Shirenewton
Template:Infobox Wales place Shirenewton is a small village, lying 5 miles (8 km) out of the town of Chepstow, Monmouthshire, UK. The village stands around 500 feet (154 m) above sea level, and has views of the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel.
The name Shirenewton has had several variations over the years, such as Sheref Newton, Neweton Nether Went, and Nova Villa. The present name derives from the creation of the village in a forest clearing by the Sheriff of Gloucester, Walter Fitzherbert, around AD 1100. It means "Sheriff's New Tun". Tun is the old word for a homestead. There has recently been some controversy over the Welsh name for the village, but this has been confirmed by the Place Names Standardisation Committee of the Welsh Language Board to be Drenewydd Gelli-farch, which is normally translated to "new settlement at the stallion's grove".
The 1892 Chepstow Directory has an entry for Shirenewton, showing that it had a population of around 650 people. The current population is unknown, but the number of houses in the village has increased markedly in recent years. Many attempts have been made to extend the village, to add small housing estates, but most have come up short due to the village boundaries, and the desire of the locals to keep the village as it is.
Shirenewton, although relatively small, has a collection of four Pubs:
- The Tan House,
- The Carpenters,
- The Tredegar Arms,
- The Huntsman Hotel.
It also sports a small village shop (Spar), which took the place of the original 5 Bells shop which shut in the early 1990s, and Ostlers Garage and Shop which closed in the late 1990s. The village also has a modern primary school called shirenewton primary that was built in 1985. This lies between the villages of Shirenewton and Mynddbach, and is situated in large open playing fields. The school hosts eight classes, four infant classes, and four junior.
Until recently Shirenewton had a large golf course, which closed down on the 31 May 2005. This has now been turned into luxury houses. The golf course is now being kept as a conservation area. The golf course also houses the abandoned village of Dinham, which also had a small castle, all now left in unrecognisable ruins.
The village of Shirenewton proves itself as an ideal place to live, as it has easy links to the M48 motorway at Chepstow, making access to Newport and Cardiff quick and easy.