Pontrilas is a village in south Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, half a mile from the border with Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It is in the parish of Kentchurch

Kentchurch

Kentchurch is a small village in Herefordshire, England. It is located some south-west of Hereford and north-east of Abergavenny, beside the River Monnow and adjoining the boundary between England and Wales...

 and lies midway between Hereford

Hereford

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...

 and Abergavenny

Abergavenny

Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...

.

The village name means 'bridge over three rivers', as the River Dore

River Dore

The River Dore is a tributary of the River Monnow in Herefordshire, England.It rises on Cusop Hill, in the foothills of the Black Mountains, close to the border between England and Wales. It flows for through the villages of Dorstone, Peterchurch, Vowchurch, Abbey Dore and Pontrilas, before...

, Dulas brook and another smaller stream meet there. The main A465 road

A465 road

The A465 is a major road in south Wales. It is more commonly known as the Heads of the Valleys Road because it joins together the north ends of the South Wales Valleys...

 skirts the west of the village.

The neighbouring villages include; Ewyas Harold

Ewyas Harold

Ewyas Harold is a village and civil parish in the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, England, near to the Welsh border with present day Monmouthshire and about half way between the towns of Abergavenny and Hereford. It lies on the Dulas brook, and is contiguous with the neighbouring village of...

, Llangua

Llangua

Llangua is a village in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales, United Kingdom.- History & Amenities :Llangua sits just inside the border with England on the Welsh bank of the River Monnow. The village has a parish church. Grosmont is one mile to the south-east....

, Dulas

Dulas, Herefordshire

Dulas is a civil parish in the County of Herefordshire in England 18 km south west of Hereford. There is no village as such named Dulas; the parish consists mainly of scattered farms and dwellings. The major buildings within the parish are Dulas Court, a Victorian country house now used as a...

, Wormbridge

Wormbridge

Wormbridge is a village in Herefordshire, England, about eight miles south-west of Hereford, on the A465 road at . The neighbouring villages are Kilpeck, Didley, Howton, Ewyas Harold, Pontrilas and Crizeley....

, Kilpeck

Kilpeck

Kilpeck is a small village in Herefordshire, England. It is about southwest of Hereford, just south of the A465 road to Abergavenny, and about from the border with Wales....

, Bagwyllydiart

Bagwyllydiart

Bagwyllydiart is a village in Herefordshire, England south west of Hereford near the Welsh border....

, Abbey Dore

Abbey Dore

Abbey Dore is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, known for Dore Abbey, a 12th century Cistercian abbey, expanded in the 13th century. The village is situated in the Golden Valley, and has a population of 342. Abbey Dore Court has large gardens open to the public in spring and...

 and Howton.

History

There has been a settlement in the area since at least 1086 when the hamlet was called Elwistone, possibly originating from the Welsh names Elwin or Helys. Over the centuries there have been several variations of name eg Ailstone and Heliston. The latter being the name of a terrace of houses in the modern day village.

The name Pontrilas originally only belonged to the manor house, once one of the homes of the Baskerville family, which sits beside the bridge over the River Dore, near where it meets the Dulas brook and another smaller stream. From 1750 the hamlet was also marked as Pontrilas on maps.

With the coming of the railway in 1854 and later the Golden Valley Railway

Golden Valley Railway

The Golden Valley Railway was a 19-mile-long single-track branch railway line that ran along the valley of the River Dore from in Herefordshire, England, to Hay on Wye in Brecknockshire, Wales , via six intermediate stations at Abbey Dore, Vowchurch, Peterchurch, Dorstone, Westbrook, and...

line in 1881 the hamlet grew in importance. The village had a cattle market and a pub, The Pontrilas Inn built by the Scudamore family, who still own a lot of land in the area. Sadly the pub was burned down in the 1970s. There was also a Chemical factory owned by Wrekin Chemical Co beside the main railway line to the north of the village.

Since the closing of the station in 1964 the village has declined in importance, though it does still boast an auction room and a number of businesses including Pontrilas Timber which has been there since 1947, an estate agency and a number of other smaller businesses.

External links