1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Symond's Yat

SYMOND’S YAT, one of the most famous view points on the river Wye, England. At a point 9 m. above Monmouth and 12 m. below Ross by water, the Wye makes a sweep of nearly 5 m. round a peninsula whose neck is only some 600 yds. across. The peninsula is occupied by the limestone acclivity of Huntsham Hill. Caverns are seen in the limestone on both precipitous banks of the river. The Yat or Gate is situated on the west side of the neck, which reaches an elevation over 500 ft., and a road from the east drops to a ferry, which was of early importance as a highway between England and Wales. The boundary between Herefordshire and Gloucestershire crosses the neck; the Yat is in the county first named, but the railway station, on the east side (left bank) is in Gloucestershire. It is on the Ross-Monmouth line of the Great Western railway. There are here groups of cottages and several inns on both banks, while opposite the Yat itself is the hamlet of New Weir, and a little above it the village of Whitchurch. The river banks are densely wooded, except where they become sheer cliffs, as at the Coldwell rocks above the station. The surrounding country is hilly and rich, and the views from the Yat are superb, embracing the Forest of Dean to the south and east, and backed by the mountains of the Welsh border in the west.