We set off from outside the Library yesterday afternoon for our Enchanted Hour tour.
In the end, there were only two cars - several people gave their apologies, including poor Mary Anne, who organised everything! She had a delivery to attend to, and wasn't able to change the date.
That made it easy for parking at all the sites we visited, and John Price kindly brought along some extra information about the Roman fort - pictures of the donkey mill that was found there (and is now in St Fagans), along with pictures of a similar mill in Pompeii! The Romans really did keep things the same right across the Empire! It's called a donkey mill because a donkey was harnessed to a beam to turn the grinding stone round and round.
Seeing so many local motte and bailey castles in quick succession really put them into context for me. They weren't just little outposts - they were substantial buildings in the landscape, and they all had very good views of the surrounding countryside.
We got a special treat at Motte House in Llanigon - we were allowed to climb to the top of the mound!
I'm in the middle - thanks to Jackie Andrews for all the photos.
In the background, wearing a hat, is the owner of Motte House, Liam Madden, who told us all about the castle, and the way it controlled a trade route from the Black Mountains down to a ford of the River Wye, where it was paired with another castle at Llowes, in much the same way as Hay and Clyro castles are paired together.
Liam only bought his house by chance - he isn't from this area - and when he moved here he was delighted to find that the little area around his house has such a rich history. There's the castle, of course, and John Price found the information (from Llanigon Place Names by WET Morgan in 1918), that William Thomas, who was tutor to King Edward IV, lived there. Is that where the name Llanthomas came from? Or was it derived from something earlier, as Liam suggests in his Wikipedia article? (type Llanthomas Castle Mound to find it). There was a pre-Conquest settlement called Trefynys.
Again, this was a substantial castle - the bailey extended into the next field - and was well defended, with the Digedi Brook on one side.
And then there are all the Kilvert connections - the walled garden of Llanthomas is just across the road - and we had a good chat about St Eigon (daughter of Caractacus, or 6th century monk?).
Then we headed up to Hay Bluff, via Penywyrlod Farm (there was nowhere safe to park to get to the tomb, sadly). This is another place with a fascinating history, as a local centre for Non-conformist worship in the 17th century, when the owner was William Watkin, who had been an officer in the Parliamentary forces during the Civil War.
And here we are in the middle of the stone circle at the foot of Hay Bluff:
We found quite a few of the stones!
We finished off at Twyn y Beddau - no scramble bikes this time, but two ponies standing on the mound.
It was great fun, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! Some of the people on the tour grew up around this area, and had played as children on some of the sites, but they were commenting that they hadn't realised just how much interesting history there is in this area.
John was also filming during the tour - he puts the films up on YouTube, but they can only be viewed if he shares the link with you. This one, of course, is still in the process of being edited.