History

Devauden and the nearby hamlet of Fedw or Veddw were originally clusters of illicit cottages built as a base by woodcutters, mule drivers, quarrymen and labourers linked to the wireworks at Tintern and the Angiddy valley.

Prior to the early part of the nineteenth century Devauden merely consisted of a collection of small settlements, squatters’ huts and cottages whose occupiers paid rent to the Duke of Beaufort. This population of forest dwellers was described as ‘the lowest class of society’ and ‘prone to evil’.

James Davies (1765-1849) was schoolmaster at Devauden and played an important part in the development of the village during the early nineteenth century.