Talgarth
Encyclopedia
Talgarth is a small market town
and community
in southern Powys
(Breconshire), Mid Wales
, with a population of 1,645. Notable buildings in the town include its 14th-century parish church
and 13th century Pele Tower
, located in the town centre, now home to the Tourist Information and Resource Centre. According to traditional accounts Talgarth was the capital of the early medieval Welsh Kingdom of Brycheiniog
.
, and have said to have been murdered by Saxons
.
of the Black Mountains
is held, a popular event attracting thousands of people each year. The town also has a Christmas lights display each year, organised by Talgarth Town Council and a team of volunteers.
Talgarth held important links with healthcare for many years as the home of the large psychiatric hospital, the Mid Wales Hospital
and the Mid and West Wales College of Nursing and Midwifery. The town was extremely prosperous until the 1980s when changes in health legislation saw the need for such hospitals to be closed. The Mid Wales closed for good in the 1990s with the loss of hundreds of jobs. Since then the town has suffered socially and economically and as a result lost businesses and shops and confidence among residents, similar to the effects of the South Wales Valleys
mining towns.
The town, however, is in the early stages of regeneration and its popularity and thriving nature is hoped to be brought back. This is very much a result of the completion of the Talgarth Relief Road and Bronllys
bypass completed in 2007. The existing derelict Mill in the centre of the town is currently being renovated to make space for a community/tourism hub which will be sustainably powered by the working wheel, renovations are now complete on the Medieval Tower Bridge, after damage over the years by heavy traffic, and help for new businesses is emerging, amongst many other initiatives.
Talgarth is also becoming a place for artists and writers.
Richard Livsey, who was brought up in the town and lived nearby, took the title of Lord Livsey of Talgarth when raised to the peerage on resigning his seat in the House of Commons.
, round cairns
and the British Iron Age
hill fort
at Castell Dinas
show that there was a large and stable population and settlement here. The Romans
were in this area and there was a Roman camp at "Y Gaer" near Pendre, 1 km from Talgarth.
King of Brycheiniog
in the 5th century AD. With three wives, 24 daughters and 22 sons the family was an important force in Wales at that time. Responsible for the spread of Christianity
throughout Brecknock, the daughters of Brychan and their descendants account for almost all of the Saints of South Wales
and include the grandmother of Saint David
. According to legend they also evangelised north Cornwall.
According to legend Talgarth was raided by King Gwynllyw
in search of a bride. St. Gwendoline is believed to have bathed in the pool at Pwll-y-Wrach
waterfall and is buried at the site of the present church, in Talgarth. This site was a Celtic monastery
in the 5th century with the church being established in the 11th century.
was the initial site where a Norman
castle was established by the Normans to control the passes on both sides.
The town was in the manor
of English Talgarth, there being also a manor of Welsh Talgarth, in which Welsh laws
prevailed.
when Howell Harris
, probably the most influential person to come from Talgarth, was converted in Talgarth church while listening to a sermon by the Rev. Pryce Davies. The revival would sweep across Wales leading to the development of one of the most influential Welsh denominations that of the Calvinistic Methodists
. It was at Talgarth William Williams Pantycelyn
converted leading him to become one of Wales's most important hymn writers. Nearby is Trevecca the location of the famous college that Harris established.
chambered tomb at Penywyrlod, Talgarth (c. 4000 BC) was discovered in June 1972 by a farmer when clearing a stone mound from a field for use as hard-standing in the farmyard. The discovery led to archaeological excavation of the site by Dr. Savory of the National Museum of Wales. During the excavation a number of human remains were found along with a bone flute
, a human rib and some worked flints and stone. The bone flute was made from a sheep metapodial
bone. It has three holes and may either have been a simple flute or whistle. The larger hole may have been the blow-hole. This is the oldest dated musical instrument found from Wales.
club (Sailplanes) called the Black Mountains Gliding Club, which attracts many visitors from all of the UK, due to the year round ability to remain airborne; by means of mountain lift, both ridge lift
and wave lift.
above the town are very good for upland hiking
and hill-walking. The mountain ridges are around 2000 feet high with the highest point called Waun Fach at 811 metres ( 2,660 feet).
There is an ancient woodland
along the banks of the River Ennig just 1 km from the town centre. There are a series of waterfalls within the wood. The largest is called Pwll-y-wrach, which means 'Witches Pool'. Local legend suggests that witches may have been ducked in this pool in medieval times. There is a geology trail, explaining the environment of 400 million years ago. A large part of Pwllwrach wood is a nature reserve, owned and managed by the Brecknock Wildlife Trust
.
(SSI) because of its special habitat values and the existence of some quite rare plants, including the small leaved Lime tree and the Lesser butterfly-orchid. These are regarded as indicator plants of Ancient Woodland. That is an area that has retained a continuous cover of trees for thousands of years.
There is evidence of volcanic activity in the formation of air fall 'Tuffs' in the layers of rocks, blown out from a distant volcano. The nature of these tuffs infer an explosive type of eruption from volcanoes sited on the edge of a continental subuction zone. The whole area was probably tectonically unstable at the time. We have to realise that the area was once part of a greater landmass situated just south of the equator aome 400 million years ago. Such is the power of extremely slow continental drift northwards on a liquified mantle beneath the Earth's crust.
There are no known sources of metallic minerals in the immediate locality, there is some barytes in Pwll-y-Wrach which is intrusive from rocks below. There is a small source of lead ore at the Gospel Pass in the upper reaches of the Honddu where strings of galena were found circa 1800. There was also a trial mine for copper at Felin Fach nearer Brecon in the 17th century. Some rather interesting ore mixture was found but as for copper there appears none. There was further exploration in the 19th century when speculation was running high, a fallen in shaft and tunnel still exists.
Copper in the form of small malachite green patches has been found in rocks at the base of a large mountain gulley above Velindre. It is not known if this was exploited but the area has been referred to as the 'copper works' in a manuscript on beating the boundary of Llanigon parish.
Limestone in the form of 'calcrete' within the local sandstone rocks has been burnt for lime in many places across the Black Mountains for both mortar and agricultural uses. Limekilns were once very common before the coming of the railways, some now ruins but many more have been dismantled.
in mid-spring followed by ramsons
in late spring. Animals found in the wood include Tawny owl
s, badger
s, fox
es and otters with some uncommon birds such as dippers and Pied Flycatchers.
The wood is also home to the most important colony of dormouse
in the region and some uncommon bats, including the lesser horseshoe bat
.
. Others include Morgan's Boy (BBC) a rare drama, now unavailable, Nuts and Bolts (ITV), where scenes were shot at the old Hospital and Hearts of Gold (ITV), where the town was assumed to be Pontypridd
.
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
and community
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
in southern Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
(Breconshire), Mid Wales
Mid Wales
Mid Wales is the name given to the central region of Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the National Assembly for Wales covered the counties of Ceredigion and Powys and the area of Gwynedd that had previously been the district of Meirionydd. A similar definition is used by the BBC...
, with a population of 1,645. Notable buildings in the town include its 14th-century parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
and 13th century Pele Tower
Peel tower
Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...
, located in the town centre, now home to the Tourist Information and Resource Centre. According to traditional accounts Talgarth was the capital of the early medieval Welsh Kingdom of Brycheiniog
Brycheiniog
Brycheiniog was a small independent petty kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the powerful south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans between 1088 and 1095, though it...
.
History of the name of the town
Earliest names on record: Talgar c. 1163–74, Talgard c.100, 1204–14, Talgarth c1100, kwmwd talgarth [note: printed as shown in reference book in lower case letters]c.1566, Talgarth Ughporthe 1569, Talgarth hewchporth 1541-3, English Talgarthe 1575, Englysshe Talgarth 1331. Inglisshe Talgarth 1520 The meaning of the name is in the Welsh for tal-forehead or brow of a hill and garth – mountain ridge or promontory. The church of Talgarth in 1488 was dedicated to Sce Wenne Virginis, explained as Gwen (granddaughter of BrychanBrychan
Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog in South Wales.-Life:Celtic hagiography tells us that Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach, son of Coronac, and his wife, Marchel, heiress of the Welsh kingdom of Garthmadrun , which the couple later inherited...
, and have said to have been murdered by Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
.
About the town
In August, the Talgarth FestivalTalgarth Festival
Talgarth Festival of the Black Mountains is an annual event which takes place in the small market town of Talgarth in Mid Wales.It is a celebration of an ancient town in a modern world with events including crafts, food, live and classical music, fireworks, dog show, continental market, literature,...
of the Black Mountains
Black Mountains, Wales
The Black Mountains are a group of hills spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales, and extending across the national border into Herefordshire, England. They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the Brecon Beacons National Park, and are frequently...
is held, a popular event attracting thousands of people each year. The town also has a Christmas lights display each year, organised by Talgarth Town Council and a team of volunteers.
Mid Wales Hospital
The Mid Wales Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Talgarth, Wales. It opened in 1906 and was formerly known as the Brecon and Radnor Joint Asylum or Mid Wales Counties Mental Hospital. It is in echelon style and at its peak could serve 1,000 patients. However, nearer the end of its life, in...
and the Mid and West Wales College of Nursing and Midwifery. The town was extremely prosperous until the 1980s when changes in health legislation saw the need for such hospitals to be closed. The Mid Wales closed for good in the 1990s with the loss of hundreds of jobs. Since then the town has suffered socially and economically and as a result lost businesses and shops and confidence among residents, similar to the effects of the South Wales Valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
mining towns.
The town, however, is in the early stages of regeneration and its popularity and thriving nature is hoped to be brought back. This is very much a result of the completion of the Talgarth Relief Road and Bronllys
Bronllys
Bronllys is a village in Powys, Wales between the nearby towns Brecon and Talgarth. It has recently benefitted from a new bypass as part of the Talgarth Relief Road and Bronllys Bypass scheme....
bypass completed in 2007. The existing derelict Mill in the centre of the town is currently being renovated to make space for a community/tourism hub which will be sustainably powered by the working wheel, renovations are now complete on the Medieval Tower Bridge, after damage over the years by heavy traffic, and help for new businesses is emerging, amongst many other initiatives.
Talgarth is also becoming a place for artists and writers.
Richard Livsey, who was brought up in the town and lived nearby, took the title of Lord Livsey of Talgarth when raised to the peerage on resigning his seat in the House of Commons.
Prehistory
Evidence exists that settlement and cultivation of the area occurred at least the last 5,000 years and possibly since 5000 BCE. There are a large number of chambered long cairns, including the oldest known in Southern Britain. Megalithic standing stoneStanding stone
Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....
, round cairns
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
and the British Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
at Castell Dinas
Castell Dinas
Castell Dinas is a hillfort and castle in southern Powys, Wales. At 450 m it has the highest castle in England and Wales. It is positioned to defend the Rhiangoll pass between Talgarth and Crickhowell....
show that there was a large and stable population and settlement here. The Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
were in this area and there was a Roman camp at "Y Gaer" near Pendre, 1 km from Talgarth.
The Dark Ages
Talgarth was the royal residence of BrychanBrychan
Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog in South Wales.-Life:Celtic hagiography tells us that Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach, son of Coronac, and his wife, Marchel, heiress of the Welsh kingdom of Garthmadrun , which the couple later inherited...
King of Brycheiniog
Brycheiniog
Brycheiniog was a small independent petty kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the powerful south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans between 1088 and 1095, though it...
in the 5th century AD. With three wives, 24 daughters and 22 sons the family was an important force in Wales at that time. Responsible for the spread of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
throughout Brecknock, the daughters of Brychan and their descendants account for almost all of the Saints of South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
and include the grandmother of Saint David
Saint David
Saint David was a Welsh Bishop during the 6th century; he was later regarded as a saint and as the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and a relatively large amount of information is known about his life. However, his birth date is still uncertain, as suggestions range from 462 to...
. According to legend they also evangelised north Cornwall.
According to legend Talgarth was raided by King Gwynllyw
Gwynllyw
Saint Gwynllyw Milwr or Gwynllyw Farfog, known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded was a Welsh king and religious figure....
in search of a bride. St. Gwendoline is believed to have bathed in the pool at Pwll-y-Wrach
Pwll-y-Wrach
Pwll-y-Wrach or Pwyllywrach is a historical manor house to the east of Colwinston, Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. The house and its Western garden house and Eastern garden house are all listed as Grade II listed buildings in their own right...
waterfall and is buried at the site of the present church, in Talgarth. This site was a Celtic monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
in the 5th century with the church being established in the 11th century.
The Normans
The town was seized by the Norman Bernard of Neufmarché before 1088 when a charter was made concerning the district. Castell DinasCastell Dinas
Castell Dinas is a hillfort and castle in southern Powys, Wales. At 450 m it has the highest castle in England and Wales. It is positioned to defend the Rhiangoll pass between Talgarth and Crickhowell....
was the initial site where a Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
castle was established by the Normans to control the passes on both sides.
The town was in the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of English Talgarth, there being also a manor of Welsh Talgarth, in which Welsh laws
Hywel Dda
Hywel Dda , was the well-thought-of king of Deheubarth in south-west Wales, who eventually came to rule Wales from Prestatyn to Pembroke. As a descendant of Rhodri Mawr, through his father Cadell, Hywel was a member of the Dinefwr branch of the dynasty and is also named Hywel ap Cadell...
prevailed.
The Methodist revival
In 1735 Talgarth saw the birth of the Welsh Methodist revivalWelsh Methodist revival
The Welsh Methodist revival was an evangelical revival that revitalised Christianity in Wales during the 18th century. Methodist preachers such as Griffith Jones, William Williams and Howell Harris were such powerful speakers that they converted thousands of people back to the church...
when Howell Harris
Howell Harris
Hywel Harris was one of the main leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century, along with Daniel Rowland and William Williams Pantycelyn.-Life:...
, probably the most influential person to come from Talgarth, was converted in Talgarth church while listening to a sermon by the Rev. Pryce Davies. The revival would sweep across Wales leading to the development of one of the most influential Welsh denominations that of the Calvinistic Methodists
Calvinistic Methodists
Calvinistic Methodists are a body of Christians forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales and claiming to be the only denomination of the Presbyterian order in Wales which is of purely Welsh origin.-Early history:...
. It was at Talgarth William Williams Pantycelyn
William Williams Pantycelyn
William Williams Pantycelyn , also known as Williams Pantycelyn and Pantycelyn, is generally acknowledged as Wales' most famous hymn writer. He was also one of the key leaders of the 18th century Welsh Methodist revival, along with Daniel Rowland and Howell Harris. As a poet and prose writer he is...
converted leading him to become one of Wales's most important hymn writers. Nearby is Trevecca the location of the famous college that Harris established.
Buildings and other sites of note
- Talgarth Mill
- Talgarth's Victorian Town Hall with its memorial clock tower overlooks the Square.
- The Medieval Tower House, also overlooking the Square.
- The Tower Hotel was built in 1873 for the gentleman farmers to attend the livestock market, which still exists.
- St. Gwendoline's Church. (Saint WennaSaint WennaSaint Wenna was a Cornish saint and probably a Cornish queen. She founded the church of Morval. She was known in Wales as Gwen ferch Cynyr, the daughter of Lord Cynyr Ceinfarfog of Caer Goch in Pembrokshire. She married King Salomon of Cornwall and became the mother of Saint Cybi...
(born ca. 463) was a princess and a daughter of BrychanBrychanBrychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog in South Wales.-Life:Celtic hagiography tells us that Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach, son of Coronac, and his wife, Marchel, heiress of the Welsh kingdom of Garthmadrun , which the couple later inherited...
who founded the church of Talgarth and then evangelised parts of north Cornwall. She founded the church of St WennSt WennSt Wenn is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated six miles west of Bodmin and nine miles east of Newquay....
and chapels at St Kew and Cheristowe (in Stoke-by-HartlandHartland, DevonThe town of Hartland, which incorporates the hamlet of Stoke to the west and the village of Meddon in the south, is the most north-westerly settlement in the county of Devon, England....
, Devon). She died on 18 October, year unknown. Saint Gwendoline is a saint from the 8th century.) - Nearby BronllysBronllysBronllys is a village in Powys, Wales between the nearby towns Brecon and Talgarth. It has recently benefitted from a new bypass as part of the Talgarth Relief Road and Bronllys Bypass scheme....
Castle.
Chambered tombs – Penywyrlod
A NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
chambered tomb at Penywyrlod, Talgarth (c. 4000 BC) was discovered in June 1972 by a farmer when clearing a stone mound from a field for use as hard-standing in the farmyard. The discovery led to archaeological excavation of the site by Dr. Savory of the National Museum of Wales. During the excavation a number of human remains were found along with a bone flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, a human rib and some worked flints and stone. The bone flute was made from a sheep metapodial
Metapodial
Metapodials are long bones of the hand and feet which connect the digits to the centers. In humans, five are present in each hand and foot....
bone. It has three holes and may either have been a simple flute or whistle. The larger hole may have been the blow-hole. This is the oldest dated musical instrument found from Wales.
Gliding
Talgarth also has a nearby glidingGliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
club (Sailplanes) called the Black Mountains Gliding Club, which attracts many visitors from all of the UK, due to the year round ability to remain airborne; by means of mountain lift, both ridge lift
Ridge lift
Ridge lift is created when a wind strikes an obstacle, usually a mountain ridge or cliff, that is large and steep enough to deflect the wind upward....
and wave lift.
Pony trekking
There are a number of riding operators in the area who hire out horses for both experienced and novice riders. The mountains and moorland are very suitable for relaxed ascents with some opportunities to canter and gallop on the commons near the town.Hiking
The Black Mountains, WalesBlack Mountains, Wales
The Black Mountains are a group of hills spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales, and extending across the national border into Herefordshire, England. They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the Brecon Beacons National Park, and are frequently...
above the town are very good for upland hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
and hill-walking. The mountain ridges are around 2000 feet high with the highest point called Waun Fach at 811 metres ( 2,660 feet).
Landscape and natural history
Ancient woodland
Ancient woodland is a term used in the United Kingdom to refer specifically to woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England and Wales . Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally...
along the banks of the River Ennig just 1 km from the town centre. There are a series of waterfalls within the wood. The largest is called Pwll-y-wrach, which means 'Witches Pool'. Local legend suggests that witches may have been ducked in this pool in medieval times. There is a geology trail, explaining the environment of 400 million years ago. A large part of Pwllwrach wood is a nature reserve, owned and managed by the Brecknock Wildlife Trust
Brecknock Wildlife Trust
Brecknock Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the vice county of Brecknockshire in Wales. The offices of the Trust are located in Brecon. The Trust has 21 reserves, the majority of which are in the Brecon Beacons National Park. -External links:...
.
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Pwll-y-wrach wood is designated a Site of Special Scientific InterestSite of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSI) because of its special habitat values and the existence of some quite rare plants, including the small leaved Lime tree and the Lesser butterfly-orchid. These are regarded as indicator plants of Ancient Woodland. That is an area that has retained a continuous cover of trees for thousands of years.
Geology
In the local little valleys have been found the remains of ancient armoured fossil fishes within the (Red )Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian rocks, sometimes referred to as the Lower Old Red Sandstone. Microscopic analysis has found fish scales and fin spines of these ancient fish some 410 million years old. The research carried out by a local man, Roderick Williams. The remains were then sent to Australia to a fossil fish expert Dr Sue Turner for photographing and finally a scientific paper was published on these findings. Within the area of Talgarth the geology requires more long term research as a rare spider like fossil was found at Tredomen quarry and remains of very ancient plants from the same age rocks.There is evidence of volcanic activity in the formation of air fall 'Tuffs' in the layers of rocks, blown out from a distant volcano. The nature of these tuffs infer an explosive type of eruption from volcanoes sited on the edge of a continental subuction zone. The whole area was probably tectonically unstable at the time. We have to realise that the area was once part of a greater landmass situated just south of the equator aome 400 million years ago. Such is the power of extremely slow continental drift northwards on a liquified mantle beneath the Earth's crust.
There are no known sources of metallic minerals in the immediate locality, there is some barytes in Pwll-y-Wrach which is intrusive from rocks below. There is a small source of lead ore at the Gospel Pass in the upper reaches of the Honddu where strings of galena were found circa 1800. There was also a trial mine for copper at Felin Fach nearer Brecon in the 17th century. Some rather interesting ore mixture was found but as for copper there appears none. There was further exploration in the 19th century when speculation was running high, a fallen in shaft and tunnel still exists.
Copper in the form of small malachite green patches has been found in rocks at the base of a large mountain gulley above Velindre. It is not known if this was exploited but the area has been referred to as the 'copper works' in a manuscript on beating the boundary of Llanigon parish.
Limestone in the form of 'calcrete' within the local sandstone rocks has been burnt for lime in many places across the Black Mountains for both mortar and agricultural uses. Limekilns were once very common before the coming of the railways, some now ruins but many more have been dismantled.
Flora and fauna
In spring the wood is carpeted with a succession of wildflowers leading to a mass display of bluebellsCommon Bluebell
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, commonly known as the common bluebell, is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant. -Taxonomy:...
in mid-spring followed by ramsons
Ramsons
Ramsons — also known as buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, and bear's garlic — is a wild relative of chives native to Europe and Asia...
in late spring. Animals found in the wood include Tawny owl
Tawny Owl
The Tawny Owl or Brown Owl is a stocky, medium-sized owl commonly found in woodlands across much of Eurasia. Its underparts are pale with dark streaks, and the upperparts are either brown or grey. Several of the eleven recognised subspecies have both variants...
s, badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
s, fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
es and otters with some uncommon birds such as dippers and Pied Flycatchers.
The wood is also home to the most important colony of dormouse
Hazel Dormouse
The Hazel Dormouse or Common Dormouse is a small mammal and the only living species in the genus Muscardinus....
in the region and some uncommon bats, including the lesser horseshoe bat
Lesser horseshoe bat
The Lesser Horseshoe Bat , is a type of European bat related to but smaller than its cousin, the Greater Horseshoe Bat...
.
Filming
A number of films and dramas have been filmed in and around Talgarth, notably On the Black HillOn The Black Hill
On the Black Hill is a novel by Bruce Chatwin published in 1982 and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for that year. In 1987 it was made into a film, directed by Andrew Grieve.- Plot summary :...
. Others include Morgan's Boy (BBC) a rare drama, now unavailable, Nuts and Bolts (ITV), where scenes were shot at the old Hospital and Hearts of Gold (ITV), where the town was assumed to be Pontypridd
Pontypridd
Pontypridd is both a community and a principal town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
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External links
- Stone Age Finds at Talgarth
- Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monuments in Brecknock
- Image of Bone Flute found at Penywyrlod, Talgarth
- Correspondence regarding the usage of the Bone Flute
- Talgarth Festival Site
- Talgarth and District Historical Society
- Photos of Talgarth and surrounding area on geograph