Monmouthshire
, south east Wales
, located between Caldicot
and Magor
, some 8 miles west of Chepstow
and 11 miles east of Newport
. It lies close to the M4
and M48 motorway
s, and the Second Severn Crossing
. It is also the location of Severn Tunnel Junction railway station
.
. Its name is of uncertain derivation, and was formerly spelled Roggiatt, Roggiett or Roggiet. The first known lord of the manor was Godfrey de Gamage, who married Joan, the daughter of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke
, known as "Strongbow", in the 12th century.
The village
church
is now dedicated to St. Mary, but in earlier centuries was dedicated to St. Hilary. Much of the church dates from about the 14th century, and was restored in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
, now the Gloucester to Newport line
, was opened through Rogiet in 1850, although the nearest station was two miles away, at Portskewett
. A junction station was built at Rogiet to serve the new Severn Tunnel
, which opened in 1886. This Severn Tunnel Junction
station was in operation for tunnel works traffic by 1883, p. 126 and as a functional station by 1885, p. 130 although it is unclear if it was open to the public at this date, before the official opening of the tunnel in 1886. The sidings of the new station were built on the Caldicot Levels, using spoil excavated from the cutting into the tunnel., p. 122 The name 'Rogiet Station' appears on several contemporary maps, although these are always in conjunction with a planned station, as the junction for the new tunnel line. There is no evidence for a station before this date, or for a constructed station ever having been called 'Rogiet Station'.
The station developed an importance out of all proportion to the size of the village, owing to the South Wales coal traffic and the large marshalling yard, the largest and most important on the GWR
. This in turn required engine sheds of proportionate size, housing around 70 engines in 1939.
The presence of the station became a catalyst for the growth of the village. The censuses of 1851, 1861 & 1871 show the main employment to be agricultural, with a few working in the limestone quarries at Ifton, but no railway workers.PRO
107/2443; R.G. 9/3974; R.G. 10/5292. The parish population increased from 84 in 1881 to 122 in 1891. The first new building was the construction of three red-brick terraces: Ifton Terrace, Railway Terrace and Seaview Terrace, all still extant today. These were followed by the village's only building of note, other than the church, its only pub the Roggiett Hotel. This was a relatively large pub for such a small village, and operated as an active hotel, mostly serving the farming trade at the cattle market. It has been closed since 2008, leaving the village without a pub. A school was also built and by 1891 a post office had opened.
A major phase of housing expansion took place after World War I
, increasing by three times to World War II
. Half of this growth, 94 houses, was due to the Severn Tunnel Garden Village
Society, constituted in 1924, whose membership was limited to railwaymen. Population increased from 136 in 1921 to 234 in the 1931 census. Many railwaymen still commuted from the other local villages though, and over a thousand worked at Severn Tunnel Junction by the outbreak of World War II.
. Many of the older railwaymen retired, encouraged by security of tenancy for the desirable Garden Village housing. This gave Rogiet a population in 1966 that consisted of 40% retirees, with an unusually elderly population in the 1960s and 1970s, leading in turn to an unusually low provision of schools and other amenities, although a thriving allotment
society continues to this day. The local birthrate fell by over 50% in the 15 years from 1946 to the 1961 census.
The village underwent major expansion in the later 20th century, following the development of nearby Caldicot, Undy and Magor as dormitory villages. With the development of the Severn Bridges, the number of commuters by road to Bristol
also increased.
In 1998, a large hoard
of Roman coins
was found which became known as the Rogiet Hoard
.
name for the church of St. Michael (Llan
-f/mihangel). It was established before the Norman invasion
, but the current Church of St Michael and All Angels
again dates from about the 14th century, with much later rebuilding, and contains medieval tombs. Unlike Rogiet, Llanfihangel has remained relatively untouched by modern development.
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
in Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
, south east Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, located between Caldicot
Caldicot, Monmouthshire
Caldicot is a small town in Monmouthshire, southeast Wales, located between Chepstow and Newport, just off the busy M4 / M48 motorway corridor. The site adjoins the Caldicot Levels, on the north side of the Severn estuary. Caldicot has easy access by motorway and rail to Cardiff, and across the...
and Magor
Magor, Monmouthshire
Magor - meaning 'a wall' - is a large village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, between Chepstow and the city of Newport, and adjoining the Caldicot Levels beside the Severn estuary. Magor lies close to the M4 motorway, which has a nearby motorway service area sharing its name...
, some 8 miles west of Chepstow
Chepstow
Chepstow is a town in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the River Wye, close to its confluence with the River Severn, and close to the western end of the Severn Bridge on the M48 motorway...
and 11 miles east of Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
. It lies close to the M4
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
and M48 motorway
M48 motorway
The M48 is a motorway in Great Britain joining Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire over the original Severn Bridge. The M48 is anomalously numbered, as it is entirely to the west of the M5 motorway and its number should really therefore begin with 5.-Route:...
s, and the Second Severn Crossing
Second Severn Crossing
The Second Severn Crossing is a bridge which carries the M4 motorway over the River Severn between England and Wales, inaugurated on 5 June 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales to augment the traffic capacity of the original Severn Bridge built in 1966...
. It is also the location of Severn Tunnel Junction railway station
Severn Tunnel Junction railway station
Severn Tunnel Junction railway station is a small railway station on the western side of the Severn Tunnel at Rogiet, Monmouthshire, Wales. It lies at the junction of the South Wales Main Line from London and the Gloucester to Newport Line....
.
History
The village adjoins the Caldicot LevelsCaldicot and Wentloog Levels
The Caldicot and Wentloog Levels are two areas of low-lying estuarine alluvial wetland and intertidal mudflats adjoining the north bank of the Severn estuary, either side of the River Usk estuary near Newport in south east Wales...
. Its name is of uncertain derivation, and was formerly spelled Roggiatt, Roggiett or Roggiet. The first known lord of the manor was Godfrey de Gamage, who married Joan, the daughter of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland . Like his father, he was also commonly known as Strongbow...
, known as "Strongbow", in the 12th century.
The village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
is now dedicated to St. Mary, but in earlier centuries was dedicated to St. Hilary. Much of the church dates from about the 14th century, and was restored in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Arrival of the railway
The South Wales RailwaySouth Wales Railway
The South Wales Railway was a broad gauge railway that linked the Gloucester and Dean Forest Railway with Neyland in Wales.-History:The need for the railway was created by the need to ship coal from the South Wales Valleys to London, and secondly to complete Brunel's vision of linking London with...
, now the Gloucester to Newport line
Gloucester to Newport Line
The Gloucester to Newport Line is a railway line that runs along the bank of the River Severn in the United Kingdom from Gloucester to Newport....
, was opened through Rogiet in 1850, although the nearest station was two miles away, at Portskewett
Portskewett
Portskewett is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located four miles south west of Chepstow and one mile east of Caldicot, in an archaeologically sensitive part of the Caldicot Levels on the Welsh shore of the Severn Estuary...
. A junction station was built at Rogiet to serve the new Severn Tunnel
Severn Tunnel
The Severn Tunnel is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn....
, which opened in 1886. This Severn Tunnel Junction
Severn Tunnel Junction railway station
Severn Tunnel Junction railway station is a small railway station on the western side of the Severn Tunnel at Rogiet, Monmouthshire, Wales. It lies at the junction of the South Wales Main Line from London and the Gloucester to Newport Line....
station was in operation for tunnel works traffic by 1883, p. 126 and as a functional station by 1885, p. 130 although it is unclear if it was open to the public at this date, before the official opening of the tunnel in 1886. The sidings of the new station were built on the Caldicot Levels, using spoil excavated from the cutting into the tunnel., p. 122 The name 'Rogiet Station' appears on several contemporary maps, although these are always in conjunction with a planned station, as the junction for the new tunnel line. There is no evidence for a station before this date, or for a constructed station ever having been called 'Rogiet Station'.
The station developed an importance out of all proportion to the size of the village, owing to the South Wales coal traffic and the large marshalling yard, the largest and most important on the GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
. This in turn required engine sheds of proportionate size, housing around 70 engines in 1939.
The presence of the station became a catalyst for the growth of the village. The censuses of 1851, 1861 & 1871 show the main employment to be agricultural, with a few working in the limestone quarries at Ifton, but no railway workers.PRO
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
107/2443; R.G. 9/3974; R.G. 10/5292. The parish population increased from 84 in 1881 to 122 in 1891. The first new building was the construction of three red-brick terraces: Ifton Terrace, Railway Terrace and Seaview Terrace, all still extant today. These were followed by the village's only building of note, other than the church, its only pub the Roggiett Hotel. This was a relatively large pub for such a small village, and operated as an active hotel, mostly serving the farming trade at the cattle market. It has been closed since 2008, leaving the village without a pub. A school was also built and by 1891 a post office had opened.
A major phase of housing expansion took place after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, increasing by three times to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Half of this growth, 94 houses, was due to the Severn Tunnel Garden Village
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
Society, constituted in 1924, whose membership was limited to railwaymen. Population increased from 136 in 1921 to 234 in the 1931 census. Many railwaymen still commuted from the other local villages though, and over a thousand worked at Severn Tunnel Junction by the outbreak of World War II.
Decline of the railway
The rapid rate of growth decreased after the war, and population only increased from 1,137 in 1951 to 1,347 in 1971. This was particularly affected by the withdrawal of steam power on the railway in the 1960s, and the resultant reduction in the staff needed at the locomotive sheds. Some of the younger railwaymen found employment at the expanding Llanwern steelworksLlanwern steelworks
Llanwern Steelworks is located in Llanwern, east of the City of Newport, South Wales.Built by Richard Thomas & Baldwin Ltd, the works was originally referred to locally as "The RTB", before being called Spencer Works and later Llanwern...
. Many of the older railwaymen retired, encouraged by security of tenancy for the desirable Garden Village housing. This gave Rogiet a population in 1966 that consisted of 40% retirees, with an unusually elderly population in the 1960s and 1970s, leading in turn to an unusually low provision of schools and other amenities, although a thriving allotment
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
society continues to this day. The local birthrate fell by over 50% in the 15 years from 1946 to the 1961 census.
The village underwent major expansion in the later 20th century, following the development of nearby Caldicot, Undy and Magor as dormitory villages. With the development of the Severn Bridges, the number of commuters by road to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
also increased.
In 1998, a large hoard
Hoard
In archaeology, a hoard is a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards may be uncovered by...
of Roman coins
Roman currency
The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius , the sestertius , the dupondius , and the as...
was found which became known as the Rogiet Hoard
Rogiet Hoard
The Rogiet Hoard is a hoard of 3,778 Roman coins found at Rogiet, Monmouthshire, Wales in September 1998. The coins dated from 253 up until 295–296...
.
Llanfihangel Rogiet
The hamlet and separate parish of Llanfihangel Rogiet is located immediately west of Rogiet itself, and derives its name from the WelshWelsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
name for the church of St. Michael (Llan
Llan
Llan is a village in Powys, Mid Wales, located on the B4518 road to Llanidloes, from Llanbrynmair.The parish church of St Mary is located here. This area was the original centre of Llanbrynmair up to the early to mid 19th century...
-f/mihangel). It was established before the Norman invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
, but the current Church of St Michael and All Angels
St Michael and All Angels Church, Llanfihangel Rogiet
St Michael and All Angels Church, Llanfihangel Rogiet, is a redundant church in the hamlet of Llanfihangel Rogiet near the village of Rogiet, Monmouthshire, Wales. It has been designated by Cadw as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches...
again dates from about the 14th century, with much later rebuilding, and contains medieval tombs. Unlike Rogiet, Llanfihangel has remained relatively untouched by modern development.