1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Usk (town)

USK, a small market town, is beautifully situated on the right bank of the Usk river, 10 m. N.N.E. of Newport. Pop. of urban district (1901), 1476. It unites with Newport and Monmouth to form the Monmouth parliamentary district of boroughs, returning one member. It is of high antiquity, occupying the site of a Roman-British village or fort; and there are picturesque ruins of an ancient castle erected in defence of the Welsh marches, and as such, a scene of frequent strife from Norman times until the days of the warlike Owen Glendower, about 1400. The church of St Mary originally belonged to a Benedictine nunnery of the 12th century.