Symonds Yat, Gloucestershire - Log Cabin - Harvey Barton postcard c.1980s

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Symonds Yat is a village in the Wye Valley and a popular tourist destination, straddling the River Wye and on the borders of the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. It is within a few miles of Monmouthshire and the Welsh border. The name is said to come from Robert Symonds, a 17th-century sheriff of Herefordshire and yat, an old word for a gate or pass.^[1]

Archaeologists have uncovered bones from hyenas, sabre-toothed cats and a mammoth in and around the caves of the valley and human habitation can be traced back to 12,000 years ago with findings of their tools and clothes.

In the Iron Age the forts on the Great Doward and Yat Rock provided secure, defensible settlements for the local residents. During Roman times these forts became focal points in the region and the importance of the iron here and in the Forest of Dean made this a valuable prize for the conquerors. Offa's Dyke was built in the 8th century directly above the Yat to separate England and Wales.

The first recorded use of the word Yat in connection with the area was made in 1265. Yat is an old English word for "gate" or "gorge". It is popularly believed that the addition of Symonds was made in the 17th century in reference to Robert Symonds of Sugwas and Evesfield who was indeed a member of the family who owned the lands from Wormelow near Hereford to the border regions in which the Yat stands. He was High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1685. The area is also shown as Symons Yate on maps in 1665, Symons Yat in 1717 and Symmonds Gate in 1830.

The Old Court Hotel in Symonds Yat (West), which was built in the 16th century,^[2] was the ancestral home of the Gwillim family and was home to John Graves Simcoe, who was governor and one of the founding fathers of Upper Canada.^[3]

The Yat Gorge was mined for iron ore and remains of a smelting works are located down stream of the Symonds Yat Rapids.^[4] The ironworks at New Weir date from the 1590s and were operated by the White family until 1753, when George White leased the site to John Partridge, an ironmonger from Ross on Wye. Partridge combined the ironworks at New Weir with his forge at Lydbrook which smelted pig iron from his furnace at Bishopswood.^[5] The works closed when the lease ran out in 1798 and the adjacent weir and lock buildings were demolished and the lock filled in 1814.^[5]

The ferry at Symonds Yat has always played a huge part in the life here. In 1800 there were 25 hand ferries between Ross and Chepstow just like those outside Ye Old Ferrie Inn and the Saracen's Head today. They were introduced in Roman times to link the forts of the Doward and the Yat and have served military, civilian, tourist and horse traffic over the years.

Symonds Yat originally encompassed all the lands southerly of Huntsham curve on both sides of Symonds Yat Rock and would have included the area around Coldwell Rocks. The name Symonds Yat used to refer to quite a large area of land and the hamlet of Symonds Yat (East), consisting of the Saracen's Head Inn, the Fish House, Lockkeepers Cottage and one or two cottages on the hillside, was specifically called New Weir and is seen on maps as such up until 1955.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2009 Herefordshire Archaeology excavated New Weir Iron Works at Symonds Yat (West) to establish how the iron works functioned between the start of smelting in and the decline of the works in the 1800s. It was found that the works included a 'slitting mill', for making wire nails and a rolling mill powered by water wheels.^[6]