Radnorshire Arms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Radnorshire Arms is a well-preserved Jacobean building in the Welsh border town of Presteigne, in Powys, and the hub of its tourist industry. It is unique for an extensive network of subterranean passages and dungeons, used during the English civil war for the torture of Parliamentarian sympathisers by William Vavasour, the Royalist governor of Hereford. It also sits on one of the earliest sewers in Wales which is now kept on permanent display for visitors. It is named after the former county of Radnorshire.

The building has a troubled history. During the 18th century it was briefly owned by Sir Henry Vaughan, who was mobbed and lynched on the premises. His dismembered remains are buried beneath a cherry tree in the grounds.

A partial structural collapse in 1927 killed 14 local people. A fire five years later devastated a historic windmill on its grounds. Bobby Millichamp, the farmhand tried and hanged for causing the blaze, was later proven innocent. His brother, Arthur, was tried and hanged for the same offence in 1936.

In recent years, the Radnorshire Arms has been renovated and converted into an upmarket public house and hotel.

External Links
[Randorshire Arms web site]