Trecastle

Trecastle
Welsh: Trecastell
Trecastle  Trecastle shown within Powys
OS grid reference	SN929291
Principal area	Powys
Ceremonial county	Powys
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BRECON
Postcode district	LD3
Dialling code	01874
Police	Dyfed-Powys
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
EU Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Brecon & Radnorshire
Welsh Assembly	Brecon & Radnorshire
List of places: UK • Wales • Powys

Trecastle (Welsh: Trecastell) is a village in Powys, Wales, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Trecastle ("the town of the castle") is named after an early 12th century motte-and-bailey fortification [1], built by Bernard de Neufmarche and designed to protect Brecon from attack from the west. Despite this purpose, the area continued to be threatened, with Edward I of England spending three days in Trecastle quelling a revolt in 1295. The old castle name of 'una villa nostra de Lliwel' was changed by the end of Medieval era to the local name Trecastle, "the town of the castle". The fortification still exists at the east end of the village and the motte at 6.6m high is the largest of its type in the National Park.

Near the village is the site of Y Pigwn, a Roman overnight military camp. From around the 12th C the Bishop of St David's owned the land to the west of the book and Trecastle was thus used as a staging post en-route to the Cathedral. After leaving the stopping point the road is thought to have turned to follow the Roman Road near Y Pigwn. Centuries later, Trecastle was used by coach travellers as a stopping point on the route from Gloucester to Llandovery.

By the 19th century Trecastle had 8 annual fairs, its own gasworks, two schools, a grain mill, two smithies, 16 shops and numerous pubs. Between 1830 and 1914, Trecastle and Llywel (1 mile to the west) are said to have had two of the most important wool mills in Brecknockshire. However, the arrival of a railway in Sennybridge (2 miles to the east) meant that Trecastle later lost its place as the trading centre for the area.

Trecastle's history makes it one of the longer-established Brecknockshire villages and thus the Motte & Bailey is considered an important ancient & medieval monument and the village contains a number of listed Georgian and Medieval properties.

Nowadays Trecastle is situated on the A40 trunk road between Brecon and Llandovery, which largely follows the old coaching route and passes a monument to a coach crash in the 19th C between Trecastle and LLandovery . The village is now known for its Antiques traders.

Trecastle is within the Maescar & Llywel ward in Local Government Elections for Powys County Council and Brecon & Radnorshire in the UK Parliament.

References

Some of the information contained in this article has been adapted from the Castle Coaching Inn's website

http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/304779/details/TRECASTLE+MOTTE%3BCASTLE+TUMP%2C+TRECASTLE/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-15480650

External links

• Map sources for Trecastle