Our Blog - Hay-on-Wye and the Black Mountain Drive, Wales

Hay-on-Wye is as far North in Wales that we went on this trip. Hay was first fortified in 1070 and sits right on the border between Wales and England. In 1961, Richard Booth established a small secondhand bookshop here and it has grown to have over 20 bookshops, giving it the nickname "the town of books".

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is just on what I think of as the edge of town. The church consists of a nave and chancel with a square embattled tower at the west end. It was built in 1884 on the sight of an earlier church from the 17th century. It ended up being used as a school-house and then partly fell down around 1700. It has a very old cemetery, which fascinates Tom.

Right in the middle of town Hay Castle, a medieval fortification and 17th-century mansion house. It was originally built in the late 11th or early 12thß century. It was rebuilt in stone around 1200 but ended up being attacked and burnt several times. In the 17th century, a Jacobean mansion house was built alongside the medieval keep but serious fires in 1939 and 1977 gutted the castle. As you can see, however, parts of the building are missing. There is some work ongoing and the town would like to renovate and open it as an arts center.

The clocktower was built in 1881 and sits at the corner of Broad Street and Lion Street. It is a bit odd in that it seems somewhat out of place, really. It is the same design as the clocktower in Knighton, another border town about 20 miles north.

We headed over to the Wye River, which gives the town the "on Wye" part of the name. We also took some pictures of the scenery around town.

Our host at the B&B the night before mentioned Shepards ice cream parlor as a place to go get some sheeps-milk ice cream. Sheep’s milk is exceptionally high in solids which means that the ice cream can be made with just milk, without adding cream. The result is proper smooth, creamy dairy ice cream, but with half the fat. They started making ice cream in 1987 and still today, they don't sell it via typical retail outlets. They have their own shop in Hay-on-Wye and then in Shows and Festivals in the summer.

Richard Booth is the self-proclaimed "King of Hay" and was instrumental in making the town a book-town. Supposedly his bookshop on Lion Street is the world's largest secondhand bookshop. It also seems to have a cinema and cafe. If you go to their website, you can actually see a list of the books available which is updated fairly often (I looked on August 3rd and it was updated August 2nd). The building itself is what impressed me the most!

Then we headed off on a Black Mountain drive up through Gospel Pass. The Black Mountains are one of 4 ranges that make up the Brecon Beacons National Park. To make things confusing, the easternmost range is called the "Black Mountains" while the westernmost one is called the "Black Mountain" (right ... the only difference is the s at the end. To make things even more confusing, the 2,306 ft summit in the Black Mountains is also called "Black Mountain". We grabbed a few pictures through the area.

Getting to the previous pictures, and then from the nice open area that you just saw to these pictures, the driving was a bit, well, interesting. Picture a one-lane road, with 7-foot hedges on both sides ... mostly shaded because of overhanging trees .... now think of putting 2 cars on that road. Yep .. one lane width but 2 directions! Every once in awhile, you have a little depression in the hedgerow and when you meet a car coming the other direction, one of you may have to stop and back up until you find one of these depressions so that you can squeeze over to one side to let the other car through.

Next stop was the Llanthony Priory, or I guess I should saw what is left of the Llanthony Priory. It is a former Augustinian priory. The priory dates back to around 1100, when Norman nobleman supposedly came upon a ruined chapel of St. David here and was inspired to devote himself to solitary prayer and study. A few others joined him and a church dedicated to St John the Baptist was built here in 1108. The first group of 40 monks arrived in 1118. On Palm Sunday, 1327, the deposed Edward II stayed at the Priory on his way from Kenilworth Castle to Berkeley Castle, where he is alleged to have been murdered. The priory basically stopped functioning in the 15th century and then in the 16th, Henry VIII dissolved all of the monasteries, anyway. The abandoned buildings gradually decayed.

The small village of Llanvihangel Crucorney sits at the entrance to what the Vale of Ewyas, which sits on a mound of debris that collected at the advancing edge of a glacier that came down the valley during the last Ice Age. Here we had lunch at the Skirrid Mountain Inn, which is supposedly the oldest public house in Wales. Then we popped by Church of St. Michael and All Angels. While I couldn't find an exact date of the founding of the church, it is listed in The Book of Llandaff, which puts the foundations in the 10th century. Again, we have a square tower as part of a church, and very old headstones in the cemetery. We popped inside but there was actually something going on and so we didn't take pictures.

Close to the end of our Black Mountain drive was the town of Abergavenny. I started noticing that many of the towns were named Caer-something, Aber-something or Llan-something, so I started googling if Caer, Aber and Llan meant something in Welsh. Sure enough ... Aber means "estuary" or mouth of a river. So Abergavenny means "Mouth of the River Gavenny". Caer means Fort, and Llan means there is a parish or church dedicated to a Saint.

So the town of Abergavenny was originally the site of a Roman fort called Gobannium, and became a medieval walled town containing a medieval stone castle built soon after the Norman conquest of Wales (now the town has the remains of that castle). It was built in 1087 with a wooden keep, which was replaced around 1100 by a stone keep. The curtain wall, some of it still remaining, was added in the 1160s. It was set on fire in 1182 in retaliation for a massacre that took place in the Great Hall of the castle. The owner at the time was having a feud with the person who killed father-in-law (named Seisyll). He called a meeting supposedly for a reconciliation, and then killed Seisyll, his son, and a bunch of other leaders from the nearby lands. It was rebuilt in 1190 with 5 towers for defense. Most of the final damage occurred during the English Civil War when Charles I ordered castles to be damaged or destroyed.

The only thing that really is left standing is the Hunting Lodge which was built in 1819, which now houses the Abergavenny Museum.

There is a Market Hall right in the center of town, which is still active with the general market (3x a week), a flea market weekly, as well as craft and antiques fairs monthly. The Tuesday market is the main market with over 200 stands, making it one of the largest markets in Wales. Interestingly enough, the cattle market used to be held here, up until the end of 2013.

Saint Mary's Priory is a medieval and Victorian building that was originally the church of the Benedictine priory founded in Abergavenny before 1100. It is very large and has even been called "the Westminster Abbey of Wales".

There were originally 4 bells. 3 were recast in the 17th and 18th centuries, and then they were melted and recast in 1947 and 10 bells were created. This bell is a Pre-Reformation bell dating to 1308.

This is a medieval baptismal font dating from the 12th century during the Norman times. Interesting story here, it was rediscovered in the churchyard in the 19th century. Supposedly it had been removed from the church in the 17th century by a local Baptist minister because he did not believe in infant baptism.

The oak choir stalls with carved misericords and carved lattice work backs, date from the 15th-century.

One of the main attractions for the church today is its collection of effigies. They are in wood, alabaster and marble and range in date from the 13th to the 17th century.

This is the tomb of Sir John of Hastings, Lord of Abergavenny and shows him as a young knight, wearing a long surcoat over a hauberk and a hood of fine chainmail. He either died in 1324 or 1325 (I find conflicting dates). The unique thing on this tomb is that the effigy is out of carved wood.

This is the tomb of Sir Richard Herbert of Ewyas (died in 1510) and has an ornate heraldic canopy. The carvings on the back wall (which you can't see very well) shows the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

Another tomb with a canopy and an animal at the feet. This one has really nice carvings around the base.

The other attraction is The Jesse. First is a new (2016) stained glass window of the Tree of Jesse, which is a depiction in art of the ancestors of Christ. There are various Jesse Tree windows, stone carvings, and wall paintings.

Below this window is a very large and elaborate 15th-century wooden carving which would have once been part of an even larger carving forming a Jesse Tree. It has been described as one of the finest medieval sculptures in the world. Jesse is shown lying down with his head resting on a pillow supported by an angel.

The tithe barn, which is next door, is mainly a 14th century barn on a 12th century site. It was restored and houses a Heritage Center. Part of the collection displayed is a large (24 feet) tapestry depicting the history of Abergavenny that was embroidered by volunteers to mark the 2000 Millennium.

Back on the road, and our last stop for the day at Tretower Court and Castle. The castle was built as a motte and bailey castle around 1150. The "motte-and-bailey" castle was very popular in that time. The "motte" is a hill where they build the castle (sometimes called a keep) and then they have a wall or ditch that surrounds it, leaving an enclosed courtyard or bailey. Between then and the early 14th century, it was modified several times. The main round castle had 3 stories with the entrance at the middle floor. This was defensive since they would have a way to get to the main entrance during peace time, but if you remove that (stairs or something like that), invaders would be unable to enter. You can still see the remnants of a stone fireplace mantle. In the early 14th century, a new set of residential buildings (called the Court) was built nearby and the lords preferred the more luxurious Court to a round castle (go figure).

The Court and Castle (together) at Tretower are quite rare and show how, over time, people moved from castles to fortified manor houses. The Court buildings started to be used while the castle was still in use. Initially, it would have had a central ground floor with a high roof to be used for a local court, and then a small private living area. It was modernized and enlarged in the 15th century. After changing hands multiple times and years of neglect, it was in danger of collapse. It was bought by the government in 1929 and restored.

The Great Hall was setup to show a banquet, with Tom at the head of the table!

And if Tom is out eating, that would mean Susan is hard at work in the kitchen.

Continue to Day 6: Sennybridge to Glynhir or go back to the main Wales vacation blog page