known as the Wynecliff, from the top of which there is a
grand view over the valley and to the southward towards and beyond
Chepstow. This cliff rises nine hundred feet above the river, and is the
great monarch of a realm of crags that poke up their heads in all
directions. Across the Wye, on a tongue of land projecting into the
stream, Sir John Wyntour in the Civil War, with one hundred and eighty
Royalists, hastily built a fort to command the river. Before their
intrenchments were complete the enemy in superior force attacked and
completely routed them; but twenty escaped, and Wyntour, cutting his way
through the assailants' lines, took refuge in the beetling crags behind
known as the Tidenham Rocks. The cavalry pursued him, when he forced his
horse down a part somewhat less precipitous than the rest, reached the
bank in safety, and escaped by swimming his horse over the river. The
precipice is still known as Wyntour's Leap. Below, the Wye flows through
Chepstow, with iron bridges spanning it to carry the road and railway
across. The main part of the town on the western part is built upon a
slope that in places descends somewhat rapidly to the river. Parts of
the old walls are still preserved, strengthened at intervals by round
towers. Chepstow has its ruined church, once a priory, within which
Henry Marten the regicide was buried after twenty years' imprisonment in
the castle.

[Illustration: CHEPSTOW CASTLE.]

The great point of interest is Chepstow Castle, built here to command
the Wye, and standing in a fine situation on the edge of the river in a
naturally fortified position. Upon the land-side deep trenches and
outworks protect it, while a grassy meadow intervenes between its
gateway and the Wye, that here makes a sharp curve. To get the castle in
between the crags and the river, it was constructed upon a long and
narrow plan, and is divided into four courts. The main entrance on the
eastern side is through a ponderous gateway flanked by solid towers and
with curiously-constructed ancient wooden doors. Entering the court,
there is a massive tower on the left hand with an exterior staircase
turret, while on the right the custodian lives in a group of
comparatively modern buildings, beneath which is a vaulted chamber
communicating with the river. Within this tower, whose walls are of
great thickness, Henry Marten was imprisoned. He was one of the court
that tried King Charles, and his signature is upon the king'