page_title: Monmouth town walls and defences
section_title: Remainder including East Gate
hierarchical_section_title: Monmouth town walls and defences / Remainder including East Gate
caption_attribution_description: English: Rear of Nags Head Monmouth showing the stone work of Monmouth's Dixton Gate
context_page_description: The Monmouth town walls and defences comprise the defensive system of town walls and gates built in Monmouth, Wales between 1297 and the early part of the following century. Wye Bridge Gate, East Gate, Monk's Gate, and Monnow Bridge Gate were access points to the town. West Gate, across Monnow Street, also provided access. Only the Monnow Bridge Gatehouse survives intact, albeit in a substantially modified version from the original.
context_section_description: The Monmouth town walls and defences are listed with Cadw and also have records with the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. The Monnow Bridge Gatehouse, part of the town walls and defences, is listed separately due to its particular interest. Aside from the tower which is incorporated into the Old Nag's Head pub, there are no other surviving upstanding remains of the Monmouth town walls. Despite this, archaeological excavations have determined portions of the circuit of the town's defences.
  The gates of the Monmouth town walls survived the walls themselves. However, Monk's Gate, near the Priory, was removed in 1710; it is feasible that the curved wall at the Masonic Hall entrance indicates its previous location. Wye Gate at Wye Bridge is also gone. An 1886 article in Archaeologia Cambrensis by William Bagnall-Oakeley, husband of antiquarian Mary Ellen Bagnall-Oakeley, discussed Monmouth and included an analysis of the 1610 map of Monmouth by cartographer John Speed, comparing it with the account of the circa 1538 visit by antiquarian John Leland, also Leyland. Bagnall-Oakeley described Leland's account of a town wall with four gates, Wye, East, Monk's, and Monnow, with a wall that extended to the River Monnow, as incorrect. Instead, Bagnall-Oakeley referred to Speed's map which apparently demonstrated a town wall which ended at the top of Monnow Street, near the Bayley (bailey). The author indicated that Speed referred to the gate at the top of Monnow Street as the West Gate, although there is no label to that effect on the map. Rather, the gate on Speed's map apparently represented St Stephen's Gate. The author indicated that there had been remains of a gate at that position "a few years" previously, which had been used as a gaol. Bagnall-Oakeley felt that the gate was St Stephen's Gate and that it provided access from the town to the outer bailey of Monmouth Castle. Based on his examination of the area with another Monmouth resident and his reading of military accounts, the author speculated that there might have been an additional, sixth gate, lower down on Monnow Street, expressing some disagreement with both Leland and Speed. That sixth gate, the West Gate, may be the one referred to by author William Meyler Warlow. He indicated that the medieval town wall ran from the River Monnow, in the vicinity of the Priory Mill, across Monnow Street, just above the level of Nailers Lane. That there was a gate with a drawbridge over a ditch at that level is confirmed by the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust Historic Environment Record.
  Most of the East Gate, also known as Dixton Gate, was removed in 1770 because it prevented the passage of coaches. Aside from the Monnow Bridge Gatehouse which is given a separate listing as a scheduled monument due to its special interest, the only standing remnant of the Monmouth town walls and defences is the medieval Dixton Gate tower which was incorporated into the Old Nag's Head public house. The lower storey of the gate tower is older and has a battered base; the upper storey of the red sandstone tower has 19th century work. The red sandstone tower of the East Gate, part of Monmouth's defences, is on Old Dixton Road. The Old Nag's Head Public House is also a listed building of Grade II*. The building was given a higher grade due to its interest not only in its own right, but also because of the incorporation of a significant portion of the gate tower. In February 2012, proposed renovation of the building adjoining the medieval East Gate led to the recommendation of an archaeological field evaluation.
caption: Remnant of Dixton Gate tower, also a portion of the Monmouth town walls and defences
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