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The old county of Radnorshire now forms the central portion of the new the administrative county of Powys
This county holds a high place in the affections of those who seek for beauty unspoiled and undefiled in a modernised and commercial world, for the tide of industrial progress has largely swept by it and it still enjoys a certain remoteness which has preserved it from the invasions of the tourist as well as the trading armies. True it is that Birmingham has made waterworks of one of its most charming river valleys (not entirely to its detriment), but in general its woods, hills, and rivers are more or less in their native state and offer scenery which, without being grand or imposing, is full of varied attractions and singularly free from the contamination of industrialism.
New Radnor lies at the southern base of the heights known collectively as “Radnor Forest.” Though a diminutive village, it has a long pedigree and a notable history, beginning with the Norman Conquest and attaining national fame in 1188, when, to quote Giraldus Cambrensis;
“Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, a venerable man, distinguished for his learning and sanctity, journeying from England for the service of the holy cross, entered Wales near the borders of Herefordshire. The archbishop proceeded to Radnor, on Ash Wednesday . . . . A sermon being preached by the archbishop upon the subject of the Crusades, the author of this Itinerary . . . . . arose the first, falling down at the feet of the holy man, devoutly took the sign of the cross.”But there is very little to recall such glories or important part played by New Radnor in the incessant border warfare of the centuries after the Conquest. Its old Norman castle is a doleful and fragmentary ruin, and as for the “town” itself, there is no difficulty in believing the report that at the time of Owen Glendower wrecked the English stronghold he made bonfires out of the houses and left sorry ruin in his track.
Old Radnor too is a mere village, though its church has some architectural pretensions. But a more famous church is that of Glascwm, of which Giraldus had a good deal to say, possessing as it did “a portable Bell, endowed with great virtues, called Bangu, and said to have belonged to St David. A certain woman secretly conveyed this bell to her husband (who was confined in the castle of Raiderwy . . . ) for the purpose of his deliverance. The keeper of the castle not only refused to liberate him for this consideration, but seized and retained the bell; and in the same night by divine vengeance, the whole town, except the wall on which the bell hung, was consumed by fire.
Just on the Herefordshire border is that place of ancient peace, Presteigne, which occasionally stirs in its sleep to take some part in the legal activities of the county, in and around which are several ancient memorials of considerable interest, including the ruins of Stapleton Castle and Willey Abbey. It also possesses some of the houses which were described a century ago as “very respectable edifices,” and a church part of which may have been in existence prior to the Norman Conquest. It also has its historical associations. The “Radnorshore Arms” Hotel is an Elizabethan house which tradition relates was built by a brother of the regicide John Bradshaw, who himself lived in what is now the Rectory. Not far away, too, is the spot called the “King’s Turning,” from an incident vaguely referred to in the following extract from the parish register:
“In the time of Oliver Cromwell, Nicholas Taylor, Esq., lived at the lower Heath in this parish; and when King Charles at First fled before Oliver Cromwell, thin in the neighbourhood of Hereford, he dined and slept at the Union Linn in Leominster, the first day, and the next two nights he slept at Mr Taylor’s (a short distance from the King’s Turning: from thence he rode over the hills to Newtown, and so on to Chester.”The Welsh name of Knighton is Tref y Clawdd, the “town on the dyke,” a reminder of the fact that Offa’s Dyke is still the most memorable ancient monument in these parts. The origin of this great military work has been described by the poet Michael Drayton in six lines;
Offa, when he saw his countries go to arack, From bick’ring with his folk, to keep the Britons back, Cast up that mighty mound, of eighty miles in length Athwart from sea to sea, which of the Mercian strength A witness though it stand, and Offa’s name does bear Our courage was the cause why first he cut it there.”Considerable sections of this mighty barrier can be seen and studied in the vicinity of Knighton, particularly on Frydd Hill. The town itself is essentially what might be called a “pleasant” place in a hilly, wooded region, rich in beautiful if quiet scenery. The remains of ancient encampments in the neighbourhood show that long before it became part of the official “marches” it was debatable ground between contending nations, and of course it has its memories of Owen Glendower. What part of Wales has not? Did he not rout at Pilleth the forces of Sir Edmund Mortimer and make that estimable gentleman his prisoner?
Conspicuous among the natural beauties of the county are the valleys of its rivers, notably those of the Ithon and (of course) the Wye. On a little tributary of the former is the village of Abbey Cumhir, whose name recalls an ancient and celebrated monastic foundation of which some slight remains still exist. Leland’s notice of it is as follows:
“Comehere, an abbey of white monkes, stondith betwixt ii great hilles in Melemrith in a botom wher rennith a litle brook. It is a vii miles from Knighton. The first foundation was made by Cadwathelan ap Madok for LX mokes. No church in Wales is scene of such length as the foundation of walles ther begon doth shew; but the third part of this worke was never finischid. Al the howse was spoiled and defaced be Owen Glindor.”Owen’s bad behaviour, however, ultimately proved of unquestioned advantage to the local folk, who required a handy supply of building stone!
Further south, the well-known spa of Llandrindod Wells has attractions for the crotchety and afflicted as well at those quite sound in wind and limb. It lies amidst charming surroundings and wears a very modern look, which belies the fact that the virtues of its waters were well known in the eighteenth century, when a premature attempt to rival Bath was stifled, apparently from want of capital and distractions caused by the Napoleonic Wars.
Though Radnorshire has none of those most entrancing of its reached which have made the fortune of the district between Ross and Chepstow, there is hardly a point in the many miles of the course of the Wye which is not plentifully endowed with all the essential features of good riverside scenery.
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