USK (The), a river of South Wales and Monmouth. It rises at Talsarn mountain, on the borders of Carmarthen and Brecon; runs about 16 miles eastward to the town of Brecon; receives there the Honddu and the Tarrell; goes thence about 19 miles southeastward, past Crickhowell, to Abergavenny; receives the Grwyne 2 miles below Crickhowell; proceeds from Abergavenny about 18 miles southward, but with a long eastward curve, past Usk and Caerleon, to Newport; receives the Olway two miles below Usk, and the Avon-Llwyd at Caerleon; goes 3¾ miles southward from Newport to Bristol channel; and receives the Ebbw immediately above its influx to the channel. It forms practically a great harbour up to Newport; and is navigable 6½ miles farther to Tredunnock. The scenery along nearly all its course, first through an upland tract, next through champaign, is very fine. Its salmon are said to be the finest in England, and were sung by Churchyard as "so fresh, so sweet, so red, so crimp withall."

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))