In 1175, Abergavenny Castle was the scene of a reputed massacre of local Welsh chieftains by the pious and ruthless William de Braose.

In 1404 Abergavenny was declared its own nation by Ieuan ab Owain Glyndŵr, illegitimate son of Owain Glyndŵr.

The title of Baron Abergavenny, in the Nevill family, dates from Edward Nevill, 3rd Baron Bergavenny ( d. 1476 ), who was the youngest son of Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland by his second wife Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt, first Duke of Lancaster.

He married the heiress of Richard de Beauchamp, 1st Earl of Worcester, whose father had inherited the castle and estate of Abergavenny, and was summoned in 1392 to parliament as Lord Bergavenny.

From him it has descended continuously, through fifteen individuals, the title being increased to an Earldom in 1784 ; and in 1876 William Nevill 5th Earl ( b. 1826 ), ( d. 1915 ) an indefatigable and powerful supporter of the Tory Party, was created 1st Marquess of Abergavenny.

Abergavenny is the home of Abergavenny Thursdays F. C., which was formed in 1927, and is currently a member of the Gwent County League Division 3.

* In 1968 Abergavenny was the title of a UK single by Marty Wilde.

* One of the eleven Victoria Cross gallantry medals awarded at Rorke's Drift was awarded to John Fielding from Abergavenny.

One was also awarded for the same action to Robert Jones ( VC ), born at Clytha between Abergavenny and Raglan.

* Saint David Lewis, Catholic priest and martyr, was born in Abergavenny.

* Marina and the Diamonds ( born Marina Lambrini Diamandis ), singer-songwriter who was born and brought up in Abergavenny until she moved to London at the age of eighteen.

* Oliver Thornton, West End actor-currently starring in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ( musical ), was born and grew up in Abergavenny.

They had three other siblings: Richard, the eldest, who became a lawyer ; John, born after Dorothy, who went to sea and died in 1805 when the ship of which he was Master, the Earl of Abergavenny, was wrecked off the south coast of England ; and Christopher, the youngest, who entered the Church and rose to be Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

In 1217, Reginald de Braose of Brecon and Abergavenny, who had been allied to Llywelyn and married his daughter, Gwladus Ddu, was induced by the English crown to change sides.

One daughter, Gwladus Ddu, (" Gwladus the Dark ") was already married to Reginald de Braose of Brecon and Abergavenny, but with Reginald an unreliable ally Llywelyn married another daughter, Marared, to John de Braose of Gower, Reginald's nephew.

From the apparent banishment of Turstin by William II, it was held from 1088 by Wynebald de Ballon, brother of Hamelin de Ballon who held Abergavenny further up the Usk.

William de Braose, ( or William de Briouze ), 4th Lord of Bramber ( 1144 / 1153 – 9 August 1211 ), court favourite of King John of England, at the peak of his power, was also Lord of Gower, Abergavenny, Brecknock, Builth, Radnor, Kington, Limerick, Glamorgan, Skenfrith, Briouze in Normandy, Grosmont, and White Castle.

His principal antagonist was a Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, of Castell Arnallt near Llanover in the valley of the River Usk near Abergavenny, whom he blamed for the death of his uncle Henry.

The A40 was rerouted via Raglan ; between Ross and Raglan it replaced part of the A48, between Raglan and Llanvihangel-nigh-Usk it replaced the B4234, and between Llanvihangel and Abergavenny it replaced part of the A471.

He was born on 24 April 1831, the third son and sixth child of Commander William Henry Nares, a British naval officer, and Elizabeth Rebecca Gould, at Llansenseld, near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire.

The club was founded in 1927 in Abergavenny ( though several defunct clubs had existed since the mid 19th century ) and was highly successful as recently as the early 1990s, but suffered an appalling decline in the following ten years.

Abergavenny Cricket Club is one of the oldest in the country and celebrated the 175th anniversary of its foundation in 2009.

In Welsh, the shortened form Y Fenni may have come into use for a very short period after about the 15th century, although pronounced similarly in English or Welsh the English spelling Abergavenny is in general use.

Doubts about the future of Abergavenny Cattle Market have been raised following the granting of planning permission by Monmouthshire County Council for demolition of the cattle market, and its subsequent replacement by a supermarket, car park, and library.

Monmouthshire County Council, which requested that the Abergavenny Improvement Acts be repealed, is supporting plans for a new cattle market to be established about ten miles from Abergavenny at Raglan.

Another Abergavenny born soldier, Thomas Monaghan received his VC for defending his colonel during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

* Malcolm Nash the cricketer famous for bowling to Gary Sobers who hit six sixes off one Nash over ( 36 runs ) is from Abergavenny.

During the later Roman period, between the 2nd and late 4th centuries, it appears to have been a centre for iron working, using the local iron ores and charcoal also worked at nearby Gobannium ( Abergavenny ) and Ariconium ( near Ross-on-Wye ).

An entry in the Bristol Apprentice Books showing " Servants to Foreign Plantations " 9 February 1655, included " Henry Morgan of Abergavenny, Labourer, Bound to Timothy Tounsend of Bristol, Cutler, for three years, to serve in Barbados on the like Condiciouns.

Born near Abergavenny, Williams continued the earlier tradition of writing from a left-wing perspective on the Welsh industrial scene in his trilogy " Border Country " ( 1960 ), " Second Generation " ( 1964 ), and " The Fight for Manod " ( 1979 ).

The Abergavenny Arms is a public house that has run in the village for a very long time under many managements.

During the Welsh Revolt in 1402 Rhys Gethin, General for Owain Glyndŵr, took Caerleon Castle together with those of Newport, Cardiff, Llandaff, Abergavenny, Caerphilly and Usk by force.

* William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber ( 1140 / 1150 – 1211 ) infamous for the Christmas Day Massacre of Welsh Princes at Abergavenny Castle in 1175

After having invited the Welsh leaders to a Christmas feast at Abergavenny Castle under the pretence of peace and the start of a new era at the end of the year ( a traditional time for settling outstanding differences amongst the Welsh ), he had them murdered by his men.

In 1957, after one too many serious falls, the Queen Mother's adviser, Lord Abergavenny, advised him that she wanted him to retire from racing for her.

Beyond Abergavenny road returns to single carriageway, for a trip through the eastern Brecon Beacons until Brecon.

The section between Abergavenny and Brecon has one of the highest points of the A40 which is above sea level and is located at Bwlch, which is Welsh for ' mountain pass '.

Their nickname is either ' The Thursdays ', or either ' The Butchers ' ( due to Abergavenny's famous cattle market and resultant meat markets ) or ' The Pennies ', as the ground is situated in a part of the town known as Pen-y-pound and cockney rhyming slang for a penny is ' an Abergavenny '.

and Rees, W., “ The Lordships of Abergavenny, Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle: Accounts of the Ministers for the year 1256-57 ”, South Wales and Monmouth Record Society Publications, 2 ( 1953 ), pp. 68 – 125 ; 3 ( 1954 ), pp. 22 – 47

In October 1265, as a reward for supporting Prince Edward, Gilbert was given the castle and title of Abergavenny and honour and castle of Brecknock.

Marquess of Abergavenny ( pronounced Abergavenny ), in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was created on 14 January 1876, along with the title Earl of Lewes ( pronounced " Lewis "), in the County of Sussex, for the 5th Earl of Abergavenny, a member of the Nevill family.