January 11th – Highly Desirable Freehold Estate

Yew Tree Cottage Goytrey containing 32 acres  2 roods 6 perches.
Messrs Waite & Sons have been instructed to sell at the Three Salmons, Usk on Thursday January 30th 1879 at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

All the above Exceedingly Desirable and Compact Farm – Very pleasantly and healthily situated, with southern aspect, commanding good views, bounded by excellent roads belonging to His Grace the Duke of Beaufort and Iltyd Nicholls Esq., within a short distance of the far-famed river Usk and Nantyderry Railway Station.
To see plans of the property contact the auctioneers.

March 8th – Sad End to a Drunken Spree

Samuel Morgan, Royal Oak, Goytrey, was charged with supplying drink to a drunken man and also permitting drunkenness on his premises, on the 15th ult. Defendant pleaded not guilty.
Mary Ann Thomas, a single woman living at home with her mother, deposed as follows: I saw my father go to defendant’s house at 6.30 on Saturday night, 15th ult., and he stopped there till 9.15;  did not see him when he came from there; saw my father there at 8 o’clock the same evening; he was then tipsy and the landlord supplied him with a pint of ale; saw my father there at 9.30 in the morning, at defendants house; he was not sober then.
Supt. MacIntosh: This man, James Thomas, was found dead the next morning in a pool of water, within 80 yards of the public-house.
Witness said there were others drunk in the house besides his father; there were in the house at the time, Thomas Monckley, Daniel Meredith, Abraham Bevan, Joe Lewis and two young men from the steel works.
Monckley, Meredith and Bevan were drunk and the young men from the steel works were not sober.
Selina Thomas, widow of James Thomas, said that she went to defendant’s house at 11am on Saturday to fetch her husband from there; by then he was dead drunk in an arm chair; she left and her husband came home between 12 and 1 o’clock; he stayed at home until 6.30pm; he said he wanted to see a young man and she gave him 3d; he went out and she never saw him alive afterwards; she waited up for him till 2 o’clock next morning; went to the door several times, but could neither see or hear him; it was pouring rain and she could not go out; besides, she was very ill and went to bed at 2 o’clock; in the morning she asked her daughter where was her father; the girl said he had not been in all night.
A young man came from the stop-gate and said ” Mary Ann your father is dead in the pool.” her husband was not out of the way with drink on Friday night, but he came home drunk on Thursday night.
Thomas Monckley was called for the defence and said that deceased, James Thomas had only one pint of beer there on Saturday night; he was not drunk on Saturday morning.
Supt. MacIntosh: This man has only kept the house a short time and during that time it has been the resort of poachers and men of ill-repute.
The Bench: This is one of the worst cases we have had before us. From the evidence given at the inquest, it seems that you enticed your brother-in-law to your house to make him drunk and sell him beer. You ought to have protected him against himself instead of encouraging him to spend his earnings with you instead of with his family.
We hope you feel not only a sense of shame but a sense of remorse at having caused his death.
We fine you £10; in default of payment you must go to prison, with hard labour, for 2 months.

April 12th – Stealing Boots

John Evans, a tramp, was charged with stealing a pair of boots, the property of Henry Ingram, school-master, Goytrey.
John Smith, marine store dealer, Trosnant, said the prisoner had sold him the boots for 2s 6d.
PC David had apprehended the prisoner at Usk and charged him with the offence. At first he denied the charge but subsequently admitted it.
Sentenced to one months hard labour.

April 26th

To be Let – Two desirable Farms near Nantyderry Station, called Penwern, between 80 and 90 acres and Black Beech about 30, with two fields of good meadow land adjoining either, together, or separately.
Also a cottage and garden at the station:
Apply to the Rev. T Evans, Nantyderry House.
Also a large field by the station, ready to be let to persons for potato ground and another at Goytrey Hall, see Wm Williams, Nantyderry, for the former and John Jones for the latter.

May 17th

In the wrong court – James Arthur, wood dealer of Goytrey, was summoned for committing trespass by breaking a fence belonging to Thomas Jenkins.
Mr I Gardner, solicitor, appeared for the defence and stated defendant had only got the summons that morning, which did not give much time to produce such papers as were necessary to prove to the bench that he had a perfect right to pass over the land which he was charged with trespassing upon.
The defendant was a wood dealer and he had purchased a quantity of wood under an agreement, which gave him the right to convey it across complainants land.
Complainant stated that he had held the farm since the year 1814 and he received a sum of £10 as compensation for the removal of the wood over his farm but that defendant had not taken the prescribed road.
Mr Gardner remarked that the owners of the wood gave the defendant the right to convey it over this land. He submitted that the magistrates had no jurisdiction as the case was one for the County Court, where he should shortly have something to say about it.
The Bench dismissed the summons.

June 14th – Pant Glaes Farm Goytrey

Sale of Live and Dead Stock and Implements, Furniture and Effects.
Fat calf; 8 fat lambs; 2 fat ewes; 5 porker pigs; 1 sow and 10 pigs; 1 ditto and 2 pigs; bay horse pony; 8 year old, good in saddle or harness; 1 yearling cart filly; 2 narrow wheel wagons; narrow wheel tip cart; market cart; reaping machine; iron scuffler; 2 knife chaff machine; haul rake; patent churn; wheel barrow, ladders, iron and stone pig troughs and bushes; dog cart, pony trap (nearly new) silver and brass mounted harness; g.p. harness, long and short harness; side saddle, gentleman road saddle, bridles and collars; hogshead, casks, firkins and tubs; empty sacks, pikes and rakes; sanfoyne, trefoil, trefolium, clover and other seeds; bath chair, dairy utensils; garden and other tools &c.
Furniture and Effects
Wood bedsteads; feather beds, bolsters and pillows; mahogany and other chest of drawers; washstands and dressing tables; oak, deal, dining, kitchen, round and other tables; case, seated, arm and other chairs; oak linen chest; oak sideboard with cupboards under; clocks, barometer, large oil painting “Bonaparte” books; corner cupboard, dresser and shelves; meat safe, clothes horse, fenders and fire irons, tripods, salting bench, knife board, flour tub, Crocker, glass, tea kettles, saucepans, flat irons, candlesticks, buckets pots, pans etc.
Sale to commence at 2 o’clock

June 28th

To be Let By Tender or a Yearly Tenancy, or for a Term with Possession at Michaelmas 1879
That desirable Farm known as “Goytrey Hall,” situate in the parish of Goytrey, about 4 miles distant from Abergavenny and 5 from Pontypool and comprising 128a. 2r. 31p. of excellent Meadow, Pasture and Arable Land the whole of which has been drained.
The House, which is commodious and comfortable is suitable for a large family; outbuildings in excellent order. The Proprietor does not bind himself to accept the highest, or any offer.
Seales tenders marked “Tender for Goytrey Hall,” to be sent, not later than 22nd September to;
James Straker, Abergavenny.

September 27th – The Education Act

Robert Davies, John Williams, Louisa Waite, Joseph Williams, William Thomas and Charles Watkins, were summoned at the instance of the School Attendance Committee for the parish of Goytrey, for not sending their children to school in accordance with the requirements of the Education Act.
The usual orders for attendance were made, the Chairman remarking that people seemed to take a wrong view of the Act.
It was intended to be a benefit to the people and it undoubtedly was. The ratepayers had no pleasure in paying two million a year to educate the people and parents did not recognise the wrong they were doing their children by keeping them away from school.

November 1st

William Jones, grocer and beer seller of Nantyderry, was summoned for having one unjust measure and also for having in his possession three weights and measures unstamped.
Mr Phillips asked how the police could distinguish between the measures needed for supplying beer and those used for domestic purposes; also in what way they could be stamped.
Supt. MacIntosh replied that those measures found in a place where beer was sold were presumed to be for the purpose os supplying ale and they could be stamped by having a little tin affixed to the handle which has previously been stamped. All such deficient weights and measures were seized by the police.
Defendant was fined 10s in each case, inclusive of costs.

Shocking Fatal Accident
At noon on Wednesday, Mr Wm Jenkins, farm bailiff to Colonel Byrde, JP, met with his death under very distressing circumstances.
He had been out superintending the exercise of a horse and had himself a young colt attached to the cart. On returning home and in passing over the canal bridge near Colonel Byrde’s residence, the horse suddenly swerved and overthrew the cart. The animal itself fell and knocked Mr Jenkins down, falling upon his chest. Assistance was immediately at hand but the unfortunate man simply exclaimed, “I am badly hurt,” and died almost directly.
Mr Essex was sent for, but his services were, of course, unavailing.
Deceased, who had been 23 years in Col. Byrde’s service, was known widely and much respected.

November 8th

The Late Mr Wm Jenkins of Goytrey
the sad accident, which has removed from our midst one in the strength of manhood and so universally and deservedly esteemed, has caused a gloom over the whole neighbourhood, which will be long felt.
Many have been the enquiries as to the nature of the accident which resulted in his lamented and sudden death.
He had recently broken in a colt that had been so perfectly quiet that, to use his own expression, when he first put him into the shafts, “he was like an old horse.”
It would appear that, while he was hauling out lime on a field at Penystair, the back chain of the cart harness became unhooked and fell down, which startled him at that time; and it is conjectured that this may have happened again as he was coming home, although it had been tied and may have caused to start and plunge forward on the top of the Canal Bridge, but no one can tell the cause, for no one saw it; and a more careful man with horses than Mr Jenkins there could have been.
The first intimation of anything wrong was the poor fellow calling out to the men in front, who were with the other horses, “get out of the way;” and the next moment there was a crash and the horse and cart were seen turned over on the side of the road by a heap of broken stones.
Assistance from the Park-y-brain farm, close by, was immediately afforded but a fracture of the skull had taken place, either by a blow from the point of the shaft, which seems the most likely, or from the saddle of the cart harness, which was pressing on his head when he was extricated.
The only words he spoke were to Miss Charles, who had ran to the spot, to whom he said,”I am badly bruised.”
Several others were immediately present and he was carried home but never spoke again. A messenger was sent at once for Dr Essex but he could not have lived for many minutes; and when Dr Essex came and examined the injury, he gave it as his opinion that death must have been almost instantaneous.
An inquest was held on Friday morning 31st ult., and verdict returned of “Accidental Death.”
It appeared the horse had come over the same bridge, with the cart, on the previous evening, very quietly. Mr Jenkins had, just before the accident happened, taken the horse from the waggoner near the fatal spot.
The funeral took place on Monday afternoon and it will be remembered for many a day as the most solemn procession of heartfelt mourners the neighbourhood has ever witnessed.
The Rev C Cooke of Mamhilad, read a chapter and offered prayer at the house before leading and part of a hymn was sung.
The remains were borne to their last resting place in Mamhilad Churchyard, to be interred by the side of his father’s remains, who had also met his death by a horse accident.

Master and Servant
Edward Evans, wheelwright, Goytrey, was summoned by John Hardman for non-payment of 4s 6d wages alleged to be due.
Defendant engaged the complainant and another man to do some work for him, but found it necessary to pay them off on the second day.
The work was not satisfactorily performed and he considered that he had paid them a sufficient sum.
The Bench held that defendant was liable for the reason that he did not bargain with the men before engaging them. The decision was that he pay each of them 1s and the costs.

November 29th – More Illegitimacy

William Hunt was summoned by Mary A Williams of Goytrey, with being the father of her illegitimate child.
Complainant did not appear and Mr Plews, who appeared for the defendant, asked that the case be dismissed, remarking that the woman had taken close upon a twelvemonth to consider upon whom she could fix the paternity of her child.
The case was accordingly struck out.

December 27th – Disputed Paternity

Wm Hunt was charged with being the father of the illegitimate child of Mary A Williams (now of Llavair Kilgeddin.)
Mr Iltyd Gardner appeared for the complainant, after hearing the evidence the Bench made an order for the payment of 2s 6d per week and costs.