GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
Home
The listings
Other Info
Books
Links
Downloads
Contact
 
Print Page 
 
Next Record 
Previous Record 
Back to list 

Hay-on-Wye Town Walls

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Haya; Gelli; Tregelli

In the community of Hay.
In the historic county of Brecknockshire.
Modern authority of Powys.
Preserved county of Powys.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO22964245
Latitude 52.07710° Longitude -3.12445°

Hay-on-Wye Town Walls has been described as a certain Urban Defence.

There are masonry footings remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.
Description

C13 stone wall. A roughly triangular area resting on an extensive, c.437m, river frontage, and extending c.372m to the SE, was enclosed by walls, described as being strong, by Leland, in 1535-43. Scarps survive between SO23014268 and SO23184243, whilst the circuit incorporated the castle in the S. The first grant of murage, for 3 years, was granted in 1232 the year after the town and castle had been attacked by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. The castle was built at the same time (c.f. Haverfordwest). A second murage, again for 3 years, was granted in 1237. Both grants were to Eva de Braose, rather than to the town community.

Section of the former town boundary wall with steep bank to E. Runs from the site of the Water Gate, curves SE and continues until the end of the narrow lane which itself follows the course of the town wall up to the site of the Gate by The Olde Black Lion Inn. The wall was probably constructed in C19 out of the town wall which is said to have been largely destroyed by the late C18/early C19. The rubble medieval walls were erected after 1237 financed by a murage tax levied weekly for 3 years by Eva de Breos. The wall has partially collapsed, is overgrown in several places and is rebuilt at S end to form a garden wall; boarded gate entrance midway along. Included as a clearly defined and moderately long stretch of medieval town bounary. (Listed Building Report)
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
Coflein   County HER       Listing    
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   Historic Wales   V. O. B.   Geology   LIDAR  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
Photos >
CastleFacts   Geograph   Flickr   Panoramio      

Sources of information, references and further reading
Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
Lidar coverage in the UK is not complete. The button above will give an idea of the area of coverage. Higher resolution lidar images in both DSM and DTM form may be available from Lle A geo-Portal for Wales (click the preview tag to bring up a map and then select format byclicking on the small blue diamond in the top right corner of the map.)
Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.
*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of the described site.

This record last updated before 1 February 2016
Home | Books | Links | The Fortifications and Castles | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact

¤¤¤¤¤