guidebooks suggest that the three loopholes visible on the tower were opened up at this time "for musketry in anticipation of the advance of the Chartists", but Rowlands shows that the apertures are visible in illustrations of the gatehouse long before 1839. The gatehouse was the scene of annual battles, or "muntlings", between rival gangs from "Up-Town" – the main town of Monmouth – and Overmonnow or "Cappers' Town", so called because it was the traditional home of those who made Monmouth caps. Until the confrontations were banned in 1858, youths from both sides of the bridge would gather for these occasions on 1 and 29 May, armed with besoms or "muntles" reinforced with stones. The bridge was also used as an unofficial advertising hoarding and as a focus for significant local and national celebrations. In 1891, it was decorated with flags and lights to commemorate the coming of age of John Maclean Rolls, eldest son of Monmouthshire grandee Lord Llangattock. 20th–21st centuries From 1889 to 1902, an extensive programme of conservation was carried out on the bridge and gate, directed by Monmouthshire County Council, which retained responsibility for maintenance. This began with the prevention of the potential collapse of the gatehouse by the insertion of metal tie rods to hold the two faces of the tower together; the four round plates at the ends of these two rods can still be seen. In 1892, conservation work began on the arches and piers of the bridge following the discovery that riverbed erosion had seriously undermined the piers. Maintenance was carried out on the gatehouse exterior from the mid-1890s to 1897. Roof guttering and downpipes were added, badly eroded stone was replaced with squared blocks of Old Red Sandstone, and the cruciform arrowslit on the left-hand side of the west elevation of the gatehouse was restored to make it symmetrical. Concluding the 1889–1902 renovations, improvements were made to the interior of the gatehouse, and it was opened to the public in 1902. In 1900, ownership of the gatehouse was transferred from Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort to Monmouthshire County Council as part of the disposal of the entirety of the Somersets' land holdings in Monmouthshire. The gift is recorded on a brass plaque attached to the gatehouse. The local antiquarian Mary Ellen Bagnall-Oakeley wrote the first history of the bridge and gatehouse, Monnow Bridge Tower, which appeared in 1903. In