ABERGAVENNY awoke this morning forever changed after a raging fire caused untold damage to a historic part of town.

Easily mistaken for autumnal mists or dragon’s breath, the smoke from last night’s inferno continued to lay low and sullen in the sky this morning.

Visitors who ventured down Frogmore Street were greeted by the strong scent of smoke and a cordoned-off area where firefighters continued to tackle the inferno they had battled throughout the night.

One of Abergavenny’s oldest and finest buildings lay in ruins — a hollowed-out shell left blackened and rotten by the fierce flames that the firefighters did so well to contain and prevent from spreading to other parts of town.

What had stood for centuries was no more. A chance spark had lit a fuse that had destroyed a small part of the fabric of Abergavenny.

Earlier, on the day of the fire, a community had marched past this part of Abergavenny in tribute to the fallen. Less than 24 hours later, the old stone soldier who stands at the junction of Frogmore Street, was left surveying a completely different scene.

It would be a grave disservice to call it a war zone, but from the ground and from various vantage points surrounding the town, it did appear last night as if hell itself had unleashed something terrible and malignant into the centre of Abergavenny.

As the town burned in the early hours, people feared the worst.

However, there was an air of tangible relief on the streets this morning that no one was injured or killed by the terrible fire.

And as the firefighters continued to blast water directly from the Usk at the old building, which was still smoking incessantly in the pale and hazy November sun, people conversed in a way they often do when faced with a disaster that could have been so much worse.

People have been displaced from their homes, a building that will remain a constant in the memories of many has gone, and local businesses have to surmount yet another hurdle, but no life was taken or left maimed or injured by the fire, and for that, we all have to count our blessings.