Talgarth: Brecon & Radnor Asylum
The hospital was built by Giles, Gough and Trollope and opened on February 18th 1903. It covered 43 acres of ground to the east of Talgarth and as well as the main wards had an administration block, laundry and chapel, with tennis courts and a cricket pitch. It was originally called the Brecon and Radnor Joint Asylum, but in 1921 it changed its name to the Mid Wales Hospital. It was designed to cater for only 352 patients, but patients for further afield were taken in so that by the end of 1925 there were 455, leading to serious overcrowding. In 1994 the number had dwindled to around 140. It closed on April 7th 2000. The entire site was then controversially sold off to its previous chief medical officer for £227,000. The Auditor General for Wales valued the slates on the roofs alone at two million pounds.
Talgarth: Castell Dinas
This imposing site guards the pass between the Rhiangoll and Llynfi valleys. The first stage of the development of the site was the creation of a multi-banked hillfort in the Iron Age. Later a medieval castle was built within the Iron Age defences as part of the conquest of the area. Remains of the great stone keep and a well are still visible in the north part of the site. The castle is thought to have been taken by Welsh forces around 1262/3 during the wars of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd but recaptured later. The castle was captured and destroyed during the revolt of Owain Glyndwr.
[Burnham; Remfry]
[Burnham; Remfry]
Talgarth: Church of St Gwendoline
The church is dedicated to St Gwendoline the daughter of Brychan and tradition places her burial here. This would suggest an early medieval origin for the church perhaps of the clas type although there is no evidence visible today. The main body of today’s church dates from around 1400 with a slightly later tower. As with many other town churches the interior was used as a schoolroom in the 19th century before a specialist school building was erected. The church was extensively restored by Thomas Nicholson in 1873.
[Haslam; CPAT historic churches website]
[Haslam; CPAT historic churches website]
Talgarth: College Farm, Trefecca
Not to be confused with the later Trefecca College (see below) built on the site of Howell Harris’s settlement, the building now known as College Farm nevertheless has associations with the other site.
The Countess of Huntingdon chose the Tudor farm of Lower Trefecca as the site of an academy for the training of Methodist preachers, because of its proximity to her friend Howell Harris’s community at Trevecka Fawr. Her academy opened in 1768 with extra accommodation built in the gothic style of her earlier chapel in Bath. The academy moved from the site in 1791.
[Haslam]
The Countess of Huntingdon chose the Tudor farm of Lower Trefecca as the site of an academy for the training of Methodist preachers, because of its proximity to her friend Howell Harris’s community at Trevecka Fawr. Her academy opened in 1768 with extra accommodation built in the gothic style of her earlier chapel in Bath. The academy moved from the site in 1791.
[Haslam]
Talgarth: Great Porthamal
Late medieval hall with vaulted porch. Henry Tudor stayed here in 1485 on his progress to Bosworth field and the English crown. It was the home of Sir William Vaughan who was sheriff of Breconshire in 1539. The vaulted porch and the renowned gate tower represent the remnant of a grand Tudor fore court designed to emphasise the building’s high status. It has a 17th century timbered barn and modern outbuildings.
[Haslam; CAO B/D/CL]
[Haslam; CAO B/D/CL]
Talgarth: Tower
The tower is thought to date from the 13th century, and is similar in design to the northern pele towers. It stands on the East bank of the River Ennig and guards the river crossing. Originally square, a pyramidal roof replaced the original parapet around 1700 and a shop was built on to it in the 19th century and is now a private dwelling, attached to which is the Talgarth Information & Resource Centre, run by local people.
[Haslam; Remfry]
[Haslam; Remfry]
Talgarth: Trefecca College (Coleg Trefeca)
Just over a mile South West of the village of Talgarth stands the community founded and run by the leading figure of the Welsh Methodist Revival, Howell Harries. He began his community at his own home of Trevecka Fach and may well have been the architect of the new accommodation built in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style. William Williams Pantycelyn, a contemporary of Harris and a fellow pioneer of the Methodist Revival, called the new settlement a “castellated monastry”. Members of this commune worked at over sixty trades, with agriculture and weaving being perhaps the most important. Harris’s brother Thomas Harris of Tregunter rented the neighbouring Trefecca Fawr to him to extend his work to the whole hamlet. There was a printing press on the site which published over a hundred religious books and a life of Howell Harris himself. Life at the settlement revolved around regular acts of worship (at least three a day) the earliest of which required a 4 a.m. start. After Harris’s death the settlement died away and - with additional buildings - was developed as a Calvinistic Methodist Theological College
[Haslam; B 9]
[Haslam; B 9]
Talybont-on-Usk: Craiglas House
Built around 1810. Sold in 1849 by Joseph Bailey, the local ironmaster who later became Lord Glanusk. Once owned by the late Lord Brecon. Run as the Tor-y-Foel Centre by Ron Bell and Sylvia Weeks until the time of sale in 1991.
[Cutting from Western Mail, 1991]
[Cutting from Western Mail, 1991]
Tanat, Thomas (fl.1570)
Of the Abertanat estate on the Denbighshire/Montgomeryshire border. This family were the lords of Broniarth for many generations and so of considerable influence in the county of Montgomeryshire. He was the son of Ieuan Lloyd Vaughan of Abertanat and was thus recorded as a juror under the name Thomas ap Ieuan Lloyd. It was probably this man who first took Tanat as the family’s surname in the English style. He was Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1570.
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
[W.V. Lloyd - the Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire]
Tanat Valley Light Railway Company
See under Railways