Old Wye Bridge Chepstow - Old books to read online (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, March 20, 2014, 20:25 (3906 days ago) @ I Hickman

Looks like you already know more than I can find online, thanks for the great picture from 1801 ! That said sometimes old pictures/engravings were more "artist's impressions" than actual fact, but certainly a very good starting point.
I suspect a lot of the historical references in old books etc relied on a fair amount of borrowing of other people's researches, never mind modern websites. I guess it's a case of our trying to find things written by acknowledged/proven experts, rather than rely on websites too much.
eg Wiki etc can be very helpfull, but it does sometimes contain as much misinformation as genuine fact, altho fortunately in our case I think Wiki is usually reliable perhaps because it's presumably too "boring/stuffy" a subject for silly people to deliberately mess about.
From your viewpoint I suggest the local and national archives are your best bet, any sources they quote should hopefully be backedup with proven references, perhaps such as the 1801 figure in the books you've found.

ps in my searches earlier I found this reference to an old Monmouthshire book, perhaps you saw it too ?. I love old books but despite it's beautiful illustrations this one is well out of my league !! perhaps a good thing as it doesn't appear to have any pictures of the Chepstow bridge.
http://www.stellabooks.com/articles/featuredbooks/history_monmouthshire.php

I didnt think to search the same website for other more relevant books, I now see they have copies of the William Coxe book containing the bridge picture you've linked, and rather more affordable too.
http://www.stellabooks.com/articles/featuredbooks/historical_tour_monmouthshire.php

The artist of that picture, Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1758 – 1838), was wellknown as a travelling artist and keen historian, so hopefully in this case his drawings are good firsthand representations of the actual bridge.
http://prints.culturelabel.com/artist/12992/Sir_Richard_Colt_Hoare
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wra-1356326594738/964037/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Colt_Hoare

PPS This relatively new Monmouthshire FH website, albeit based on longstanding foundations, may also be worth your contacting.
http://www.monfh.org.uk/