However, in 1651 Richard Vaughan, who was a Catholic, had his land sequestered and given to Phillip Nicholas of Llansoy, in Monmouthshire, leading to the unusual situation of the exclave.

He and his brother William Vaughan were outlawed and their property seized, while they themselves fled to Spain and became officers in the army of that country.

Richard Vaughan died in Barcelona in 1795 but his son William eventually returned to Wales and obtained a restoration of the main portion of his estates, as heir to his uncle.

Later, John Vaughan of Courtfield, elder brother of William, took the oath of allegiance to King George III at Monmouth in 1778.

[3] The church of St Margaret, Welsh Bicknor, was extensively rebuilt in 1858, and was sold into private ownership in 2016.

[6] The Ross and Monmouth Railway served the area from Kerne Bridge station across the River Wye.