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All About History Books
The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
River Usk is in Severn Estuary.
The River Usk rises at Fan Brycheiniog [Map] after which it flows broadly east through Sennybridge [Map], Brecon [Map], then south-east, under Crickhowell Bridge, Monmouthshire [Map], Abergavenny, Monmouthshire [Map], then under the Chain Bridge [Map] at Kemeys Commander, south through Usk, Monmouthshire [Map], under the bridge at Newbridge-on-Usk [Map], past Caerleon [Map] to Newport, Monmouthshire [Map] where it joins the Severn Estuary.
1538. Crickhowell Bridge, Monmouthshire [Map] is a bridge over the River Usk first constructed in 1538. In 1706 it was completely rebuilt in stone with additional arches, at a cost of £400. The bridge is claimed to be the longest stone bridge in Wales at over 128 metres.
In 1829 the Chain Bridge [Map] over the River Usk at Kemeys Commander was built by Brown Lenox of Pontypridd.
Between 1905 and 1906 by George Palmer of Neath, is an iron arch with green-painted girders which is still referred to as Chain Bridge.
Newbridge-on-Usk [Map] is the location of a red sandstone three-arched bridge over the River Usk built in 1779 at the Normal Tidal Limit of the River.