The great castle at Chepstow dominates the surrounding area, and was constructed as a sort of frontier post on the undefined England/Welsh border of the Middle Ages. It was built under the supervision of William Marshal in the latter part of the 12th century, and was known as Striguil Castle, a Welsh name for the town and castle which may mean a boundary or a dyke, being close to Offa’s Dyke and on the then unstable boundary between England and Wales. (The current Welsh name is Cas Gwent, the Castle of Gwent)

‘Striguil’ did not become ‘Chepstow’ until the 15th Century, the new name being an Anglicised version, meaning a place of trading. William was the lord of Striguil, and perhaps his most famous contribution to medieval history was the instrumental role he played in mediating between King John and his barons to develop in 1215, the ‘Great Charter’, the Magna Carta, which was the prototype as a document for human rights and the rule of law, and the future governance of the country.

From a modest background, William became a prominent political and military personality in the unstable English state throughout the late 12th and early 13th centuries, as advisor, warrior, diplomat, administrator, architect, crusader, jousting champion, and king-maker. He served 5 kings of England.

He was the inspiration for Lancelot in medieval Arthurian tales, and in a BBC programme he has been described as a combination of Muhammad Ali and Henry Kissinger through his military and diplomatic skills. The year after the publication of the Magna Carta, King John of England, on his death bed, appointed a council of thirteen executors to help his son Henry reclaim the fractured kingdom, and he ordered that Henry be placed into the guardianship of William Marshal. Henry was nine years and was staying safely at Corfe Castle in Dorset with his mother. The king’s loyalists decided to crown Henry immediately to secure his claim to the throne. Because of the political and social disorder in London at the time, he was crowned king of England as Henry III at Gloucester Cathedral, the only monarch of England not to be crowned at Westminster. William became the protector of the king’s heir, and regent of England, effectively ruling the kingdom for three years until his death in 1219.

To celebrate the life of this important figure, a plaque is displayed near the Chepstow’s tourist information centre. It was made by local potter Ned Heywood, and reads: “William Marshal 1147-1219. Lord of Striguil (Chepstow), Earl of Pembroke. One of the greatest knights of Europe in the Middle Ages. Regent of all England and parts of Wales and Ireland, 1217-1219. Builder of Chepstow Castle gatehouse and the outer walls of Chepstow Castle, 1189-1219”.