Knucklas

From Wikishire
Revision as of 19:09, 31 March 2017 by Owain (Talk | contribs) (Created page with "{{Infobox town |county=Radnor |welsh=Cnwclas |latitude= 52.361 |longitude= -3.1 |population = 220 |LG district=Powys |constituency=Brecon & Radnorshire |post town=Knighton |po...")

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search
Knucklas
Welsh: Cnwclas
Radnorshire
Approaching Knucklas Viaduct - geograph.org.uk - 330122.jpg
Knucklas Viaduct, on the Heart of Wales Line,
and the village of Knucklas beneath
Location
Grid reference: SO251742
Location: 52°21’40"N, 3°6’0"W
Data
Population: 220
Post town: Knighton
Postcode: LD7
Dialling code: 01547
Local Government
Council: Powys
Parliamentary
constituency:
Brecon & Radnorshire

Knucklas is a village in Radnorshire, adjacent to the border with Shropshire. It lies off the B4355 road and is served by Knucklas railway station on the Heart of Wales Line. It is approximately two miles from Knighton and lies in the upper valley of the River Teme. Its name is from the Welsh Cnwclas, meaning "green hillock".

Notable landmarks

The Castle Mound

A protected ancient monument in the care of Knucklas Castle Community Land Project[1] and listed by Cadw,[2] it is the site of a castle believed to have been built by the Mortimers in c.1220-25.[3] It consisted of a keep – a square stone fortification with four round towers on top of a steep hill. There is some evidence that there may have been further outer walls. It was captured by a Welsh army in 1262 which destroyed the defences.[4][5] Below the castle lies the battlefield of the Battle of Beguildy fought between the Welsh and the Mortimer family of Norman Marcher Lords in 1146. The castle was attacked and destroyed by the forces of Owain Glyndŵr in 1402 during his rebellion. Whilst there is a romantic story associating the castle location with the marriage of Guinevere and King Arthur,[5] this probably developed from an earlier story which suggested that a marriage took place between Gwenhwyfar, the daughter of Ogrfan Gawr (also called 'Gogrfan Gawr "the Giant" of Castell y Cnwclas' (Knucklas Castle)) and Arthur the warrior – there being no reference to Arthur as a king in the early Welsh texts.

The Viaduct

A spectacular 13-arch span completed by the Central Wales Railway in 1865 and recorded in an engraving from the Illustrated London News.[6]

Historic Heyope

Three Bronze Age torcs were found here and declared treasure in 1991. They are now housed in the National Museum, Cardiff.

The parish church of St David was built in 1882, on the site of a mediæval church; the font is 15th century.[7]

Further reading

  • Noble, F (1955) The Bronze Age gold torcs from Heyope, Transactions of the Radnorshire Society 25, 34-8.

References

Outside links