MEMBERS of the public had a chance to view the ‘lost city of Trellech’ last weekend when archaeologist Stuart Wilson opened his site to show the workings revealing the long-forgotten buildings that once stood there.

The city is believed to date back to the 13th century and is thought to have been home to around 10,000 people, including Norman lords of the de Clare family who used it as a place to mass produce iron.

So far, Stuart and his volunteers have discovered the remains of a manor house with two halls and a courtyard and a round tower and are currently digging in the buttery and pantry. Within that manor house complex, the group has discovered several different rooms including a main hall and courtyard. They have also found a well, in which they have discovered a nearly complete medieval pot, metal work and parts of leather shoes.

One of the amazing finds was just underneath their noses! Where they had put a surveying post in - a place they don’t dig - were two carved stone which would have been part of door pillars similar to the one at St Thomas’ Church which would have been mortared, dating back to 1350.

Mr Wilson, a former Monmouth Town Councillor, said: “At its peak, we’re talking about a population of maybe around 10,000 people. In comparison, there were 40,000 in London, so it’s quite large. This population grew from nothing to that size within 25 years. Now it took 250 years for London to get to 40,000 people, so we’re talking a massive expansion.

“And that’s just the planned settlement. The slums would have been quite numerous. There you would be talking even 20,000 plus. It’s a vast area.”

The buildings appear seem to date back to 1300AD when the town was reorganised.

Evidence of the earlier town has been found below some of the buildings, with occupation on the site believed to have started 100 years previously.

By 1400 some of the buildings had fallen into ruin and by 1650 after the civil war the last of the buildings were abandoned.