Brockweir Circa1901

Brockweir village, nestling on the Gloucestershire bank of the River Wye within the Lower Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has remained basically unchanged for over 150 years. Medieval Brockweir was closely associated with nearby Tintern Abbey and there is evidence to suggest that the Malthouse was indeed built by the monks as part of their Brockweir Grange. It was in the nineteenth century that Brockweir saw its commercial heyday as a busy boatbuilding centre and bustling river port. Nelson and Lady Hamilton are reputed to have visited here in 1802, staying at the Royal Arms, one of the then many alehouses in the village. It was here, one of the highest points on the tidal Wye, that sailing barges, known as trows, had their cargoes transferred to flat bottom barges which were then towed by teams of ten men as far up river as Monmouth and even Hereford As a result of the village low life image, Brockweir being recognised as a city of refuge for persons of desperate and lawless character the Bristol Moravians built a church here in 1833.The last large boat to be built at Brockweir was the Constantine (509 tons and 121 feet long) in 1847 and although boatbuilding appears to have ceased in Brockweir around this time river trade continued until the advent of the Wye Valley Railway in 1876. In 1906 Brockweir was connected to Wales by the now famous ugly bridge so ending the reign of the river ferry which, for so many years, had been the only means of crossing the River Wye at this point. The girders used to build this bridge were all transported up the river from Chepstow on river barges.

Flora Klickman, authoress and editor of The Girls Own Paper wrote many stories about her cottage in Brockweir. Her most famous,The Flower Patch Among the Hills was published in 1916 and the last, Weeding the Flower Patch, in1948. Flora Klickman is buried in the Moravian Churchyard.

The Wye Valley Railway closed to passenger traffic in Jan 1959 and then totally closed in 1964

Scheduled properties: Abbots Barn, The Malthouse and the old Village shop are Medieval. Brockweir Farm (early 16th and 18th century) Glen Wye and Abbey House (late 16th century) Manor House (early 17th century)}

And in 2001

River Traffic at Brockweir quay

Brockweir Halt C1950