A Demonic Snake for Hallowe'en

Walter Map was a medieval cleric and writer who was born somewhere on the Welsh Marches.  At one point in his career he was considered for the position of Bishop of Hereford, but was unsuccessful.  Hereford Cathedral still commemorate his death every April 1st.

The only complete work by Walter Map which still exists is called De Nugis Curialium, or The Trifles of Courtiers, and is a collection of stories and anecdotes, Court gossip and history.

I thought one of the stories in the book was appropriate for Hallowe'en.

It concerns a holy hermit who lived in a cave, and his demonic pet snake.

One day a small snake came into the cave while the hermit was eating his meal, and it begged for a few crumbs.  Each day the hermit fed the snake, and each day it grew a little bigger.

Eventually, the snake was so huge that it filled the cave, and the hermit was forced to leave.

The moral of the story seems to be - don't give charity foolishly.  Or maybe, hermits shouldn't have pets that turn out to be demons....

Brynmelin for Sale

I bumped into a friend while out shopping who told me that the home of Richard Booth, King of Hay, has just gone on the market, so I looked it up on Rightmove.

When I first came to Hay, I lived at Brynmelin - we lived in the Annexe, at the top of the house, and basically acted as the Booths' servants - cooking and gardening mostly, and looking after their various animals.  They had horses then, and bantam chickens we called The Matildas, after Matilda de Braose and all the other Queens and Empresses of the Middle Ages called Matilda - we called the cockerel William, after William de Braose.  

There were peacocks - we called them Darius and Roxanne.  Roxanne once went missing and was found several days later admiring her reflection in the plate glass window of Rising Sun Cottage.  My husband Allen was planting peas in the vegetable garden once, and when he looked up, Darius was following him along the row, eating the peas as he planted them!  

There were pigs that we fattened up for the freezer, and there was Monty the lurcher (full name Montolieu, after the book town Richard set up in France), and two cats.

Here's the house, in the days when Richard Booth's uncle owned it, and now:

A few things have changed since we lived there - there's now an array of solar panels on the roof on the other side of the house, for instance.  I was amused to see the description of the Annexe now includes plumbing for a washing machine on the second floor landing.  Our bedroom was the top right window in the picture, and our toilet was downstairs right by the tower - we could measure the distance on the OS map!

We also noticed, after some time living there, that there was a square space between the Annexe kitchen and the entrance hall which seemed to have been boarded up.  It wasn't boarded up very securely - when we investigated, we discovered the lift shaft which is mentioned in the sale details.

The garden is big, and includes an orchard, and the sale includes 20 acres of land, including woodland, most of which is rented out to local farmers.

It's on the market at 1.3 million pounds, and there's a note in the sale details saying that the King's shop on Castle Street (now occupied by the poppy appeal which can't open because of lockdown) is also available for sale separately.

Kirsty Williams Stepping Down

 Kirsty Williams has been the Welsh Assembly member for Brecon and Radnor for twenty two years.  She's gone from new member to leading her party (the Lib Dems) in Wales, and has served as Education Minister in Wales.  Before she became AM, she was involved in the campaign for Welsh devolution.  She's also campaigned for a law requiring a minimum staffing level for nurses in Welsh hospitals.  She was made a CBE in 2013 in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

She's also been very much involved in local matters in Hay - the last time I saw her was on the stage in the new school hall as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations for Dial-a-Ride.  She also did as much as she could to help the HOWLS Library campaign.

Now she has released a letter - I saw it on the Hay Community page on Facebook - saying that she would not stand for the next Senedd elections.  

I don't know what she's planning to do in the future, but I wish her all the best.

Hay Festival Troubles

 First, it was the allegations that one of Hay Festival's employees was sexually assaulted when she went to Abu Dhabi to organise a Hay Festival there (Hay Festival organises literary festivals round the world now).  Caitlin MacNamara said that the Minister for Tolerance, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan assaulted her, and Caroline Michel, the Festival chairwoman, has said that the Festival will not return to Abu Dhabi while the Sheikh remains as Minister for Tolerance.

Then Peter Florence, director and co-founder of the Festival, was accused of bullying, and has been suspended pending the outcome of grievance procedures.

Tania Hudson has been appointed as interim chief executive, alongside the international director, Cristina Fuentes La Roche.

Meanwhile, the Winter Festival is going ahead, but online, like the main Festival this year.  It will be taking place over the weekend of November 26th to 29th.  As is now traditional, the Turning On of the Christmas Lights will happen on Friday 27th November, with a special Festival guest to flip the switch.  There will be carol singing, and Christmas tales recorded in and around Hay's bookshops.  

The Christmas lights are being put up around town now.

Normally, a marquee is set up on the Memorial car park for the annual Food Festival, and it is used for the stalls of community groups on that evening.  That may not happen this year, though I don't know for sure.

News from the Castle

The Hay Castle Autumn Newsletter is out and, despite the problems of working during a pandemic, they have quite a lot to report.

The first thing is that the lift shaft has been installed in the tower.  It will connect with the different floors of the Castle and go up to a viewing platform at the top of the tower.

The roof is still being worked on, and when that is finished it will be possible to do more work on the interior of the building.

Emily is running workshops to make costumes, to be used when the Castle is finally able to open to the public.  I've already had a lot of fun talking to her about 13thC clothing, and I'm hoping to go along to at least one of the workshops.  

The introductory session is on Saturday November 21st, in the afternoon, and then  the workshops where the costumes will actually be made will be held on Saturday 16th January, Saturday 20th February and Saturday 20th March.

They are also looking for interesting fabrics to make the costumes from, especially things like velvet, satin, cotton and braids and trims suitable for noble clothing, in rich and natural colours.  They will need to be hard wearing because of the handling by the public that they will receive, and machine-washable.

The authentic fabrics for the period are wool, linen and (just coming in, all the way from China) silk.  Cotton was another luxury fabric of the period.  Patterned cloth was unknown, and so were buttons and (of course) zips!  Fortunately 13thC fashion was mostly of the loose, pull-it-on-over-your-head variety.

Another fun project is Hay Castle in 100 Objects, which the Castle is sharing on Facebook.  So far they've had a trebuchet ball, a HAY car bumper sticker, and the War Memorial, among other things.

Meanwhile on Twitter they are sharing excerpts from Kilvert's Diary, 150 years on.

On Instagram, they are sharing some of the historic photos of the Castle.

They also have two new Trustees.  Fiona Howard was head of Hay School and on Hay Town Council, including periods as Mayor.  Chris Fyles is a recent resident of Hay, having moved here from Cornwall eighteen months ago.  He has experience of being a Charity Trustee from his time as Trustee of the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum near Penzance. 

In the gardens, the yew trees on the terraces above the Honesty Garden have been clipped by a team of volunteers.

And Cosmic Carrot have been designing a short piece of animation to introduce visitors to the characters who have lived in the castle.  The idea is for the animation to be projected on the walls of the cellar, which are not the smoothest or whitest surfaces, but they've managed to produce something that can be projected onto the rough stone walls.  The narration will also be in Welsh and English.

Feeding Hungry Children

This sign has appeared in Cusop - picture shared on Facebook by Sean O'Donoghue.

There's been a lot of anger in the last few days about the vote in Parliament in which Tory MPs voted to allow children to go hungry over half-term by refusing to continue free school meals for them.  

Our MP, Fay Jones, was one of those 322 MPs.  However, there is a statement on her website saying that this is not what she voted for and she is working to find long term solutions to support those most in need.

The wording of the Opposition Motion is pretty clear on what the vote was about though: "That this House calls on the Government to continue directly funding provision of free school meals over the school holidays until Easter 2021 to prevent over a million children going hungry during this crisis."

As the handwritten sign above makes clear, the voucher scheme for free school meals is continuing in Wales, and all over England charities and small businesses and councils are working to ensure that children do not go hungry. 

(They shouldn't have to do this.  It should be the responsibility of the State).

In Hay, good people have stepped forward to help, too:

The Three Tuns are offering free children's meals over half term.  These have to be pre-ordered, because of lockdown, to take away.  They are not enquiring about people's individual circumstances, but offering this for all children's meals.

Hay Takeaway (the chip shop) are also offering free children's meals from Tuesday 27th to Saturday 31st for anyone who asks for them.

Also ready to help are Trudy Stedman (Mayor of Hay), Gareth Ratcliffe and Fiona Howard, who are the community support co-ordinators.

There is also the food bank at the British Legion run by Kelvyn Jenkins, who is also exploring the idea of a cooked meal service for people who need it.

 

Lockdown Shop Opening Times

 Lief van den Baan has been updating his website which lists all the shop opening times in Hay, to reflect the lockdown.  

Details can be found at hayo.liefy.org

Captain's Walk Plaque Finds a New Home

 Earlier this year, the Black Lives Matter protests threw an unexpected light on Brecon.  The plaque commemorating Captain Thomas Phillips, on Captain's Walk, was taken down by persons unknown because of Captain Phillips' connections to the slave trade.  As Captain of the Hannibal, he was responsible for a voyage during which 328 of the 700 Africans on board died, and 18 of the crew.  When he retired to Brecon, he wrote a book about it, A Journal of a Voyage Made in the Hannibal 1693 - 4 to Africa and Barbadoes.

Now a decision has been made about what to do with the plaque, which will not be returned to its original position.  Instead, it will be donated to Y Gaer museum by Brecon Town Council, where it will be part of a new exhibit giving more details about the voyage and the slave trade Captain Phillips was involved in.

Further discussions are taking place to decide whether a new plaque should be commissioned, focusing on the victims of the slave trade, or whether a suitable piece of art could be loaned to the Council.

Tudor Brewery

 There was a new stall on the market today, selling beer.

Tudor Brewery is based at Llanhilleth in South Wales.  The brewery was established in 2011, and they've been brewing some prize winning ales since then.

In 2012, the Blorenge Golden Ale won Three Gold Stars at the Great Taste Awards, which is run by the Guild of Fine Foods.

Their Black Mountain Stout was Silver Champion Beer of Wales in 2015, winning the Stout and Porter category, and is suitable for vegans.

Black Rock, their dark ale, was Champion Beer of Wales in 2016, and is also suitable for vegans.

Their other beers, named for a mountain theme, are Skirrid Bitter, Sugarloaf Bitter and (not a mountain) Tudor IPA.

They also brew special beers like Winter Cheer, with cinnamon and spices, Twmbarlwm Honey Ale, and Wild Blackberry Stout.  Other occasional beers are Super Hero, an American Pale Ale; Green Green Grass of Home, a Special IPA; Rum to the Hills, with Jamaican rum and molasses, and Blitz Pomegranate Beer.

They have an online shop at www.tudorbrewery.co.uk

Purely in the interests of research, I bought three bottles to sample - the Black Rock, Sugarloaf and Black Mountain Stout.  I like dark beers, so I thought I'd go for those first, and if I like them I can try the rest of their range whenever they're back on the market.

Dangerous Corner

 Dangerous for the house, that is!

When I went out this morning, workmen had blocked off the pavement at the corner of Broad Street and the road to the Bridge, because something had bashed the corner of the roof of Black Swan Cottage.  It's fairly high up, so presumably a lorry did it.

Black Swan Cottage has been hit by vehicles turning the tight corner before, though usually they get the bay window at the side.  It's also a listed building, so it's not straightforward to get the repairs done to the required standard.  They can't, for instance, remove the bay window and make the wall flat.

There's a bollard on the pavement, and the owner of the building has asked before if it could be moved a bit further out to give more protection to the building, but so far Powys County Council haven't done anything about it.

Meanwhile on the other side of the road, at the Three Tuns, there's an old mounting block, once used to help riders mount their horses, and behind it is a corner that sticks out from the main building.  That's been hit recently, too, and loose mortar and bits of stone are lying on the top step of the mounting block.

Years ago, in Talgarth, the old Mill building in the middle of town used to get hit by lorries on a regular basis, leading the owners to put a sign up saying "Car Transporter - Please Do Not Hit This House Again" or words to that effect.  This was before the Mill was restored.  That problem has been sorted out because big lorries now go on the new road around Talgarth rather than through the middle.  The problem on the corner in Hay is similar, but it would be more difficult to find an alternative route for the lorries.

Welsh Lockdown

 So, another strict lockdown has been announced in Wales, starting from 6pm on Friday afternoon until 9th November, at which time, the Welsh Assembly will assess the situation and decide on new rules.

Only essential shops will be open for two weeks, and people are being asked to stay at home as much as possible.  So the bookshops, clothes shops and antique shops will be closed, but the food shops, pharmacy and post office will be open.  Any cafes that open will be takeaway only.

The Welsh Assembly are hoping that this will drastically slow down the spread of the virus.

Poppy Appeal

 Looks like this year's Poppy Appeal will be taking place from the old King of Hay shop in Castle Street - I saw the window display as I passed this evening.

Changes to Parking Restrictions

 Over the summer, roads in the middle of town have been blocked off from 11am to 4pm to make a pedestrianised area, and the car park in the middle of town has been unavailable for parking.

This is going to change from Sunday.

From Sunday - Wednesday the Memorial car park will be open and there will be no road closures in Hay.

From Thursday - Saturday, the barriers will be in place from 11am to 4pm as before, with access only for Blue Badge holders and deliveries.  The 'pop in and collect' points will also be there as before.

The new arrangements will be in place until the end of November, when they will be reviewed again.

The Town Council has been holding a survey, with questionnaires sent to every house and business in Hay, to see what people think of the road closures so far, and to ask for any suggestions to improve the system, and they will be studying the data so they have a better idea of what's working, and what's not.

Crime Week

 I went for a walk around the circumference of Hay this afternoon, and when I got to the car park, there was a Mobile Police Station there.

They had a table with a few leaflets on it - not many because it was windy and they didn't want them to blow away.  

It seems that it's Crime Week this week, so the Mobile Police Station has been going to a different town each day to give information to the public about scams and hate crime and rogue traders.  Tomorrow they'll be in Crickhowell.  

So I now have leaflets on several different sorts of crime to look out for.   

Gift Card Fraud apparently is someone phoning you up to tell you to buy gift cards and read out the details of them over the phone, otherwise the police will come round and arrest you!

Then there's "Is this caller genuine?" to tell people not to open their doors to strangers.

Another tells you how to spot a rogue trader.

And finally there's a booklet about what a hate crime is, and how to report hate crimes, together with a Confidential Reporting Form for people who don't want to go directly to the Police.  There was a recent incident in Hay when an Asian man was beaten up, that was reported in the Brecon and Radnor Express.  I can't find the report now, but it did result in a court case with the assailant being convicted.  There was a lot of sympathy for the man who was beaten up, in comments on the Hay Facebook page, with hopes that it wouldn't put people off from coming to live in the area, so I think most local people oppose hate crime, and would report it if they witnessed it.

And hate crime is not only about race, but covers religion, disability, age, gender and lifestyle choices (such as dressing as a Goth).  

A Local Saint - John Kemble

 A friend asked for a bit of help in researching the Forty Martyrs - Catholic saints who had been executed in England for their faith in the 16th and 17th centuries.  I was already familiar with several of them - St Nicholas Owen, who built priest holes where the persecuted priests could hide from the authorities, for instance and, because we share a name, St Edmund Arrowsmith, who came from Lancashire.

It was fascinating to find out about some of the others.  I had no idea that one of the Forty Martyrs was local to Herefordshire.  His name was John Kemble, and he was born at St. Weonards.  He went to Douai to study to become a priest, as many English Catholics did, and when he returned to England he spent fifty years quietly ministering to his flock in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire.  He was based at Pembridge Castle, the home of his nephew Captain Richard Kemble.

And then came the Popish Plot, which was concocted by Titus Oates, and became an excuse to round up as many Catholic priests as possible.  Fr. John Kemble was eighty by this time, and refused to go into hiding.  He was arrested by Captain John Scudamore of Kentchurch, and sent down to London to be questioned.  As he was unable to ride that far, he was strapped onto the horse like a pack, so it wasn't a comfortable journey.  When questioned in London, he was found to have no connection to any plot (Titus Oates had made the whole thing up), but he was found guilty of being a Catholic priest and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.  He was sent back to Hereford, but this time he was allowed to walk most of the way.

Sentence was carried out on 22nd August 1679.  He was allowed to finish his cup of sack (a sort of sherry) and his pipe of tobacco before he was executed - the hangman made sure he was dead before he was cut down to be drawn, which means cutting the body open to pull out the intestines and heart and other organs.  This was normally done while the victim was still alive (think Mel Gibson yelling "Freedom!" at the end of Braveheart).  The gallows was set up on Widemarsh Common, which is now owned by Herefordshire Council, and is the home of Hereford Lads Club Cricket Club.

One of Fr. John Kemble's hands was preserved, and is still kept at St. Francis Xavier Church in Broad Street, Hereford.  The church is now open for Mass and private prayer again, and they live stream the Sunday Mass.  The church is built on the site of the medieval convent of St Catherine, and the first Catholic church was built there in 1792, by members of a Lancashire Catholic family who lived there.  The present church dates from 1837, and was paid for by the Jesuits, which is why it is named for their greatest missionary.  The church is now run by the Friends of St Francis Xavier, who raised money to refurbish the church after many years of neglect.  St. John Kemble's shrine is to the right of the main altar - it's a glass box, so you can see the hand resting on a red cushion.

Fr. John Kemble was buried at Welsh Newton near Pembridge Castle, in St. Mary's churchyard, and there is an annual pilgrimage to the site.

In 1970, he became of of the group of 40 martyrs who were declared to be saints by Pope Paul VI.  The feast day is 25th October.

Among Fr. Kemble's relatives were the Kemble family who became famous as actors during the 19th C, the most famous of whom was Sarah Siddons.

Big Issue Sellers

 Today was the first time since the beginning of March that I'd seen someone selling the Big Issue outside Spar.  It was the lady with the headscarf, who used to come when it was busy in Hay, rather than the regular chap who used to sell on that pitch, but she's been to Hay often enough that she recognised me when I bought a magazine.

Over the lockdown period, when it was impossible to sell magazines on the street, Big Issue did a deal with the Co-op to sell the magazine from their stores, so that the street vendors could still get some sort of income.  I don't know if that's going to continue.

There are worries that homelessness is going to rise this winter, as the government ends the eviction ban that has been in place over the lockdown period, so the help that Big Issue can give is more important than ever.

Nature Interpretation Panels

 Every time I go along the footpath through the glamping site on the other side of the Wye I see something new.  This time it was a series of double sided nature interpretation panels, starting with one near the entrance for grasshoppers and ash trees on one side, and gatekeeper butterflies and hazel on the other:

About halfway along the path, where there's a bench looking out over the fields, the board has information on crows and gorse on one side and alder and willow on the other:

And finally, by the gate into the field is a board with information about chaffinches and cuckoos on one side and skylarks and meadow pipits on the other:

Hay on ITV

 I saw a camera crew wandering around Hay yesterday - a man with a camera and a woman with a sound boom.  It turns out that they were from Wales at Six on ITV News, reporting about possible quarantine restrictions for Covid-19 and how that would impact border towns.  They also interviewed a visiting author from Dorset and the lady who runs Haydaze clothes shop, as her shop is in Wales but she lives in England.

The report was on ITV last night, about 4.30 minutes into the programme.

Bowling Club Progress

 

The last time I noticed, they'd only done the foundations!

Wicker Hat

 

Despite the pouring rain, it's the Mad Hatter's Craft Fair today.  I noticed this lady with a stall full of beautiful baskets, who had made a wicker hat for the occasion.

A Wreath for an Accountant

 

This lovely wreath is outside Hay Accountancy Services on Castle Street, to commemorate David Duggan, who died recently.  

His funeral was yesterday, but the Covid restrictions mean that only a very few people could attend the funeral in Hereford itself.

So, on the way to Hereford, the hearse drew up in Castle Street outside the Accountancy Offices.  The pavements were lined with people who had come to pay their respects, and a choir sang Calon Lan.  I presume this was the Talgarth Male Voice Choir, as David Duggan had been a member.  I wasn't there, but I have seen video footage shared by Kelvyn Jenkins on Facebook.

There is an A4 sheet stuck up in the accountancy office window with details of David Duggan's life, including his membership of the choir and the Freemasons.  He was only 61.