Editing Monmouth (section)

===The 19th and 20th centuries===
{{The Railways of Monmouth}}
[[File:Charles Rolls statue.jpg|thumb|left|160px|[[Statue of Charles Rolls, Monmouth|Statue]] of [[Charles Rolls]] at Shire Hall]]
The town was visited in 1802 by [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Admiral Horatio Nelson]], who knew the importance of the area's woodland in providing timber for the [[British Navy]] and approved a Naval Temple built in his honour on the nearby [[Kymin Hill]].<ref name="Horatio Nelson">{{cite web|url=http://www.monmouth.org.uk/History/nelson.aspx|title=Horatio Nelson in Monmouth|access-date=20 November 2009}}</ref> Wooden ships up to 500 tons were built at a shipyard just south of Monmouth bridge until the [[Old Wye Bridge|new bridge]] at [[Chepstow]] was opened in 1816. [[Priory Street]], the town's first bypass, was built in the 1830s, with the town slaughterhouse beneath. In 1840, at Monmouth's Shire Hall, [[Chartism|Chartist]] protesters [[John Frost (Chartist)|John Frost]], [[Zephaniah Williams]] and [[William Jones (Chartist)|William Jones]] became the last men in Britain to be sentenced to be [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] after being found guilty of [[treason]] following [[Newport Rising|riots in Newport]] that led to 20 deaths. The sentences were later commuted to [[Penal transportation|transportation]] to [[Van Diemen's Land]].<ref name=briefhistory/>

Until the establishment of an official police force in 1857, Monmouth had a [[parish constable]] assisted by [[beadle]]s to keep law and order.<ref name="kissack making">Keith Kissack "Monmouth – The Making of a County Town" (1975)</ref>  The appointed constables held office for a year and were often men who had experience in other local government or community roles.<ref>Clive Emsley "The English Police Force – A political and social history" Longman (1991)</ref>  William Fuller who held office as Monmouth's constable for over twenty years in the early to mid 19th century, also served as Inspector of Nuisances, Chief of the Fire Brigade, Inspector of Weights and Measures, Clerk of the Market, and Conservator of the Wye.<ref name="kissack making"/>

Fuller is also recorded as having rescued people from drowning, acted as emergency midwife, and rescued a woman from a flooded house.  The types of crime that Fuller and subsequent police officers had to deal with in and around Monmouth as the century progressed were recorded in detail in the local newspapers, the ''Merlin'' and the ''[[Monmouthshire Beacon]]''.  These crimes included theft of livestock, clothing, food, valuables, fuel (wood and coal); assault; vandalism; highway robbery; fraud; passing counterfeit coin; [[prostitution]], and indecent exposure, as well as the more serious crimes of concealing the death of an infant, carnal knowledge without consent, and murder.  The constable would have been present in court at [[Monmouth Shire Hall|Shire Hall]] when many of these cases came before the [[Quarter Sessions]] or [[Assizes]].  Once the court had passed sentence there was a wide range of punishments available to the authorities. Capital offences were dealt with at [[Monmouth County Gaol]], as were whippings and sentences of hard labour.  Although a police force of four constables and a sergeant was established in Monmouth in 1836, uncertain finances meant that within two years the force was reduced to just two constables.<ref name="kissack making"/>

Four railways were built to serve Monmouth between 1857 and 1883: the [[Coleford, Monmouth, Usk and Pontypool Railway]], the [[Ross and Monmouth Railway]], the [[Wye Valley Railway]], and the [[Coleford Railway]]. All of these closed between 1917 and 1964.<ref name=handley&dingwall>B. M. Handley and R. Dingwall, ''The Wye Valley Railway and the Coleford Branch'', 1982, {{ISBN|0-85361-530-6}}</ref> In 1896 a [[Hydroelectricity|hydroelectric power]] station was built on the River Monnow at Osbaston, providing electrical power to the town until 1953. A [[Monmouth New Hydro Scheme|new hydroelectric station]] was built on the same site and has operated since 2009, typically generating 670,000kWh annually.<ref name="WesternMail">{{cite news | url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/countryside-farming-news/countryside-news/2009/11/17/new-hydro-electric-plant-at-osbaston-is-a-masterstroke-of-engineering-91466-25181981/ | title=New hydro-electric plant at Osbaston is a masterstroke of engineering | work=Western Mail | date=November 17, 2009 | access-date=April 23, 2019 | author=Dube, Steve}}</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Monmouth had close links with the [[Rolls family]], who built a mansion at [[The Hendre]] just outside the town.  In 1904, [[Charles Rolls]] established a new [[Rolls-Royce Limited|car making business]] with [[Henry Royce]], but in 1910 he was killed in an aeroplane crash at the age of 32; he is commemorated by a [[Statue of Charles Rolls, Monmouth|statue in Agincourt Square]].  St Mary's Church contains a memorial to the men of who died in [[HMS Monmouth (1901)|HMS ''Monmouth'']], which was sunk with all hands on 1 November 1914, by German cruisers [[SMS Scharnhorst|SMS ''Scharnhorst'']] and [[SMS Gneisenau|SMS ''Gneisenau'']] off the [[Chile|Chilean Coast]] at the [[Battle of Coronel]] during the [[First World War]]; the church hosts an annual service in remembrance.<ref name="HMS Monmouth">{{cite web|url=http://www.coronel.org.uk/monmouth.php|title=HMS Monmouth|access-date=2 December 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514205816/http://www.coronel.org.uk/monmouth.php|archive-date=14 May 2011}}</ref> Seven [[Royal Navy]] ships have been named after the town, including a [[Type 23 frigate]] launched in 1991 which is still in operation. The remains of two [[Pillbox (military)|pillboxes]] stand on the Wyesham side of the Wye Bridge. They were built in 1940/1 as part of the [[Western Command (United Kingdom)|Western Command]] Stop Line No. 27, designed to impede a German invasion force.<ref>{{NHAW|uid=950|num=MM348|desc=May Hill Pillboxes|class=SM|access-date=5 February 2023}}</ref>

Monmouth remained a relatively quiet town for most of the 20th century; its passenger rail services ended in 1959, but its road connections were improved with the new [[A40 road|A40]] bypassing the town in 1966, although this "severed the town ruthlessly from the river on which in the past it had depended",<ref>{{cite book|last = Kissack | first = Keith|author-link=Keith Kissack|year=1989|title=The Building of Monmouth|location=Monmouth|publisher=Monmouth Historical & Educational Trust|oclc=40397291|page=6}}</ref> and later connecting the town to the motorway system. These improved communications contributed to the development of the town, with suburbs extending beyond the rivers [[River Wye|Wye]] and [[River Monnow|Monnow]] to the south-east, west and north of the old town centre.<ref name=briefhistory/> In July 2015 the town adopted a flag.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monmouth Flag {{!}} Free official image and info {{!}} UK Flag Registry |url=https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flags/monmouth-flag/ |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=The Flag Institute |language=en-GB}}</ref>