
Chepstow is a town in Monmouthshire, Wales, located on the River Wye and along the border with Gloucestershire, England. Known to the Britons as Ystraigyl, meaning "a bend in the river", it housed a small Roman fort due to its location at a crossing point between Glevum (Gloucester) and Venta Silurum (Caerwent). After the end of Roman rule in Britain, Chepstow became a part of Gwent, and it became a trading center for both the Anglo-Saxons and the Welsh. In 1067, William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford founded a Norman castle at Chepstow, and the port of Chepstow became a major trading center of Medieval England. Chepstow was given its first charter in 1524 and became part of Monmouthshire when the county was formed, and the town changed hands several times during the English Civil War. During the Napoleonic Wars, it exported timber for ships and bark for leather tanning, becoming the busiest port in Wales. The 19th century saw a shipbuilding industry emerge in Chepstow, and it developed rapidly following the opening of the Severn Bridge in 1966. In 2011, Chepstow had a population of 12,350 people.