Knucklas

Knucklas & Heyop(e)
Welsh: Cnwclas

Knucklas Viaduct, on the Heart of Wales Line, and the village of Knucklas beneath
Knucklas & Heyop(e)
 Knucklas & Heyop(e) shown within Powys
Population 220 
OS grid referenceSO251742
Principal areaPowys
Ceremonial countyPowys
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Knighton
Postcode district LD7
Dialling code 01547
Police Dyfed-Powys
Fire Mid and West Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK ParliamentBrecon & Radnorshire
List of places
UK
Wales
Powys

Coordinates: 52°21′40″N 3°06′00″W / 52.361°N 3.1°W

Knucklas (Welsh: Cnwclas, "green hillock") and Heyope (or Heyop) are two small adjacent villages in Powys, Wales. They lie off the B4355 road and are served by Knucklas railway station on the Heart of Wales Line. Both are approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from Knighton and lie in the upper valley of the River Teme.

Historic Knucklas

Knucklas has two notable historical survivals:

The Castle Mound

A protected ancient monument in the care of Knucklas Castle Community Land Project KCCLP[1] and listed by Cadw,[2] it is the site of a castle believed to have been built by the Mortimers in c.1220-25.[3] It consisted of a keep – a square stone fortification with four round towers on top of a steep hill. There is some evidence that there may have been further outer walls. It was captured by a Welsh army in 1262 which destroyed the defences.[4][5] Below the castle lies the battlefield of the Battle of Beguildy fought between the Welsh and the Mortimer family of Norman Marcher Lords in 1146. The castle was attacked and destroyed by the forces of Owain Glyndŵr in 1402 during his rebellion. Whilst there is a romantic story associating the castle location with the marriage of Guinevere and King Arthur,[5] this probably developed from an earlier story which suggested that a marriage took place between Gwenhwyfar, the daughter of Ogrfan Gawr (also called 'Gogrfan Gawr "the Giant" of Castell y Cnwclas' (Knucklas Castle)) and Arthur the warrior – there being no reference to Arthur as a king in the early Welsh texts.

The Viaduct

A spectacular 13-arch span completed by the Central Wales Railway in 1865 and recorded in an engraving from the Illustrated London News.[6]

Historic Heyope

Three Bronze Age torcs were found here and declared treasure in 1991. They are now housed in the National Museum, Cardiff.

The parish church of St David was built in 1882, on the site of a medieval church; the font is 15th century.[7]

The longest-burning tyre fire in British history occurred in Heyope, lasting 13 years from 1989 to 2001.[7]

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ KCCLP
  2. ↑ Cadw website
  3. ↑ CPAT Report No 1088 Historic settlements in Radnorshire
  4. ↑ "eCastles Website". Retrieved 3 Dec 2007.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Castle Wales Website". Retrieved 3 Dec 2007.
  6. ↑ "Gathering the Jewels". Retrieved 3 Dec 2007.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Evans, A T D (2008) Border Wanderings page 116

External links