Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for RADNOR (New)

RADNOR (New), a town and a parish in Presteigne district, Radnorshire. The town stands on the river Somergill, under Radnor forest, 6½ miles W N W of Kington r. station, and 7 W S W of Presteigne; is known to the Welsh as Maes-Hyved, signifying the "imbibingmeadow, " and alluding to the occasional absorption of the Somergill river in the neighbouring soil; was once aplace of great importance, with a border castle; was theplace where Archbishop Baldwin and Giraldus Cambren-sis commenced their crusade-mission in 1188; continued to be of so much importance in the time of Henry VIII., as then to give its name to the newly constituted countyaround it; was, for some time, a seat of assizes and a market-town; fell so far into decay as to have its chiefbusiness, of every kind, transferred to Presteigne; is aborough by prescription, governed under charter of Elizabeth, by a bailiff, two aldermen, and other officers; uniteswith Presteigne, Rhayader, Knighton, Knuckles, and Cefnllys, in sending a member to parliament; gives the title of Earl to the family of Bouverie; is a seat of sessions and a polling-place; consists now chiefly of one irregularly-built street, with many dilapidated cottages; and has a head post-office, ‡ an inn, a town hall, a smallborough jail, a memorial cross, a church, a dissentingchapel, an endowed school with £15 a year, charities £12, and fairs on 14 Aug. and 28 Oct. The castle was built by the Mortimers, occupied early by the Welsh, and demolished by King John; was re-built by the English, taken in 1231 by the Welsh, burnt in 1263 by Llewelyn ap Grufydd, and finally destroyed in 1401 by Owen Glendower; and is now represented only by amound. The memorial cross was erected in 1864, to thememory of Sir G.Lewis; has somewhat the form ofan Eleanor cross, but is more solid; and consists of threestages, rising from a stepped base, and crowned by aspire. The church stands on the side of a hill, was re-built by Dean Merewether, and has a tower. The borough includes the parishes of New Radnor and Llan-fihangel-nant-Mellan, and parts of the parishes of Old Radnor, Llandegley, and Cascob. Pop. in 1851, 2, 345; in 1861, 2, 262. Houses, 466. The parish includes part of the township of Upper Harpton, and comprises 3, 342acres. Real property, exclusive of the part of Upper Harpton, £1, 769. Pop., exc. of that part, 463. Houses, 97. Pop. of the whole, 490. Houses, 100. The property is not much divided. Downton House is the seat of Sir E. Cockburn. A picturesque waterfall of 70 feet, called Water-break-its-neck, is about a mile from the town. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £304.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: New Radnor CP/AP       Presteigne PLU/RegD       Radnorshire AncC
Place names: MAES HYVED     |     NEW RADNOR     |     RADNOR     |     RADNOR NEW
Place: New Radnor

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