Nantmel: Church of St Cynllo
Nantmel church around 1908
This church may have had an early medieval origin as the dedication to Cynllo - a 5th century local saint - suggests. There are also indications that the churchyard was once curvilinear. The church first occurs in written records in 1291. The building appears to have been totally rebuilt by David Thomas in 1792 and renovated in the 19th century. Little if anything of the medieval structure remains.
[Haslam; Howse; CPAT]
[Haslam; Howse; CPAT]
Napoleon, Emperor of the French
During the early years of the 19th century a Mr Neild was on holiday in Radnorshire. He recorded in his diary that he was accosted by a group of local women speaking Welsh who suspected him of being Napoleon who they believed had fled from France and was in hiding in the Welsh hills. Eventually one of the women declared he could not be Bonaparte as he did not have a squint, all native Welsh women knowing him to have a squint as he was born in Wales and had two brothers who had been transported.
[Carola Oman - "Britain against Napoleon"]
[Carola Oman - "Britain against Napoleon"]
Neath & Brecon Railway Company
See under Railways.
Newbridge-on-Wye
Likely grew from a crossing point of the river Wye at the time of the Bronze Age and Roman period when the Ithon was in spate. The area was first mentioned in 1292 when Edward Mortimer was granted the right by Edward I to hold a weekly market and 2 annual fairs. The next mention of the area is in a sale of Woodcastle Farm, dated 1587.
Until the Enclosure Acts of 1840s much of the periphery was common land and at this time the unenclosed portion (over 1/3 of the parish land) was absorbed into the great estates. At this time it was a village of 30 houses, using fuel from the local peat bogs, only visited by drovers on their way to English markets. These travellers were catered for by 13 public houses by the end of the C19. The Sun Inn, demolished in the mid-1970s, is said to have been a safe house for those involved in the Rebecca Riots, which took place between 1843-4. Newbridge had a horse fair on the green until the early 20th century. (The photograph here was taken at a horse fair in 1905. The village had a railway link from 1863 till 1962.
[A Glimpse at the History of Newbridge by Dr F M Slater - photocopy held on Enquiry file 21/4N; Enclosure records]
Until the Enclosure Acts of 1840s much of the periphery was common land and at this time the unenclosed portion (over 1/3 of the parish land) was absorbed into the great estates. At this time it was a village of 30 houses, using fuel from the local peat bogs, only visited by drovers on their way to English markets. These travellers were catered for by 13 public houses by the end of the C19. The Sun Inn, demolished in the mid-1970s, is said to have been a safe house for those involved in the Rebecca Riots, which took place between 1843-4. Newbridge had a horse fair on the green until the early 20th century. (The photograph here was taken at a horse fair in 1905. The village had a railway link from 1863 till 1962.
[A Glimpse at the History of Newbridge by Dr F M Slater - photocopy held on Enquiry file 21/4N; Enclosure records]
New Radnor
New Radnor was one of around 80 or so boroughs founded between 1070 and 1300 by Anglo-Norman conquerors. As in the case of Cefnllys the siting was down to military considerations, a stronghold being built first and then a borough created to act as a market to feed the garrison and to provide a body of population loyal to the conquerors. New Radnor was founded in the mid-13th century and was the centre for the administration of the lordship of Radnor. It was defended by earthbanks mounted with palisades, some of which survive as earthworks in the fields outside the village. The community continued as a county town after the Act of Union but was already in decline. A site just inside the west gate was excavated by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust in 1992. The defences - probably the bank with a palisade and ditch - ceased to be maintained after Owain Glyndŵr attacked the town.
[Burnham; Cutting from The Journal, 1992 - photocopy held on Enquiry file 21/4N]
[Burnham; Cutting from The Journal, 1992 - photocopy held on Enquiry file 21/4N]
Newbridge-on-Wye: Brynwern Bridge
A cast-iron bridge created by a retired clergyman and church architect. It was 25 years out of date when constructed in 1885 with the ironwork possibly made back in the 1860s. Threatened with "redundancy" in 1978, plans were being made at that time to preserve relics, such as the original builders' plates bearing the legend "W. Thomas Railway Works, Llanidloes 1855".
[Mid Wales Journal of 17 November1978]
[Mid Wales Journal of 17 November1978]
Newton, Francis (fl.1595)
Of Heightley in the parish of Chirbury, Shropshire. They were an influential Pembrokeshire family originally and acquired estates elsewhere through purchase and marriage. Francis' grandfather Sir Peter Newton was private secretary to Prince Arthur eldest son of Henry VIII, built himself a fine mansion in Shrewsbury and was sheriff of Shropshire on five occasions. Francis himself was probably the first Newton to settle at Heightley and married the daughter of Reginald Corbet a local landowner and judge. Francis served as Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1595 and Shropshire in 1602. His son John Newton (below) served in turn as sheriff of both counties.
[W.V.Lloyd - The Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
[W.V.Lloyd - The Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
Newton, John (fl.1638)
Of Heightley in the parish of Chirbury, Shropshire. He was the eldest son of Francis Newtown (above) sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1595. John Newton was Sheriff of Shropshire in 1635 and Montgomeryshire in 1638. During the latter shrievalty he had difficulty collecting the unpopular ship money and claimed that outbreaks of plague in Newtown and Llanidloes were responsible. His loyalty to the crown was later brought into question and he was arrested and manhandled in the parish church at Chirbury in September 1644 by royalist Captain Pelham Corbet whose men also assaulted the vicar in his pulpit.
[W.V.Lloyd - The Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
[W.V.Lloyd - The Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]