Forden: Gaer
A turf and timber Roman fort on the banks of the Severn near the ford of Rhydwhyman. Probably known as Levobrinta the fort was situated on the borders between the more settled and romanised areas of lowland Britain and the military districts of Mid Wales. There seems to have been an early occupation of the site replaced by a more permanent structure around 75 AD. The structure was again rebuilt around 150 AD with timber ramparts of considerable size. The fort seems to have been in continuous occupation but there is evidence of burning around 296 and again 350-360 with reconstruction after each. The fort seems to have been abandoned around 380 and fallen into decay.
There is some evidence for a later structure on the site which could be a hall of Anglo-Saxon date.
[MC 41, 42]
There is some evidence for a later structure on the site which could be a hall of Anglo-Saxon date.
[MC 41, 42]
Forden Workhouse
The Poor Law Act of 1834 introduced a new regime across Britain requiring groups of parishes to band together into Poor Law Unions which would then fulfil their obligations in regard to the care of paupers by incarcerating them in new larger workhouses. While some Unions in the three old counties delayed the building of a workhouse for years (Rhayader, Machynlleth), Forden workhouse was one of the first of this new type to be built in Wales. The Montgomery & Pool Poor Law Union was formed as early as 1792 under earlier legislation which merely allowed Unions to be created. The Union built the large new “House of Industry” at Forden which could house 1000 inmates in 1794/5 at a cost of £12, 000.
The House of Industry provided food and shelter and medical care of a very basic type, the regime being deliberately harsh to deter the local poor from seeking aid from the Union. Families were divided, the women and children in one section, and men in another, and all were put to work.
The regime at Forden appears to have been particularly severe, with whippings being common for inmates who had commited more serious infringements of the workhouse rules. The whippings were carried out before the assembled inmates before food was served. Women who protested or complained about their situation were made to wear a scold's bridle. (see below).
With large numbers of inmates shut in together and the diet limited, the spread of disease was always a possibility. In the year 1817 a total of 60 inmates died at the workhouse, 27 of them in one measles outbreak. Later in the Victorian period attitudes began to change and by the 1870s the Union was vaccinating paupers out in the community against smallpox.
[CAO M/GF]
The House of Industry provided food and shelter and medical care of a very basic type, the regime being deliberately harsh to deter the local poor from seeking aid from the Union. Families were divided, the women and children in one section, and men in another, and all were put to work.
The regime at Forden appears to have been particularly severe, with whippings being common for inmates who had commited more serious infringements of the workhouse rules. The whippings were carried out before the assembled inmates before food was served. Women who protested or complained about their situation were made to wear a scold's bridle. (see below).
With large numbers of inmates shut in together and the diet limited, the spread of disease was always a possibility. In the year 1817 a total of 60 inmates died at the workhouse, 27 of them in one measles outbreak. Later in the Victorian period attitudes began to change and by the 1870s the Union was vaccinating paupers out in the community against smallpox.
[CAO M/GF]
The Scold's Bridle at Forden Workhouse
In the Powysland Museum collections is a reminder of a harsh regime at work. Above is the Scold's Bridle from Forden workhouse which female inmates could be forced to wear. The records of the Union held by the County Archives Office reveal an instance when one inmate Mary Davies was forced to wear this very contraption on her head for two hours "for riotous and other ill behaviour". As you can see from the drawing below this heavy iron object was clamped over the victim's head with a metal tab projecting into the mouth to prevent speech.
Foulkes, or Fowkes, Thomas (d.1733)
Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1697. He moved to Cilcochwyn in the parish of Berriew in late 17th Century and bought Penthryn from Owen Penthryn in 1696. The family became very active in the county with branches in Guilsfield and Kerry.
[MC 64,70]
[MC 64,70]
Foulkes, William Tanat (1863-1937)
Footballer. Son of a Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant farmer he was a half back for Oswestry WS and Oswestry Town. He won 2 international caps for Wales in 1884-1885.
[Davies & Garland]
[Davies & Garland]
Fowke, Francis (1753-1819)
Boughrood Castle
Radnorshire landlord. He was one of that class of gentry known as “Nabobs” from their fantastic wealth brought back from India. Fowke made a fortune in India from army contracting and diamond trading before returning to Britain in 1786. Along with his brother-in-law John Benn Walsh he was given the opportunity of buying a rotten borough in the Tory interest in return for a baronetcy. Fowke declined but Walsh accepted going on to become Sir John. (His son became the first Lord Ormathwaite). Fowke served as Sheriff of Radnorshire in 1795. Fowke used his fortune to build Boughrood Castle in 1817 near the ruins of a medieval castle. His declining of a baronetcy may have been due to his unconventional domestic life. He lived with a London actress Mary Lowe, by whom he had at least 15 children. Fowke is said only to have married her after the birth of all fifteen.
[Eileen and Harry Green - The Fowkes of Boughrood Castle"]
[Eileen and Harry Green - The Fowkes of Boughrood Castle"]
Fox, Sir Edward (fl.1617)
Of Gwernygo, Kerry. He was of a family which originally came from Yorkshire but which had long settled in the border area and which held the lordship of the manor of Cainham in Shropshire as well as Montgomeryshire property. Sir Edward served as Sheriff of Shropshire in 1608 and was a member of the Council of the Marches. He sold off much of his property in Shropshire and during his year as Sheriff of Montgomeryshire (1617), he sold the Manor of Cainham itself and settled at Gwernygo which he had inherited through his wife.
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
Fox hunting
See Afonwy Hunt (Rhayader), Brecon Hunt, Mr David Davies' Hunt (Llandinam), Gelligaer and Talybont Hunt (Hon. E Berry's), Irfon and Tawe Hunt, Llangamarch Hunt, Pantysgallog Hunt (Sennybridge), Plas Machynlleth Hunt, Radnor and West Herefordshire Hunt, Teme Valley Hunt (Knighton), West Radnor Hunt.
[The Foxhunters' Yearbook 1930-1931]
[The Foxhunters' Yearbook 1930-1931]
Frere, Sir Bartle (1815-1884)
The son of Edward Frere, one of a family of ironmasters, who owned a forge at Llanelly. His uncle was John Hookham Frere M.P., well-known author and diplomat. Bartle Frere was born at Ty Mawr in the Vale of Clydach, in Breconshire and educated at Hailebury College before being sent as a cadet at the Presidency in Bombay, India in 1834. He was involved in the reform of the land tax system in Poona and his ideas were adopted in other parts of India. He served in a variety of junior posts, always being concerned with the well-being of the native population, before being appointed Chief Commissioner of Sindh in Northern India in 1850. Here he worked hard to improve roads and local farming and set up many village schools where the written language of the native population was used. Upon the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in 1856 he sent most of the troops at his disposal to help in other more troubled areas and was able to avert any trouble in Sindh itself. He was a popular Commissioner in the area and his innovative policy of appointing Indians to administrative office won him much respect. In 1859 he became a member of the Council of the Governor-General of Calcutta and the following year acted as President of the council during the absence of the Governor-General.
From 1862 to 1866 Sir Bartle Frere was Governor of Bombay and his period in this office was marked by great strides in the development of education in the area and he was himself a keen student of the languages and culture of the sub-continent. His acknowledged skill as a diplomat led to his appointment as head of a mission to Zanzibar with the aim of stamping out the slave trade.
He was made a Privy Councillor in 1875 and was made G.C.B. and a baronet the following year. In 1877 he was appointed Governor of the Cape and first High Commissioner of South Africa. His period in office in this region though was not without controversy. Demands he made of Cetewayo led directly to the Zulu War and he was censured for having exceeded his instructions and removed from his high commissionership. He also promised at a conference to redress some of the wrongs claimed by the Boer population to have been inflicted on them. Although popular in Southern Africa he was recalled in 1880 and spent his last years defending his actions in print and recording his long career.
[D. Davies; DEW; DNB]
From 1862 to 1866 Sir Bartle Frere was Governor of Bombay and his period in this office was marked by great strides in the development of education in the area and he was himself a keen student of the languages and culture of the sub-continent. His acknowledged skill as a diplomat led to his appointment as head of a mission to Zanzibar with the aim of stamping out the slave trade.
He was made a Privy Councillor in 1875 and was made G.C.B. and a baronet the following year. In 1877 he was appointed Governor of the Cape and first High Commissioner of South Africa. His period in office in this region though was not without controversy. Demands he made of Cetewayo led directly to the Zulu War and he was censured for having exceeded his instructions and removed from his high commissionership. He also promised at a conference to redress some of the wrongs claimed by the Boer population to have been inflicted on them. Although popular in Southern Africa he was recalled in 1880 and spent his last years defending his actions in print and recording his long career.
[D. Davies; DEW; DNB]