RIVER USK

The River Usk is an important eastward flowing mountain river in South Wales.

The Usk

The River Usk gathers its headwaters from the northern slopes of the Black Mountain in South Wales. Additional headwaters flow from the northern slopes of the Brecon Beacons and also from Mynydd Eppynt. They gather together to turn the Usk into a significant river by the time it reaches Brecon. Unaffected by industrial pollution, the whole of the upper Usk is regarded as being an excellent fishing river.

Downriver of Brecon the Usk flows in a broad valley just north of the sandstone scarp of the Brecon Beacons. This east-west mountain range keeps the river flowing east southeast with the Black Mountains to its north. The river flows across a wide belt of shale rocks which have been carved in part by glacial erosion during the last Ice Age, so that, although the Usk is a significant river, it flows in a vale that has been enlarged beyond the river's means.

The river remains hemmed in by mountains until Abergavenny where it is able to flow south over low ground, meandering its way between low hills until it reaches its estuary at Newport.

Places on the Usk

Brecon (Aberhonddu)

Brecon was founded where the River Honddu and Tarell flow into the Usk. A castle was built here in Norman times to help guard the route along the Usk valley. Brecon is far from any seat of industry, but it is on a major route across southern Wales and so is easy to reach. This has helped it to become an important tourist center.

Abergavenny (Y Fenni)

Abergavenny was founded where the River Gavenny flows into the River Usk. The Romans built a fort (Gobannium) here to guard the river valley because it is a vital routeway between the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons.

The Normans, too, regarded this as a very important defensive site and built a castle here. The security provided by the castle allowed the town to develop an important market. However, being away from the coalfields of South Wales, Abergavenny never grew into an industrial town and remains a small, attractive market town in modern times.

Newport (Casinewydd)

Newport is on the estuary of the Usk and one of the major industrial centers in Wales. It began as the site of a castle built to guard the mouth of the Usk from invasion from the sea. A market town grew up in the security of the castle, but Newport remained small until the Industrial Revolution and the growth of the South Wales coalfield

As the coalfield developed, so it became important to get the coal from the valleys where it was mined and to markets. Most of the coal went by sea and so coastal ports developed quickly.

Newport eventually developed a wide range of industries based on coal and the port, including steel making (Llanwern). Here the flat land at the mouth of the river was of enormous importance in allowing huge industries, such as steelworks, to develop.

So that vehicles could cross the Usk at Newport, but ships could also move up and down the river, a special type of bridge was built in 1906 called a transporter bridge. Two huge pylons with a cross bar 75m above the river support a moving bridge section which is pulled from one side of the river to the other. Although this bridge has long since been bypassed by more efficient bridges, the transporter bridge is still a highlight of the town.