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.
MONMOUTHSHIRE, a western border county of England,
bounded E. by Gloucestershire, N.E. by Herefordshire, N.W.
by Brecknock, W. and S.W. by Glamorganshire (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.
The principal 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 flows 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 trout are
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 (cornstones) which occupies the north-eastern part of the county; the highest beds contain grits and conglomerates which give rise to bold escarpments and lofty plateaux (e.g. the Sugar Loaf and Skirrid Fawr) alongside the outcrop of the Carboniferous Limestone. The western part of the county, between Pontypool 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 agricultural 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 Wye. 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 Marls were deposited. These consist of red conglomerates and marls which wrap round the heights and fill up the hollows among the 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-farming is much more largely followed. Only about seven-tenths of the total area of the county is under cultivation. There is a large 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 county, where a series of upland valleys, running parallel from N.N.W. to S., has each its populous mining townships and railways, which have in many cases necessitated 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 Fach (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.—The 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 (20,994), Llanfrechfa, Upper (2979), Llantarnam (5287), Mynyddislwyn (3337), Nantyglo and Blaina (13,489), 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 11 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 Llandaff, whom they only released on a ransom of £40. In 926 Æthelstan 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 11th 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
