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Abergavenny, September 3rd, 2008

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This is the Park Guest House, the B&B where I stayed in Abergavenny.

This white house is the B&B where Oogie stayed in Abergavenny.
A view down the streets of Abergavenny.

I took the first day there to recover, then spent all day on the fourth walking around Abergavenny and doing touristy stuff. Our first stop was, of course, the castle.

The remains of an old castle in Abergavenny.
The remains of an old castle in Abergavenny.
The remains of an old castle in Abergavenny.
The remains of an old castle in Abergavenny.

The ladies at the castle museum sent me on to the St. Mary’s Priory Church to view the recently completed Abergavenny Tapestry.

A view of the gorgeous St. Mary's Priory Church in Abergavenny.

The tapestry is huge – there’s no way to take a picture of the entire thing in one shot.

Just one part of the giant Abergavenny Tapestry.

They used many different wools to create the picture. It depicts Abergavenny from dawn to dusk, with highlights of the town’s history for the past 1000 years. The tapestry took over 20,000 hours of work and nearly four years of time, with morning and afternoon shifts both working on the pieces.

Another look at the Abergavenny Tapestry.

While we were there, one of the women who worked on the tapestry was kind enough to pose for me in front of the section she worked on. She put the single black sheep in the flock and was allowed to keep it there.

A woman who contributed to the tapestry poses in front of it.

Over 400 shades of wool were used to make the color changes.

A display of different colored wool threads illustrates the myriad shades used in the tapestry.

I learned what every tourist there has learned. It is almost impossible to get good pictures of stained glass windows with handheld cameras, but I tried anyway. This was a very nice one in the main hall of the church.

A beautiful stained glass window.

I was particularly interested in the various effigy carvings. This group of pictures is of the tomb of Sir Richard Herbert of Ewyas, who died in 1510. There were several other tombs and carvings, but many were hard to photograph.

The Tomb of Sir Richard Herbert of Ewyas.
A close-up of the carvings on the Tomb of Sir Richard Herbert of Ewyas.
A close-up of the carvings on the Tomb of Sir Richard Herbert of Ewyas.
A close-up of the carvings on the Tomb of Sir Richard Herbert of Ewyas.

I left the priory and walked around Abergavenny. One place I stopped was this butcher shop. This is the Rawlings Family Butchers, and the proud proprietor is Mr. Paul Bishop. He is a champion sausage maker, and while I had no way to cook any of his lovely sausages, I did enjoy talking to him and seeing all of his sausage trophies. He directed me to a nice place for a late lunch, and I then headed back to Park House for a bit of rest.

Mr. Paul Bishop poses in from of his trophies and a case of meat.

No places were open for dinner, so I found a quick fish and chips place and ate in my room. Tomorrow is the big Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Show and Sale.