Saturday 2nd July 1819
towards Buith a very small town; the road being excessively hilly we did not arrive till very late the accommodation is tolerably good Friday July 2nd At eleven o’Clock this morning we proceeded towards Rhieder intending to reach the Devils Bridge this evening at six o’Clock the day was excessively rainy
and the roads very heavy; at two o’Clock however the long wished for town shewed itself we were much disappointed in the size of it; the Inn is bad, the houses worse, having taken some refreshment we however set out with heavy hearts for a stage of nineteen miles;
the first thing which caught our attention was a very steep hill which the Postboy told us by way of bonne nouvelle was three miles long the rain now poured in torrents and our horses (three just came from a stage of twenty miles and three just came from grass) would scarcely move the scenery however made up for it all it is
quite sublime; stupendous rocky mountains on one side with hills beautifully wooded on the other were the chief objects during this stage; there were also here and there cataracts from the tops of the mountains, which the rain greatly increased and which had a noble effect; we only lamented
that the day had not proved finer to enable us to open the carriage and see this grand scenery to more advantage we advanced by very slow degrees indeed stopping every minute to rest the horses the roads being almost impassable till the traces broke which detained us some time, in this style we continued for severalhours, when my brothers who rode on before us on horseback very cleverly ordered four horses to our relief and which to our great delight arrived just as we were commencing a hill of two miles of which I had long despaired of reaching the summit; suffice it
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Builth controlled an important ford across the Wye, the crossing point of the main north-south route in Wales and an important south-west-east route. It was militarily and economically significant for centuries. The Welsh name for the town "Llanfair ym Muallt" refers to the foundation of a Norman church dedicated to St Mary but the shape of the churchyard suggests an original Celtic foundation. The town was laid out as two streets connecting a castle and a church and was protected by a hedge rather than a wall. This type of town is sometimes called a Bastide, a kind of medieval market settlement. Builth grew as a traditional Welsh market town. It received major boosts from the development of toll roads and was at the centre of early road networks. The town added "Wells" to the name in the 19th century when its springs were promoted as a visitor attraction.
1797 Builth Colour print on aquatint -Collection of National Library of Wales Accession number 1129691 This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Builth.jpeg
2009 The Bridge Builth Wells from the Geograph project collections . Licensed by Ian Medcalf / Afon Gwy / River Wye / CC BY-SA 2 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afon_Gwy_-_River_Wye_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1376087.jpg
The accommodation in Builth that Lucy classed as “tolerably good” has not been located
Rhayader is the first town on the River Wye and was once the administrative centre for Radnorshire. It was not until the 12th century that the documented history of Rhayader begins, with the building of its castle and the battles between the Welsh Princes.The castle was destroyed by Llewelyn the Great in 1231 and not rebuilt. The surviving motte is a flat-topped mound about 40 by 50 metres. A rock-cut ditch at least 4 metres deep and up to 10 metres wide defended the other sides. This ditch is the only visible remnant of the fortifications. http://www.rhayader.co.uk/history-rhayader and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhayader_Castle.
All that remains of the Castle. Image by Eirian Evans / Site of Rhaeadr Castle . CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Site_of_Rhaeadr_Castle_-_geograph.org.uk_-_158928.jpg
At the meeting of East, North, West, and South Streets stands this attractive 17th-century timber-framed shop, now a Grade II listed building. https://www.britainexpress.com/wales/mid/az/rhayader.htm#extraphotos
Rhayader gradually established itself as a market town, and later as an important stopover on the coaching route linking London and Aberystwyth. The weather was foul, which may have contributed to Lucy’s opinion that the Inn is bad, the houses worse, but the houses and Inns described by David Ross, Editor of the Britain Express article on Rhayader at https://www.britainexpress.com/wales/mid/az/rhayader.htm#extraphotos present a different picture today. He lists three coaching inns that may have served the Copland’s: The Old Swan built in 1683 at the corner of South Street and West Street ; The Lion Royal Hotel, an old coaching inn on West Street where one of the arches opposite has some original wooden cobbles, installed to muffle the sound of horse's hooves; and The Cwmdauddwr Arms, an attractive early 17th-century inn with a weatherboarded exterior.
The Lion Royal Hotel , from their website https://www.lionroyal.co.uk/
The earliest depiction of the Old Swan is an engraving of 1815 by the artist Paul Sandby Munn.
Artist Francis Stevens, engraver. Paul Sandby Munn, available from the National Library of Wales . The work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.
The engraving shows a porch that has been jettied forward at first floor level with a sign showing a swan. The building on the left, which appears to be a stable and clearly shows the Flagstone covered roof. It shows the three stone chimney stacks on the west side of the porch roof, but as to-day they are on the east side, this must be a mistake by the artist. The open porch has now been replaced by a shop window. On the east side there is gable and to-day there is a wooden bracket showing the head of a woman with a ‘‘horned’’, late Medieval headress set into the gable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Swan,_Rhayader The Inn closed in the 1860’s and is now a shop. If this is where they stopped four years later no wonder they were of the opinion the Inn is bad, the houses worse.
Post Boys: Ever since the seventeenth century, the post boys who carried the mail were often slow, dishonest, unreliable and vulnerable to robbery. Cautions were issued to post boys in the form of posters put up along postal routes. However, by the time Lucy travelled security had been greatly enhanced and mail coaches were fast, efficient and well-guarded. https://bathpostalmuseum.org.uk/1700-georgian.html
Post boy (The Project Gutenberg eBook, City Scenes, by William Darton) from https://georgianera.wordpress.com/tag/post-boy/
The illustration of a Post boy is from a delightful blog entitled ‘All Things Georgian‘, covering a wide range of subjects from the era. In this article the poor post boy suffered a very grizzly end. https://georgianera.wordpress.com/tag/post-boy/
Can you help us?
The Inn at Builth that Lucy classed as “tolerably good” could not be found. Any information on Builth Wells inns in 1819 would be appreciated
The scenery the Copland’s saw on the journey from Rhayader to Devil’s Bridge lifted their spirits. It would be great to share with them those magnificent views
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will bring our research alive.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?