Tregynon: Church of St Cynon
The dedication to 6th century Breton saint, the location, and the shape of the churchyard all suggest a possible early medieval foundation. Medieval records show that a local Welsh lord gave over the church to the Knight’s Hospitallers. The living returned to the gift of the local lords of the manor after the reformation. This was the Blayney family of Gregynog. Arthur Blayney, whose grave is in the churchyard, had the church restored in the 1780s. Further restoration was undertaken in 1898.
[Haslam; Historic Churches Survey; J.R. Guy - Tregynon Church guide]
[Haslam; Historic Churches Survey; J.R. Guy - Tregynon Church guide]
Trelystan: Church of St Mary
Located on the eastern facing side of Long Mountain (Cefn Digoll) near Welshpool and therefore east of Offa's Dyke. Claimed to be the only early timber-built church in Wales. The site may be early medieval in origin, and records indicate one Edelstan being buried here in 1010. It is also listed in Domesday. It may have been acquired by the abbey of Strata Marcella. In the 15th century the original church was replaced by a simple timber frame structure which still survives encased in a 19th century brick and timber cladding. For many years the church came under Worthen parish in Shropshire, within the Diocese of Hereford. In 1873 it was included in the new parish of Leighton.
[Haslam; Historic Churches Survey]
[Haslam; Historic Churches Survey]
Tretower
Trevor, John (d.1589)
Of Allington (or Trevalyn) in the parish of Gresford in Denbighshire. Trevor was one of several influential Denbighshire men who became sheriff of Montgomeryshire. He served in that office in the year 1573.
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
Trewalkin
A township in the parish of Talgarth. Bernard de Neufmarché granted a vill or fee here to Humphrey Visdelou after his conquest of Brycheiniog in 1093. The vill took its name from Humphrey's son Walkelin Visdelou, who lived in the latter part of the reign of Henry I and who died after 1148. Walkelin seems to have stayed loyal to Stephen and so Trewalkin was confiscated by the lords of Brecon (probably Roger, earl of Hereford, d.1155) who sided with the Empress Matilda, and given to Brecon Priory.
The vill of Trewalkin is not actually named before the 13th century, by which time the Priory's lands there lay in the lordship of Blaenllynfi, which had been founded by Herbert fitz Herbert (d.1204). Herbert's son Peter fitz Herbert (who was lord of Blaenllynfi 1204-35) found himself in dispute with the monks of Brecon who tried to augment the Trewalkin estate by assarting Peter's forest.
[R. Coplestone-Crowe, Trewalkin & Its Anglo-Norman Lords; B.XXVI, 1994]
The vill of Trewalkin is not actually named before the 13th century, by which time the Priory's lands there lay in the lordship of Blaenllynfi, which had been founded by Herbert fitz Herbert (d.1204). Herbert's son Peter fitz Herbert (who was lord of Blaenllynfi 1204-35) found himself in dispute with the monks of Brecon who tried to augment the Trewalkin estate by assarting Peter's forest.
[R. Coplestone-Crowe, Trewalkin & Its Anglo-Norman Lords; B.XXVI, 1994]
Turnpike Trusts: Montgomeryshire
Leighton tollgate (courtesy of Powysland Museum)
When Montgomeryshire turnpiked its highways it organised its roads on a county basis under a single Act of Parliament (this was unusual - normally each Trust was established by a separate Act).
Some Shropshire Trusts had already taken on the management of short lengths of road to Welshpool: (In 1756 the Pool-Wrexham road and Pool-Oswestry road; in 1758 the Pool-Shrewsbury road; and in 1768 the Bishop’s Castle-Pool via Montgomery road. Also, in 1766 an Act used tolls from certain roads to finance the repair of the stone bridge in Shrewsbury and in 1768 this was amended to include the road from Pool to the 10th mile from Shrewsbury; this portion was transferred to the Montgomeryshire trust in 1773.)
The first real Montgomeryshire Turnpike Trust was formed in 1769 [9 Geo.III, cap.56], An Act for Repairing and Widening several Roads in the Counties of Montgomery, Merioneth and Salop. The county was divided into three districts, each a separate body with its own trustees:
First District: Welshpool, Newtown and Llanidloes
Second District: Welshpool and Machynlleth
Third District: Llanfyllin & Llansantfraid to Welshpool & Oswestry
In 1773 another Act [13 Geo.III, c.103] continued and widened the powers of the first one. In 1834 another Act [4 Wm.IV, c.31] rearranged the districts, adding the Fourth District, formed of the roads around Machynlleth. The four Trusts continued at first under the government’s annual Turnpike Acts Continuation Act, then by an Act of 1874, until 1885. By 1886 nearly all roads in Montgomeryshire were free of toll.
There were two other Trusts:
The Cilgwran, Betws and Tregynon Turnpike Trust, created in 1860 to turnpike the road from the Oswestry & Newtown Railway near Cilgwran over the river Severn to Tregynon, an area controlled by the First District. The trustees were those of the First District plus a few others. This Trust continued until 1 September 1885.
The Bishop’s Castle Second District included roads from Bishop’s Castle to Montgomery, Newtown, Snead via Churchstoke to Forden, etc. This ceased to operate after 1878.
[N.B. in returns to Parliament the Bishop’s Castle Second District appears as the Montgomery Second District, whereas the other Four Districts are called Montgomeryshire Districts.]
[County Archives M/QS; MC 57]
Some Shropshire Trusts had already taken on the management of short lengths of road to Welshpool: (In 1756 the Pool-Wrexham road and Pool-Oswestry road; in 1758 the Pool-Shrewsbury road; and in 1768 the Bishop’s Castle-Pool via Montgomery road. Also, in 1766 an Act used tolls from certain roads to finance the repair of the stone bridge in Shrewsbury and in 1768 this was amended to include the road from Pool to the 10th mile from Shrewsbury; this portion was transferred to the Montgomeryshire trust in 1773.)
The first real Montgomeryshire Turnpike Trust was formed in 1769 [9 Geo.III, cap.56], An Act for Repairing and Widening several Roads in the Counties of Montgomery, Merioneth and Salop. The county was divided into three districts, each a separate body with its own trustees:
First District: Welshpool, Newtown and Llanidloes
Second District: Welshpool and Machynlleth
Third District: Llanfyllin & Llansantfraid to Welshpool & Oswestry
In 1773 another Act [13 Geo.III, c.103] continued and widened the powers of the first one. In 1834 another Act [4 Wm.IV, c.31] rearranged the districts, adding the Fourth District, formed of the roads around Machynlleth. The four Trusts continued at first under the government’s annual Turnpike Acts Continuation Act, then by an Act of 1874, until 1885. By 1886 nearly all roads in Montgomeryshire were free of toll.
There were two other Trusts:
The Cilgwran, Betws and Tregynon Turnpike Trust, created in 1860 to turnpike the road from the Oswestry & Newtown Railway near Cilgwran over the river Severn to Tregynon, an area controlled by the First District. The trustees were those of the First District plus a few others. This Trust continued until 1 September 1885.
The Bishop’s Castle Second District included roads from Bishop’s Castle to Montgomery, Newtown, Snead via Churchstoke to Forden, etc. This ceased to operate after 1878.
[N.B. in returns to Parliament the Bishop’s Castle Second District appears as the Montgomery Second District, whereas the other Four Districts are called Montgomeryshire Districts.]
[County Archives M/QS; MC 57]
Ty Un Nos
Encroachments on Vronvari common, Radnorshire
(Also known as Caban un nos or Clod Hall.) These names all refer to the custom of building a holding on common land and claiming freehold tenure by virtue of the house being constructed in one night with a fire burning in the hearth by sunrise. This custom is part of the folklore of all of the old counties of Powys, other parts of Wales and even as far afield as France. The plot of land with the dwelling was said to have been claimed by throwing an axe from the door in four directions and joining up the landing points with a boundary. It is believed that prior permission from the manorial court could legitimize this custom, but as this might have to be granted by a court jury of local farmers who would be unlikely to find it in their interest to see the common diminished, it is unlikely that many of these settlements were in that sense "legal". The great majority were probably encroachments which, as they grew in number, would be seen as a nuisance by those with common rights. They were more likely to be tolerated in those sparsely populated regions with large areas of uncultivated waste. The Commons Inclosure Act of the mid nineteenth century led to the end of this practice.
[MC 55]
[MC 55]
Tylwch: Railway accident
In 1899, in the remote hamlet of Tylwch on the Montgomeryshire/Radnorshire border, a railway accident happened near the tiny Tylwch station. A mail train which had just arrived was hit by an excursion train on the same track. This train had left Builth early in the morning on a one day outing to Manchester. A young woman aged only 24, who had got on the train at the last station with her boyfriend, was killed in the collision with the mail train. Five other people from the Llanidloes area were seriously injured in the accident. This old photograph (right) shows the passenger train carriages crushed together nearest to the camera. The news reports of the train crash which were written shortly after the 1899 disaster claimed that the excursion train coming from Builth had gone through a stop signal before it hit the mail train which was waiting at the station.