Symonds Yat

Symonds Yat is a village in the Wye Valley and a popular tourist destination, straddling the River Wye in the English county of Herefordshire, close to the Gloucestershire border. It is within a few miles of Monmouthshire and the Welsh border. The two settlements either side of the river are known as Symonds Yat (West) and Symonds Yat (East) and are linked by a footbridge and passenger ferries. Nearby is Symonds Yat Rock. The Seven Sisters Rocks are an outcrop of rocks forming cliffs above the Wye at Symonds Yat. Toponym The first recorded use of Symonds Yat in connection with the area is in a Patent Roll of 1256, where the place appears as Symundesyate and Symondesyate. This may contain the Old English personal name Sigemund or a very early surname deriving from it. Yat represents the Old English word geat (pronounced "yat"), meaning 'gate' and describing the gorge. Although a popular local belief, it is not true that the addition of Symonds was made in the 17th century in reference to Robert Symonds of Sugwas and Evesfield, High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1685, who was indeed a member of the family who owned the lands from Wormelow near Hereford to the border regions in which surround the Yat. The area is also shown as Symons Yate on maps in 1665, Symons Yat in 1717 and Symmonds Gate in 1830. History Bones from hyenas, sabre-toothed cats and a mammoth have been found in and around the caves of the Wye valley. Human habitation can be traced back to 12,000 years ago with findings of their tools and clothes.