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Hay-on-Wye

Coordinates: 52°04′30″N 3°07′30″W / 52.075°N 3.125°W / 52.075; -3.125
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Hay-on-Wye
A second-hand bookshop
Hay-on-Wye is located in Powys
Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye
Location within Powys
Population1,598 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSO225425
Community
  • Hay
Principal area
Preserved county
  • Powys
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHEREFORD
Postcode districtHR3
Dialling code01497
PoliceDyfed-Powys
FireMid and West Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Powys
52°04′30″N 3°07′30″W / 52.075°N 3.125°W / 52.075; -3.125

Hay-on-Wye (Welsh: Y Gelli Gandryll; Welsh pronunciation: [ə ˈɡɛɬi ˈgandrɪɬ]), or Hay (Welsh: Y Gelli), is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, in the historic county of Brecknockshire. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the site of the annual Hay Festival.

The population of the town in 1841 was 1,455;[2] this had grown to 1,680 by 1901. The town has grown little since, with 2018 estimates at 1,900. The built-up area includes Cusop across the border in Herefordshire, England and has a population of around 2,000.[3]

The town is twinned with Redu, a village in the Belgian municipality of Libin, and with Timbuktu, Mali, West Africa.[4]

Hay-on-Wye was named one of the best places to live in Wales in 2017.[5]

Location

[edit]

The town lies on the south-east bank of the River Wye and is within the north-easternmost tip of the Brecon Beacons National Park, just north of the Black Mountains. The town is just on the Welsh side of the border with Herefordshire, England, here defined by the Dulas Brook. Where the brook joins the River Wye just north of the town, the border continues northwards along the river. The Wye was the boundary between the former counties and districts of Radnorshire and Brecknockshire.[6]

The adjacent village of Cusop lies on the English side of the Dulas Brook. The nearest city is Hereford, county town of Herefordshire, some 22 miles (35 km) to the east.[7]

Hay-on-Wye is in the area known as "Kilvert country" which includes Clyro, Capel-y-ffin, Llowes, Glasbury, Llanigon, Painscastle, Clifford and Whitney-on-Wye.[8][9][10][11]

Etymology

[edit]

The settlement's name is first referred to between 1135 and 1147 as Haya; in 1299 the name of La Haye is used. By the 16th century it was simply called Hay, and the use of the river as a suffix is a later addition. In 1215, a Welsh name, Gelli was recorded, and Gelli gandrell in 1614; the two names may have been used concurrently in 1625. The English language name, Hay, is derived from Old English hæg, possibly meaning a "fenced area" and a noun used in late Saxon and Norman times for an enclosure in a forest. The Welsh word celli (lenited to Gelli) has a range of meanings, including wooded areas of various extents.[12]

The legal name of the community is Hay rather than Hay-on-Wye.[13] In 1947 the General Post Office changed the name of the postal locality from Hay to Hay-on-Wye.[14] The change of postal address did not change the name of the urban district which then covered the town, which retained the name Hay and was subsequently converted into a community called Hay in 1974.[15]

History

[edit]
Hay Castle and Mansion

The second Norman invasion of Wales was led by the Norman lord Bernard de Neufmarché. Brycheiniog (Wales) was divided by the Norman lords into lesser lordships, and gifted to the knights who contributed to the conquest.[16] Motte and Baile castle construction would have occurred soon after the lordship was allocated to a knight.[17]

Hay-on-Wye is associated with 3 Norman castles all within a short distance of each other. Hay Castle[18] was in the lordship of English Hay (Haya Anglicana)[19] and Hay Urban[20][21] was in the lordship of Welsh Hay (Haya Wallensis).[22][23][24] Welsh Hay included the parish of Llanigon and the hamlet of Glynfach. Hay Rural[21][25] is located on the same lane as the main site for the annual Hay Festival (Dairy Meadows).

It seems likely that Hay was first fortified by William Fitz Osbern during his penetration of south-east Wales in the summer of 1070, when he defeated three Welsh kings. The history of the site then continues through the lordships of the de Neufmarchés, which was confirmed at the Battle of Brecon in 1093, and also the Gloucester/Hereford families until 1165, when the district of Brycheiniog passed into the hands of the de Braose dynasty of Marcher Lords. In 1230 Hay Castle passed to the de Bohuns and the local history, including the battle near Hay in 1231, is continued through the Mortimer Wars of the 1260s and the battle near Brecon in 1266 down to the death of Earl Humphrey de Bohun in 1298.[26]

Hay Motte/Hay Tump/Hay Urban

[edit]

Lying close to St Mary's Church on the western edge of Hay-on-Wye is a small but well-preserved motte. The site overlooks a gorge and small stream, locally known as The Login Brook, that flows into the River Wye, which was undoubtedly one reason for the construction of a motte and bailey castle there. A recently levelled platform under the car park to the northeast may once have housed the castle's bailey. This little fortress was probably the work of William Revel, a knight of Bernard de Neufmarché who is usually referred to as Bernard Newmarch, and may later have been the seat for the manor or commote of Melinog.[27] Motte and bailey castles without evidence of the original bailey are sometime called tumps.[28]

Hay Castle

[edit]

Hay Castle is within Hay-on-Wye situated on the great site commanding the town and river, under the current ruins of the castle and mansion. The lordship of English Hay (Haya Anglicana)[19] passed by marriage to Miles of Gloucester and then into the de Braose family.[29] In the late 11th or early 12th century, a new fortification was built, taking the form of an earth ringwork with a stone gate-tower.[30] It was re-enforced in stone around 1200 with a curtain wall[31] but damaged during the Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr around 1401 and in 1460 during the Wars of the Roses.[32] It was then substantially expanded in the 17th century, creating a Jacobean mansion, which has been recently refurbished.[33]

Book town

[edit]
Hay Festival welcome sign 2016
Hay Castle bookshop

Hay-on-Wye is a destination for bibliophiles in the United Kingdom, with two dozen bookshops, many selling specialist and second-hand books,[34] although the number has declined sharply in recent years, many becoming general antique shops and similar.[35] Hay-on-Wye was already well known for its many bookshops before the festival was launched. Richard Booth opened his first shop there, called The Old Fire Station, in 1962,[36][37] and by the 1970s Hay had gained the nickname "The Town of Books".[38]

Hay Festival

[edit]

Since 1988, the Hay Festival based in Hay-on-Wye has been the venue for an annual literary festival, now sponsored by The Daily Telegraph newspaper, which draws a claimed 80,000 visitors over ten days at the end of May or beginning of June to see and hear big literary names from all over the world. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "The Woodstock of the mind".[39][40] Tony Benn said: "In my mind it's replaced Christmas".[39][41] In late July 2021, co-founder and director Peter Florence resigned as Festival Director.[42]

Governance

[edit]
The Cheese Market (and former town hall on the first floor)

Hay-on-Wye is a Welsh community with a town council. Its boundary follows the English border/Dulas Brook from the River Wye south-eastwards for just over a kilometre, turns south-west to a point just south of Oakfield house, thence north to Greenpit Farm and north-westwards, enclosing the Hay Showground and meeting the National Park boundary near the B4350, Brecon Road. From this point, it follows the National Park boundary to the River Wye and the river back to the Dulas Brook.[43]

The town council consists of a mayor, deputy mayor and eight councillors.[44]

Hay also participates in the election of a councillor to Powys County Council as part of a larger county division.[45]

Transport

[edit]

The B4350 runs through the town and the B4351 links it with the main A438 from Brecon to Hereford, on the far side of the River Wye.[46] The town has a road/pedestrian bridge spanning the River Wye linking Clyro with Hay-on-Wye.

The town was formerly served by train services at Hay-on-Wye railway station[47] on the Hereford, Hay and Brecon line. On a stormy night in 1880, a goods train on the way to Brecon was derailed and destroyed a 3-arch masonry bridge. The train fell into Digeddi Brook at Little Ffordd Fawr, near Llanigon. The driver George Parker died, and his stoker John Williams had life changing injuries.[48][49] The line closed in 1962, due to the line's commercial underperformance.[50]

Sport

[edit]

Hay St. Mary's Football Club is based on Hay Sports Field, off Brecon Road,[51] and they compete in the Mid-Wales Football League.[52]

Hay-on-Wye Cricket Club is also located on Hay Sports Field.[53] The 1st team compete in The Marches Cricket League.[54]

Hay Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1903. The club continued on its nine-hole course until the onset of World War II.[55]

Music and philosophy

[edit]
HowTheLightGetsIn Festival, Hay-on-Wye, 2018
HowTheLightGetsIn Festival, Hay-on-Wye, 2018

Hay hosts a philosophy and music festival, HowTheLightGetsIn, which occurs annually in May. It aims "to get philosophy out of the academy and into people's lives."[56]

Notable buildings

[edit]
The Clock Tower, Hay

Hay has nearly 150 listed buildings, including the Castle, St Mary's parish church, St John's chapel, the Ebenezer United Reformed Church, the Swan Hotel, and part of the town wall, as well as many of the town centre inns and shops.[57]

The Butter Market was commissioned by William Enoch and erected in the form of a Doric temple in 1833. the Cheese Market was commissioned by Sir Joseph Bailey, 1st Baronet and completed in 1835. In the early 20th century, Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in the hired assembly room over the Cheese Market.[58] Since the 1960's, Mass has been celebrated in St. Joseph's RC Church.

Oakfield is a Grade II listed Regency house located south of the town centre: built in about 1820, it was recorded in 1842 as the home of Henry Allen Junior.[59]

Hay-on-Wye has a Victorian clock tower which was completed in 1884.[60]

Kingdom of Hay-on-Wye

[edit]
Richard Booth in 1984

On 1 April 1977, bibliophile Richard Booth conceived a publicity stunt in which he declared Hay-on-Wye to be an 'independent kingdom' with himself as its monarch and a National Anthem written by Les Penning. The tongue-in-cheek micronation of Hay-on-Wye has subsequently developed a healthy tourism industry based on literary interests for which some credit Booth.[61]

In 2005, Booth announced plans to sell his bookshop and move to Germany; on this occasion, local Member of Parliament, Roger Williams, was quoted as saying: "His legacy will be that Hay changed from a small market town into a mecca for second-hand book lovers and this transformed the local economy."[62]

Notable people

[edit]
Christopher Dawson

See also

[edit]
  • Sedbergh – the national book town of England
  • Wigtown – the national book town of Scotland

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Ward/Town population 2011". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  2. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol III, (1847) London, Charles Knight, p.766.
  3. ^ "Custom report - Nomis - Official Labour Market Statistics". Nomisweb.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  4. ^ Hay-on-Wye is twinned with Timbuktu, BBC News, 7 February 2007, 15:53 GMT, accessed 8 February 2007.
  5. ^ "These towns have been named as the best places to live in Wales". Walesonline.co.uk. Wales Online. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
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  39. ^ a b "20 facts about Hay-on-Wye and its famous festival". BBC News. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
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Further reading

[edit]
  • King, D.J. Cathcart (1961). "The Castles of Breconshire". Brycheiniog. 7: 71–94.
  • Remfry, P.M., Hay on Wye Castle, 1066 to 1298 (ISBN 1-899376-07-0)
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hay-on-Wye.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hay-on-Wye.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Hay (Breconshire)".
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