About Crick

Our small village of Crick straddles the A48, about 3 miles west of Chepstow.

There are 2 theories about the name -derived from Crug meaning a mound or tump (of which no evidence now exists), or from Creek relating to the Nedern Brook when it was a tidal creek.

Geography

If Crick is split into north and south by the A48 it is divided into east and west by Crick Brook, a spring fed stream arising at Broadwell Farm, which runs through the village and on to the Nedern wetlands. Watercress was once harvested from the spring source.

2 public footpaths follow a similar route, one south-west through a woodland on to the Nedern, the other north to Broadwell and then Runston Farms.

In contrast to other local streams the spring source has meant the Brook avoided drying up in recent drought years. so our sticklebacks and mayflies have survived. It's only small, yet we have had little egrets, grey wagtails and even kingfishers feeding within the village itself and 2 years ago we're pretty sure the wagtails bred just downstream. (Sorry - even in a geography section the wildlife sneaks in!).

The triangular field at the bottom centre of the satellite picture above is our wildflower meadow, the woodland to the left the site for our nestboxes.

History

Roads seem to have played a significant part the history of the village. It is believed that this stretch of the A48 follows the line of the Roman Road to Caerwent (or Venta Silurum as they knew it), and Crick marked the site of the junction with the road south to Sudbrook - just as it does now. In later years this south-north road up from Blackrock carried the traffic from the Severn Ferry heading up to Usk, Abergavenny or Monmouth.

A Bronze Age bell barrow just to the west of the village is a marker of even older settlements, although there is little obvious to see of this now.

1/2 a mile to the south of the village lie the remains of a motte and bailey castle dating back to the 11th century.

The Manor House of Crick (now the home of a specialist archery business) was built circa 1270 and shown in the survey to Wentwood in 1271 to be held by Sir William Dentford. In 1399, Sir John de la More was shown to hold Crick Manor, his ancestor Robert de la More having married Avise, daughter of Sir William Denford. In the 15th century reference is made to Geoffrey Moor, lord of Crick.

During the Civil War, King Charles I visited Crick Manor on Tuesday the 22nd July 1645. He was staying at Raglan and travelled to Crick with the Duke of Richmond, Earls of Lindsey and Lichfield and Lords Digby and Astley to meet with Prince Rupert who held the Westcountry for the King and had travelled across the Severn Estuary from Bristol for the meeting. The host was Nicholas Moore and after discussing the Military situation, Prince Rupert returned to Bristol and the King to Raglan. On the 24th July 1645, the King again came to Crick with the intention of crossing the Severn Estuary to make Bristol his headquarters but changed his mind on hearing the news of the fall of Bridgwater to Fairfax and travelled to Newport instead.

The subsequent history has not been perhaps so grand. Brook Cottage at one time was a mail staging post, and perhaps the Ale House described at Crick Bridge in old records. Nearby there was once a village green, school house and smithy. Although there was no church as such St Nefyn's Chapel was adjacent to the Manor House - once used as a barn it is now incorporated into a house.

Bradbury Farm house was right in the village, the name dating back to Edmund Bradbury a former Sheriff of Crick in the 18th century when it was Bradbury's Farm - a name that was shortened some time in the last century. The farmhouse was empty for a while after Trevor Price the last tenant retired in 2011, but is now being restored as a family home.

It is one of Bradbury Farm's former fields that is now our meadow. The other farm (Manor Farm) that lay within the village curtilage went the same way several decades ago, but not before one of barns was used in the late 1960's for a Young Farmers dance where the band playing was no less than an up and coming group by the name of 'Hot Chocolate'!

In 1939 a 'Home Guard' division was formed with it's headquarters in Crick House, led by a Captain Mainwaring*.

A detailed booklet about Crick has been produced by Peter Bartlett from Shirenewton (see links page)

Modern Crick

Crick now has much less of a self-contained community - no pub, no shop, no village green, no focal point for residents to meet. Until our community project was formed there was really no reason for residents to meet anyone other than their immediate neighbours. We hope that the project will help to develop friendships, and maybe the meadow can take the place of the village green as a meeting place on a warm summer evening.

*We haven't verified all of the above information personally, but most of it is cross referenced to a couple of publications. The only bit we're pretty sure will be false is the bit about Captain Mainwaring!