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| Location | Market Hall, Monmouth, Wales |
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| Coordinates | 51°48′47″N2°42′56″W / 51.8131°N 2.7156°W |
| Curator | Andrew Helme |
| Website | Official website |
The Monmouth Museum, alternatively known as The Nelson Museum and Local History Centre, [1] is a museum in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It features a collection of artifacts associated with Admiral Horatio Nelson. The museum is located in the old Market Hall in the town centre.
The Nelson collection was a bequest to the town of Monmouth upon the 1923 death of Lady Georgiana Llangattock, [2] wife of local landowner and town benefactor, John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, and mother of Charles Rolls, who had amassed a collection of Admiral Horatio Nelson memorabilia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the late nineteenth century, Lady Llangattock donated a gymnasium in Glendower Street to the town of Monmouth. [2] [3] After her death, the gymnasium reopened as the Nelson Museum in 1924. [4] The museum moved to new quarters in 1969; the building which initially housed it is known as the Nelson Rooms. [3] [5] The collection includes Nelson's naval officers fighting sword (and those of the surrendered French and Spanish naval commanders at Trafalgar); letters from Nelson both to his wife [6] and to Lady Hamilton; and various items commemorating Nelson's victories, his Royal Navy career and his visit with the Hamiltons to Monmouth town, The Kymin, and South Wales. Also on display are commemorative silverware, prints, paintings, glassware, pottery and models of the Battle of Trafalgar. Among the items from Nelson's visit is the table used when he dined at the Kymin Round House. [7]
The collection also comprises some Nelson fakes, including a glass eye purported to be his, even though he had lost his sight, not the eyeball itself; it is a surgeon's teaching model. The museum also holds items relating to Monmouth town's history and archaeology, and an archive relating to Charles Rolls and his family. One notable example of this is the only known example of an original Monmouth Cap, dating from the 16th century.
The museum opened in 1924 in the gymnasium in Glendower Street which the Llangattock family donated to mark the coming of age of John Maclean Rolls in 1891, now the Nelson Rooms. [3] [8] It moved to its current location in 1969 after the Market Hall had been completely refurbished and redesigned. The entire central part of the Market Hall building had been destroyed by a fire in 1963. [9]
In June 2021, while the museum was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Monmouthshire County Council Cabinet announced that the museum would not reopen in its Market Hall location and that the collections would be relocated to the Shire Hall. [10]
Monmouth is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, two miles from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Cardiff, and 113 miles (182 km) west of London. It is within the Monmouthshire local authority, and the parliamentary constituency of Monmouth. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8,877 in 2001. Monmouth is the historic county town of Monmouthshire although Abergavenny is now the county town.
Monmouthshire is a county in the south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the south, and Torfaen, Newport and Blaenau Gwent to the west. The largest town is Abergavenny, and the administrative centre is Usk.
Monnow Bridge, in Monmouth, Wales, is the only remaining fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower standing on the bridge. Such bridge towers were common across Europe from medieval times, but many were destroyed due to urban expansion, diminishing defensive requirements and the increasing demands of traffic and trade. The historical and architectural importance of the bridge and its rarity are reflected in its status as a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building. The bridge crosses the River Monnow 500 metres (1,600 ft) above its confluence with the River Wye.
John Allan Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, was a Victorian landowner, Conservative Party politician, socialite, local benefactor and agriculturalist. He lived at The Hendre, a Victorian country house north of Monmouth.
John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock was a British barrister and army Major.
The Hendre, in Rockfield, is the only full-scale Victorian country house in the county of Monmouthshire, Wales. The ancestral estate of the Rolls family, it was the childhood home of Charles Rolls, the motoring and aviation pioneer and the co-founder of Rolls-Royce. Constructed in the Victorian Gothic style, the house was developed by three major architects, George Vaughan Maddox, Thomas Henry Wyatt and Sir Aston Webb. It is located in the civil parish of Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, some 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of the town of Monmouth. Built in the eighteenth century as a shooting box, it was vastly expanded by the Rolls family in three stages during the nineteenth century. The house is Grade II* listed and is now the clubhouse of the Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club. The gardens and landscape park, mainly laid out by Henry Ernest Milner in the later 19th century, are designated Grade II* on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
The Shire Hall in Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Wales, is a prominent Grade I listed building in the town centre. It was built in 1724, and was formerly the centre for the Assize Courts and Quarter Sessions for Monmouthshire. In 1839–40, the court was the location of the trial of the Chartist leader John Frost and others for high treason for their part in the Newport Rising. The building was also used as a market place. The Shire Hall is owned by Monmouthshire County Council and has audiovisual guides for visitors to Courtroom 1. It is currently used as a Tourist Information Centre and as the offices for Monmouth Town Council, and is open to the public in part.
A memorial statue to the aviation pioneer Charles Rolls stands in front of the Shire Hall in Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Wales. The 8 feet (2.4 m) high bronze statue was designed by Sir William Goscombe John, R.A. and Sir Aston Webb, R.A. designed the pink granite plinth. The statue is a Grade II* listed structure.
John Etherington Welch Rolls was a High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, art collector, Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. Rolls was President of, and co-founded the Monmouth Show.
The Rolls Hall, Whitecross Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire is a Victorian hall, now public library, donated to the town in celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee by John Rolls, the future Lord Llangattock. It is a Grade II listed building as of 8 October 2005, and is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
The Market Hall, in Priory Street, Monmouth, Wales, is an early Victorian building by the prolific Monmouth architect George Vaughan Maddox. It was constructed in the years 1837–39 as the centrepiece of a redevelopment of part of Monmouth town centre. After being severely damaged by fire in 1963, it was partly rebuilt and is now the home of Monmouth Museum. At the rear of the building are original slaughterhouses, called The Shambles, opening onto the River Monnow. The building is Grade II listed as at 27 June 1952, and it is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail. The Shambles slaughterhouses are separately listed as Grade II*.
George Vaughan Maddox was a nineteenth-century British architect and builder, whose work was undertaken principally in the town of Monmouth, Wales, and in the wider county. Working mainly in a Neo-Classical style, his extensive output made a significant contribution to the Monmouth townscape. The architectural historian John Newman considers that Monmouth owes to Maddox "its particular architectural flavour. For two decades from the mid-1820s he put up a sequence of public buildings and private houses in the town, in a style deft, cultured, and only occasionally unresolved." The Market Hall and 1-6 Priory Street are considered his "most important projects".
The Mayor of Monmouth is an elected position given to a town councillor in Monmouth in Wales. The position dates back about 750 years.
Georgiana, Lady Llangattock,, born Georgiana Marcia Maclean and after her marriage termed Georgiana Marcia Rolls, was a socialite, benefactor and an enthusiast for Horatio Nelson and associated naval heroes. She was the wife of John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, a Victorian landowner, Member of Parliament and agriculturalist. She and her husband lived at The Hendre, a Victorian country house north of Monmouth.
The Rolls family were substantial landowners and benefactors in and around Monmouth in south-east Wales. The ascent of the family to the aristocracy was through marriage. A prominent member of the family was Charles Stewart Rolls, who co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing company.
Kingsley House and Hendre House are a pair of 19th-century, semi-detached houses on the North Parade section of Monk Street in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The grade II listed houses were designed by noted Monmouth architect and builder George Vaughan Maddox, who also designed at least two of the twenty-four blue plaque buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail, including the Market Hall and the Monmouth Methodist Church. Hendre House should be distinguished from The Hendre, the estate of the Rolls family.
Glendower Street is a historic street in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It extends to the southeast from the intersection of Agincourt Street and St John's Street, within the medieval town walls. Glendower Street is lined with numerous listed buildings, including one of the 24 blue plaque buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
The Nelson Rooms is a grade II listed building in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is in the historic Glendower Street and Agincourt Street neighbourhood, within the medieval town walls. The building initially served as a gymnasium and was a gift from Lady Llangattock to the town of Monmouth. In 1924, after the benefactor's death, it reopened as the Nelson Museum, and showcased the collection of memorabilia related to Admiral Horatio Nelson that had been amassed by the baroness. The Nelson Museum moved to new quarters at the Market Hall in 1969. The former gymnasium and museum is now an apartment building.
The Druid's Head Inn is a grade II listed building in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located in the historic Glendower Street and Chippenhamgate Street neighbourhood, within the medieval town walls. The building served as a public house during most of its history, but for the last several decades has been the headquarters of the Monmouth Rugby Football Club.
St Cenedlon's is a parish church in the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. The dedication to St Cenedlon is unusual and the history of the saint is obscure. Some sources suggest that she was a daughter of Brychan king of Brycheiniog while others identify her as the wife of King Arthfael ab Ithel, king of Glywysing. The existing church dates from the Middle Ages but only the tower remains from that period. After the English Reformation, the surrounding area of north Monmouthshire became a refuge for Catholics and Matthew Pritchard (1669-1750), Roman Catholic bishop and Vicar Apostolic of the Western District is buried at the church. By the mid-19th century the church was in ruins and a complete reconstruction was undertaken by the ecclesiastical architects John Pollard Seddon and John Prichard in around 1860. St Cenedlon's is an active parish church in the Diocese of Monmouth. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II listed building.
