Kerry: parish church of St. Michael
Kerry church in 1871
There is a long-standing tradition - supported by the location - that this church had an early medieval origin. It may well have been a clas or mother church for the commote of Ceri with a possible dedication to St Gwyr. A later church was built on the site around 1176, the year which saw a major confrontation there between the bishop of St. Asaph, who aimed to absorb the parish into his diocese, and Giraldus Cambrensis, Archdeacon of Brecon. Gerald was forewarned of the bishop’s ambition and managed to get to the church first with local supporters, thus denying entrance to the bishop. This new church was dedicated to St Michael and was the first stone building on the site. Further work in the 14th century saw a new chancel, side aisle and two story tower added. There is evidence of further work in the 16th and 18th centuries before a complete rebuild in 1882/3 under the direction of Victorian architect G.E. Street.
[MC; Haslam; CPAT website]
[MC; Haslam; CPAT website]
Kerry, Thomas
Of Binweston (or Brynweston) in the parish of Worthen on the Montgomeryshire/Shropshire border. Although he served as sheriff and magistrate for Montgomeryshire no residence or property of his is known in the county, though he did hold some rights in the manor of Leighton.
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
Kilvert, Francis (1840-1879)
The son of a clergyman, Robert Francis Kilvert the diarist was born at Hardenhuish Rectory in Wiltshire where his father ran a small private school in the rectory. After reading Law and Modern History at Oxford he turned to the church and was appointed curate of Clyro parish in Radnorshire in 1865. Here Kilvert was curate to Rev. Richard Lister Venables, a well-connected man with his own estate at Llysdinam and a town house in London where he spent some time each Season. Kilvert threw himself into his parish duties often walking miles around the parish making visits to outlying communities, ministering to the dying and dispensing assistance to the poor. He worked hard to bridge the cultural and religious gap between the local gentry - who were mainly of English origin – and the Welsh rural labouring classes who were largely nonconformist. Local squire, W.T.M. Baskerville of Clyro Court, invited Kilvert to be his Chaplain during his year of office as Sheriff of Radnorshire in 1868.
In 1870 he began to record his life in a diary. Despite his many duties, which now included religious instruction in the village school and running parish affairs when the vicar was away, his entries were often detailed. They record an affinity with nature and a poet's eye for detail (Kilvert read much poetry, especially Wordsworth) but most of all a genuine empathy and affection for his parishioners. While the diaries record his enjoyment of dinners and croquet parties, they also record his delight in solitary walks in the Black Mountains and Radnor hills. He is at his most reflective when describing the empty wastes and ruins revealing much about himself when he writes ..."an angel-satyr walks these hills". One of the most vivid portraits in the diaries is that of the Solitary. This was the Rev John Price , graduate of Queen's College, Cambridge and Vicar of Llanbedr Painscastle, whose vicarage was a hovel extended by the addition of three broken-down bathing huts. He was a man of great kindness and concern for his flock who lived in filth and squalor but was revered by the local parishioners. Bearded and unkempt like a Welsh saint, he was a man Kilvert felt "truly touched by God". He also recorded his visits to Father Ignatius Lyne who had set up an Anglican monastic community along Benedictine lines at Capel-y-Ffyn.
In September 1870 Kilvert met and fell in love with Frances Thomas daughter of Rev. William James Thomas of Llanthomas in the parish of Llanigon. Her father rejected the match and Kilvert left the parish of Clyro in 1872. After a spell helping his father with parish business, he was offered the living of St Harmon in Radnorshire in 1876. On his first visits he delighted in the wildness and emptiness of its hills and is known to have done most of his parish visiting on foot. The diaries for the St Harmon years though have not survived. It would be interesting to know how he managed in a parish which still had a number of Welsh speakers.
He was offered the living of the parish of Bredwardine over the border in Herefordshire, and moved into the comfortable vicarage with his sister Dora in 1877. In 1879 he married but was taken ill almost immediately upon arriving home from honeymoon and died of peritonitis soon after. His widow destroyed some sections of his diaries. The remaining diaries were eventually published in an abridged version edited by William Plomer in 1938, 1939 & 1940 and the manuscripts burnt by Kilvert's niece.
[David Lockwood-"Francis Kilvert"; John Tomas – "Kilvert: the homeless heart"]
In 1870 he began to record his life in a diary. Despite his many duties, which now included religious instruction in the village school and running parish affairs when the vicar was away, his entries were often detailed. They record an affinity with nature and a poet's eye for detail (Kilvert read much poetry, especially Wordsworth) but most of all a genuine empathy and affection for his parishioners. While the diaries record his enjoyment of dinners and croquet parties, they also record his delight in solitary walks in the Black Mountains and Radnor hills. He is at his most reflective when describing the empty wastes and ruins revealing much about himself when he writes ..."an angel-satyr walks these hills". One of the most vivid portraits in the diaries is that of the Solitary. This was the Rev John Price , graduate of Queen's College, Cambridge and Vicar of Llanbedr Painscastle, whose vicarage was a hovel extended by the addition of three broken-down bathing huts. He was a man of great kindness and concern for his flock who lived in filth and squalor but was revered by the local parishioners. Bearded and unkempt like a Welsh saint, he was a man Kilvert felt "truly touched by God". He also recorded his visits to Father Ignatius Lyne who had set up an Anglican monastic community along Benedictine lines at Capel-y-Ffyn.
In September 1870 Kilvert met and fell in love with Frances Thomas daughter of Rev. William James Thomas of Llanthomas in the parish of Llanigon. Her father rejected the match and Kilvert left the parish of Clyro in 1872. After a spell helping his father with parish business, he was offered the living of St Harmon in Radnorshire in 1876. On his first visits he delighted in the wildness and emptiness of its hills and is known to have done most of his parish visiting on foot. The diaries for the St Harmon years though have not survived. It would be interesting to know how he managed in a parish which still had a number of Welsh speakers.
He was offered the living of the parish of Bredwardine over the border in Herefordshire, and moved into the comfortable vicarage with his sister Dora in 1877. In 1879 he married but was taken ill almost immediately upon arriving home from honeymoon and died of peritonitis soon after. His widow destroyed some sections of his diaries. The remaining diaries were eventually published in an abridged version edited by William Plomer in 1938, 1939 & 1940 and the manuscripts burnt by Kilvert's niece.
[David Lockwood-"Francis Kilvert"; John Tomas – "Kilvert: the homeless heart"]
King, William (b.1872)
Born in 1872 at Little Wern, near Cilmery, he was alive in 1969 aged 97. He trained as a stonemason with Penry Jones of Builth and afterwards worked in Llandrindod Wells. He was employed in company with a bricklayer named Edwin Phillips to work on the Commodore Hotel, when it was the Vicarage, and on the Metropole Hotel, the re-built Bridge Inn. Later they both helped to build up the streets of the town. In 1897 he married Catherine Davenport by whom he had 5 children, only one of which was still living in 1969. At the time of the South African war he joined the militia and was a member of the Guard of Honour mounted on the opening of the Elan Valley dams by King Edward VII in 1904. He was too old to serve in WWI and because building work virtually ceased at that time he took up timber felling and went into partnership with Bill Lewis of Newbridge and Sam Davies of Llanyre. He later resumed his former trade and helped in the building of the Memorial Hospital in Llandrindod and other buildings in Newbridge.
[County Times 22 Nov 1969]
[County Times 22 Nov 1969]
Knighton
The English place-name for the town means the farm or settlement of the servants or soldiers. As Knighton seems to have developed at a crossing point on Offa's Dyke, perhaps the name refers to a Mercian garrison who controlled it. The Welsh name Tref-y-clawdd means simply the town on the dyke.
The town was confined within the natural limits of the River Teme, the Wylcwm brook and the Dyke until into the 19th century. The town was later included in the cantref of Maelienydd.
[Richards; Morgan]
The town was confined within the natural limits of the River Teme, the Wylcwm brook and the Dyke until into the 19th century. The town was later included in the cantref of Maelienydd.
[Richards; Morgan]
Knighton: the Workhouse
The first workhouse at Knighton was a modest house of industry built around 1792 just for the poor people of the parish. When the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 was passed by parliament, Knighton became the centre of a new Poor Law Union of around 16 parishes, including some from over the English border in Shropshire and Herefordshire. Under the new regime paupers could only get support if they went into the workhouse. This meant that a much bigger building was needed, so a new much larger workhouse was built in 1837 on the same site on the South side of the town. Here the men would be separated from the women and children and no pauper would be allowed to leave until they could support themselves.
The people living in the workhouse were moved out at the start of the First World War in 1914, and the building was then used as a Red Cross hospital for wounded soldiers. The building is still in use today as Knighton Hospital.
[CAO R/G/A]
The people living in the workhouse were moved out at the start of the First World War in 1914, and the building was then used as a Red Cross hospital for wounded soldiers. The building is still in use today as Knighton Hospital.
[CAO R/G/A]
Knobley: a 'lost' mill settlement
On the floor of the Radnor valley, straddling the boundary between the parishes of Evenjobb and Walton and Womaston. Nothing remains of this settlement but house platforms, the occasional upright timber, and the earthworks of outbuildings and trackways.
The origins of this little settlement are abscure but the records of Kentchurch Court (now in the Hereford Record Office) include a grant of 1640 from a John Jorden to Thomas Bull of a house and watermill at Nobley including the parcels of land "the Ryes, Crab Tree Castle and the strive acre". In 1649 theseproperties were passed on to Ezechiell Weaston of Walton. In 1693 the properties (including two watermills) were transferred to Henry Bolter of Burford [Burfa?] by Lloyd Weston, perhaps the son of above Ezechiell.
In the 1830s and 1840s a survey of the parishes of England and Wales was carried out on the instruction of Tithe Commissioners. The survey included the area around Knobley in 1841 and recorded the field names (entered on the above map), and the ownership and tenancy of properties. At that time Knobley formed part of the Boultibrooke estate and belonged to Sir Harford Jones Brydges. The miller was one Robert Lawrence.
By 1910 Knobley consisted of just two cottages belonging to a Thomas Duggan of Whitchurch in North Shropshire, with no watermill still working.
[Tithe map; census returns; records of Kentchurch Court at Hereford Record Office]
The origins of this little settlement are abscure but the records of Kentchurch Court (now in the Hereford Record Office) include a grant of 1640 from a John Jorden to Thomas Bull of a house and watermill at Nobley including the parcels of land "the Ryes, Crab Tree Castle and the strive acre". In 1649 theseproperties were passed on to Ezechiell Weaston of Walton. In 1693 the properties (including two watermills) were transferred to Henry Bolter of Burford [Burfa?] by Lloyd Weston, perhaps the son of above Ezechiell.
In the 1830s and 1840s a survey of the parishes of England and Wales was carried out on the instruction of Tithe Commissioners. The survey included the area around Knobley in 1841 and recorded the field names (entered on the above map), and the ownership and tenancy of properties. At that time Knobley formed part of the Boultibrooke estate and belonged to Sir Harford Jones Brydges. The miller was one Robert Lawrence.
By 1910 Knobley consisted of just two cottages belonging to a Thomas Duggan of Whitchurch in North Shropshire, with no watermill still working.
[Tithe map; census returns; records of Kentchurch Court at Hereford Record Office]
Kyffin, John (?1624-1695)
Son of William ap Griffith Lloyd of Bodfach, Llanfyllin. The Bodfach estate came to the Kyffin family by the marriage of David ap William, John Kyffin's great-great-grandfather. A Welsh inscription at Bodfach indicates that "Sion" Kyffin considerably extended the old house in 1661. He was appointed Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in November 1677. The estate passed to the Pryce family in 1740 when Mary Kyffin (probably the sheriff's grand-daughter) married Adam Pryce of Glanmiheli, Kerry.
[MC 61]
[MC 61]
Kynaston, Edward (fl.1623)
The son of Richard Kynaston of Hordley who was Sheriff of Shropshire in 1602 and Lord of the Manor of Plas Dinas in Montgomeryshire. This powerful family had considerable influence on both sides of the border and provided public officers for both counties. This Edward Kynaston served as Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1623.
[W.V.Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
[W.V.Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
Kynaston, Edward (d.1693)
Son of Roger Kynaston (see below), he added to the family's already considerable estates by marrying the daughter and heiress of Thomas Barker of Haughmond Abbey and Abrightlee. He was Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1666 and Shropshire in 1682. He was MP for Shropshire in three parliaments, and owned land in several Montgomeryshire parishes.
[MC 27]
[MC 27]
Kynaston, Humphrey (1647-1710)
Of a branch of the Kynastons of Hordley, Shropshire which claimed descent from Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys in the 11th century. Humphrey inherited the property of Bryngwyn in the parish of Llanfechain from his mother. He was appointed Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1692.
[MC 63]
[MC 63]
Kynaston, Roger (fl.1641)
Of Hordley, Shropshire. He was sheriff of both Shropshire and Montgomeryshire in 1641. He held the Plas y Dinas estate and other lands. His wife's father and brother were both imprisoned in Shrewsbury by Parliamentary forces and Kynaston himself was obliged to compound for his estate in the sum of £921. His son Edward (above) became sheriff of Shropshire in 1682.
[MC 27]
[MC 27]