AS REGENERATION sweeps across South Wales and the rest of the UK, civic identity is easily lost in the clamour for upgrades and facelifts.

But one part of Chepstow has managed to fend off the developers and retain its architectural integrity during the last century.

Steeped in history and surrounded by interesting features, Bridge Street is one of the gems of Gwent's urban landscapes.

It's a pleasant, five-minute walk from the top, taking you past the striking ruins of Chepstow Castle on your left and along the beautiful Georgian terrace (built in 1820), where, as old Chepstonians will tell you, there was a sea captain behind every bow window - a story going back more than 200 years, when the town was a thriving port.

Continue past the town's museum and you reach the banks of the Wye. There you can relax in the beer gardens of two riverside pubs and admire the old port area, or for something to do, hop over the 1816 bridge and cross the English border.

For Veronica Crump, Bridge Street represents "the real Chepstow".

"We used to say only true Chepstonians were born within the wall - the old town wall, which includes Welsh Street and Bridge Street," said Mrs Crump, 65, a former Mayoress of the town.

"I'm very proud to live in Chepstow, and I particularly like Bridge Street because they've barely altered the street frontage in over 100 years."

One new addition, however, is Chepstow's Tourist Information Centre, built in 1993, where Mrs Crump works on reception.

"Before this centre was built there was nothing on this spot. We used to call it the craters of the moon, because there were big holes which filled up with muddy puddles. We used to jump in and out of them when we were kids," she added.

Mrs Crump looks back fondly on her days at Chepstow Board School, halfway down Bridge Street.

Now a crystal showroom, it housed a primary school for 86 years before its closure in 1964.

Other former pupils still live nearby, such as Bridge Street's oldest resident, Claude Hobbs, who has lived there for each of his 91 years.

Born in no. 29, he lived in the same house until the age of 67, when his mother died in 1979.

He is about to move into a bedsit at the top of Bridge Street in the historic Alms Houses, where his friend and fellow bachelor Trevor Jenkins lives.

Mr Hobbs, a retired clerical worker, said: "It's a very nice street, very picturesque, with ordinary, run-of-the-mill people who are very affable."

Mr Jenkins, 89, who is originally from Cardiff, moved to the Bridge Street area ten years ago and hasn't looked back.

"I very much enjoy living in this building, which is more than 300 years old," he said. "Claude and the neighbours look after me, and I've got a great view of the castle at the back."

Trevor and Claude are both veterans of the Second World War, having served in the army and RAF respectively.

Luckily, neither of them was injured. But had they been hurt, they may have ended up at the old hospital for wounded servicemen, in the building that now houses Chepstow Museum.

A cutting from the Weekly Argus in March 1915 is on display in the museum, which was built in the late 18th century as a girls' school.

It tells of the arrival at the hospital of 15 soldiers from different regiments, who were suffering from gunshot wounds and frostbite - "an event which aroused considerable interest".