Glasbury

 Pubs/Bars in Glasbury:
 Harp Inn
       Glasbury
       Herefordshire
       HR3 5NR
 01497847373

 Schools/Colleges in Glasbury:
 Ffynnon Gynydd Church in Wales School (Primary)
       Glasbury-On-Wye
       Herefordshire
       HR3 5LX
 01497 847346

 Glasbury C.I.W.(A) School (Primary)
       Glasbury-On-Wye
       Hereford
       Powys
       HR3 5NU
 01497 847364

Glâsbury - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
GLÂSBURY, a parish, in the poor-law union of Hay, partly in the hundred of Tàlgarth, county of Brecknock, and partly in that of Painscastle, county of Radnor, South Wales, 4 miles (W. S. W.) from Hay, on the road to Brecknock; comprising the hamlets of Pipton, Velindre, Tregoed, Cwmbach, and Kilturch; and containing 1377 inhabitants, of which number 838 are in the main portion of the parish, included within the limits of Radnorshire. The mesne manor of Glâsbury formerly belonged to the Clifford family, by exchange with the monks of Gloucester, in 1144; afterwards to the Giffards; and accompanied the possession of Bronllŷs Castle, until it became vested in the crown, when it was granted to Sir David Williams. In the 5th of Henry VIII., Richard Cornwall and Ralph Hakluyt, Esqrs., were appointed seneschals of the manor during their lives. The parish comprises 6400 acres, of which 1185 are common or waste land. It is intersected by the river Wye, the banks of which here exhibit some of the most picturesque and luxuriant scenery in South Wales, or in the kingdom. The heights on both sides of the stream afford extensive, varied, and beautiful prospects, where the sublimity of mountain grandeur blends, through richly wooded hills, with the soft luxuriance of delightful vales. The well-defined forms of the pyramidal Beacon range, the massy columns of the black mountain barrier, the intervening hills, either barren or variously cultivated, the meanderings of the river Wye, and the rich fertility which marks its course, seen from different points of view and in different lights, combining exquisite colouring with admirable outlines, dividing into picturesque landscapes or spread out as a splendid whole, exhibit a range of scenery so exquisitely attractive, that strangers are held in admiration, and those who inhabit the locality perpetually discover some new beauties.

The scene is enlivened and embellished with numerous elegant villas and genteel houses, among which rises conspicuously Maesllwch, or Maeslough Castle, the princely residence of the De Winton family, the erection of which was commenced in 1829, from a design by Mr. Lugar. It is a beautiful specimen of the Norman and later English styles of castellated architecture, exhibiting, to the south, a rustic embattled front, upwards of 250 feet in length. The principal tower, which is circular, is at the northeastern angle. At the west end are the family apartments, flanked by four towers of unequal dimensions, alternately round and octagonal; in the centre rises a lantern, under which is the principal entrance. The carriage entrance is on the northern side, under a magnificent Norman porch, opening by a vestibule into the great hall. The portion appropriated to the servants, situated to the east of, and somewhat lower than, the family apartments, is terminated by two square towers, from which extends a long wall, perforated with embrasures, and having at the extremity an elegant little building, resembling a chapel. Below the terrace in front is a beautiful lawn, commanding much of the richly varied scenery that here adorns the banks of the river; and at the back rises an eminence, wooded to its very summit. Some of the finest prospects in the Vale are obtained from the seat called Pen-y-Làn, looking downward from which are seen the wooden bridge at Glâsbury, surrounded by the most beautiful natural objects; much of the wood that enriches the scene consists of apple, pear, and cherry trees, which, when in blossom, form features of great beauty and richness. The view upwards consists of a long reach of the Wye, the village of Llŷswen, and the abrupt ascent to Craiglai. Tre'r-Coed, corruptly Tregoed, the seat of Viscount Hereford, is situated within the parish, but has no claim to particular description.

The soil on the banks of the Wye, at this place, is perhaps the richest in the county, and is appropriated to feeding vast numbers of cattle and sheep for the markets of Brecknock and Hay. To the south there are no pastures, all the land being devoted to tillage: this part is terminated by barren mountains. The system of husbandry practised in the lowlands is exceedingly good, and no where excelled in this part of the principality. The bridge across the Wye has been rebuilt at different periods: the first, which was of wood, fell in 1738, and was succeeded by a similar structure, which stood about forty years. A beautiful stone bridge was then built, in 1777, which was swept away by a flood in February 1795, in consequence of some defect in the foundations, and the present wooden bridge was erected in 1800: it is supported at each end by a stone pier, with thirteen intervening wooden trestles. That part of the parish which is situated on the southern bank of the Wye is principally in Brecknockshire, though a considerable extent of ground on this side of the river forms part of the county of Radnor. The village is situated on the northern bank of the Wye, being separated by the river and by the Hay and Brecon turnpike-road from the church, which is about a quarter of a mile distant. Another cluster of houses, on the southern side of the river, and bordering on the high road, contains the post-office, the principal shop, and an extensive establishment for sorting wool, in which about sixty persons are employed: the windows of all the apartments in which this apparently simple operation is carried on, open to the north, to avoid too strong a light; and the different qualities are appropriated according to the staple, to the uses of the clothier, hosier, hatter, &c. The tramroad from Hay to Brecknock passes through the parish. The Radnorshire portion of Glâsbury, forming the chief body of it, is usually distinguished from its Brecknockshire townships of Velindre, Tregoed, and Pipton, as "Glâsbury Radnorshire," the rest being designated "Glâsbury Brecknockshire." The petty-sessions for the hundred of Tàlgarth are held here.

The living is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, as owner of the rectory; the appropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £400, and the vicarial for one of £470. The advowson is said to have been granted in the year 1088, by Bernard Newmarch, the first Norman conqueror of the soil, to the monastery of St Peter's, at Gloucester, and the 29th of June is still the local feastday. That establishment was suppressed on the 2nd of January, 1540, and its privileges being transferred to the king, Henry conferred the living of Glâsbury upon the Bishop of Gloucester, whose successors in the see have ever since presented to it, with the exception of a solitary instance, in which the patronage lapsed to the crown. The earliest church of which any memorials exist stood near the present confluence of the rivers Llyvni and Wye, and its site is still marked by a few hawthorn-trees. Among the papers of the late Rev. John Hughes, of Glâsbury, is a petition presented about the year 1661 to William, Bishop of St. David's, in consequence of the destruction of a large part of the church by a sudden and violent inundation of the Wye, and the imminent danger of the remaining portion, requesting his lordship to empower and command the churchwardens to secure the ruin, in order to apply the materials to the erection of a new church. This request being granted, another edifice was erected on a new site, and consecrated on the 29th of June, 1665, by Bishop Lucy, which, having become dilapidated and too small for the population, was taken down in 1836, and replaced by the present structure, opened in May 1838. The building, dedicated to St. Peter, occupies a steep bank on the southern side of the road leading to Hay, and is encompassed by the ancient and venerable yew-trees of its burialground: the number of sittings is 690. Both the church and vicarage-house are situated in Radnorshire, but the former is on the southern, and the latter on the northern, side of the Wye. There are three places of worship for dissenters, namely, one for Baptists at Pen-yr-heol, near the Black Mountain, one for Independents at Maes-yr-onen, and one for Wesleyan Methodists at Cwmbach.

In the churchyard is a neat Sunday schoolroom, built in 1824, by subscription; and at a short distance above the churchyard stands a respectable building, surmounted with a small cupola and vane, and comprising a master's residence, together with a spacious schoolroom. The schoolroom was erected in 1816, at the sole expense of the late Miss Bridget Hughes, of Glâsbury House, at a cost of £210: the master's house was built subsequently by voluntary contributions, amounting to £179, of which Sir Charles Morgan, Bart., contributed £80; and occupies a site granted, together with about a quarter of an acre of garden-ground, by Colonel Wood, lord of the manor. In this schoolroom are held a National school for boys and girls, and a boys' Sunday school; while in the schoolroom built in 1824 is held a Sunday school for girls. At Cwmbach the Wesleyan Methodists hold a Sunday school.

There are some small benefactions for charitable purposes. Walter Meredith, citizen of London, by will dated March 26th, 1605, bequeathed a rentcharge of £4 upon four houses in Fleet-street, of which, the land-tax being deducted, the sum of £3.4. is paid annually, alternately to six aged and eight young persons, of both sexes; the object of its bestowal on the latter being to fit them out for service. Sir David Williams, Knt., in 1612, bequeathed part of the tithes of the parish of Gwenddwr, directing the profits to be annually applied in the following manner; namely, £4 towards repairing Glâsbury bridge, 10s. for an annual sermon, 30s. to be bestowed in bread among the poor of the parish of Glâsbury, 20s. towards repairing the road from Velindre to Tyle-Glâs; 10s. for a sermon on the anniversary of the testator's funeral, to be preached in St. John's church at Brecknock, and 40s. in bread to the poor of St. John's parish; 10s. for a sermon on Whit-Sunday in the parish church of YstradVelltey; 30s. in bread to the poor of Aberllyvni and Velindre, the latter place in Glâsbury parish; and £5 to the distressed poor near Gwernyvet, in Glâsbury parish, either in food or clothing. All these sums have been augmented, after a suit, under a decree of the Court of Chancery, in proportion to the increased value of the tithes; that appropriated to the repair of the bridge now amounting to £16. 8., that to the poor of Glâsbury parish to £6. 8. 6., &c. John Havard, of Tregoed, in 1728, gave £10 for the poor of Bronllŷs parish and the Brecon part of this parish; Thomas Lewis, described on his tombstone as an "honest lawyer," bequeathed a rent-charge of £4, in 1730, to the poor of the parish, of the dissenting persuasion; Mrs. Sybil Williams, of Trevithel, in 1761, gave 20s. a year to be distributed among the poor of Pipton; and Mrs. Seagood gave £100 for the benefit of the poor of the entire parish, now vested in the public funds, and producing £3. 16. 4. per annum.

On an eminence to the south-west of the church are some intrenchments, which formerly surrounded a British camp, called the Gaer. Of the ancient mansion of the Solers family there are no remains, but a farmhouse and a few cottages near its site are still called Pente Solers, or Solerville. Sir Humphrey Solers, the founder of the family at this place, was one of the Norman knights who accompanied Bernard Newmarch in his successful expedition: having settled here, he acquired large possessions, which his descendants continued to enjoy until the middle of the seventeenth century. The next distinguished residents in point of antiquity were the Powels, descended from Rhŷs Gôch, of Ystrad-Iw, one of whom came from Glamorganshire in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and was married to Joan, daughter and heiress of Tyle-Glâs. A singular instance of the ferocity of one of the female descendants of the Vaughan family is preserved in an old MS. pedigree:—"Ellen Gethin (or the terrible) of Hergest, a devilish woman, was cousin-german to John hir ab Philip Vychan, who was killed by the said Ellen at St. David's church, for that he before killed her brother, David Vaughan, at Llynwent in Llanbister, Radnorshire."