Clyro

Clyro
Population	597
Principal area	Powys
Preserved county	Powys
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HEREFORD
Postcode district	HR3
Dialling code	014978
Police	Dyfed-Powys
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
UK Parliament	Brecon & Radnorshire

Clyro ([Cleirwy] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a village in Powys, Wales with approximately 600 inhabitants (2005). The nearest town is Hay-on-Wye, some 1.5 miles (2.5 km) to the southeast. The nearest city is Hereford in England, some 23 miles (37 km) to the east.

History

The name of the village is thought to derive from the Welsh for 'clear water'. Though a Roman fort has been excavated within the village, the settlement of Clyro is presumed to be early medieval.

The parish church is dedicated to Saint Michael and All Angels and was first recorded in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535. It was, however, almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, though the base of the tower is early 15th century.

Clyro Castle was first mentioned in 1397, but may be much earlier. All that now remains is a large motte. A second motte, called Castle Kinsey and possibly built by Cadwallon ap Madog in the 12th century, is at Court Evan Gwynne just north of the village. The site is now a Radnorshire Wildlife Trust reserve called Cwm Byddog, also notable for its veteran oak pollards.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and his supporter John William Fletcher often stayed and preached in Clyro at the house called Pentwyn.

Clyro Court was built by Thomas Mynors Baskerville in 1839. It is said that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a family friend and visitor, with obvious consequences. Clyro Court Farm is much older, being a former monastic grange with some of the buildings dating back to the 14th century.

Francis Kilvert

Francis Kilvert was curate of the parish church from 1865 to 1872 and much of his published diaries deal with the people and landscape of Clyro and the surrounding area. This part of Wales, including the villages of Clyro, Capel-y-ffin, Llowes, Glasbury, Llanigon, Painscastle, and the town of Hay-on-Wye, as well as Clifford and Whitney-on-Wye in neighbouring Herefordshire, is sometimes referred to as "Kilvert Country". There is a commemorative plaque in Clyro parish church and his former residence, Ashbrook House, is now an art gallery. Many of the buildings mentioned in the diaries are still extant, including the old village school where Kilvert taught, the old vicarage, the New Inn (now a private residence), and The Swan (now the Baskerville Arms).

The current-day Baskerville Arms has a long history. The first historical records of this former coaching inn, in antiquity known as ‘The Swan’, shows Thomas Lilevale as innkeeper, it was included in the 1815 list of pubs which undertook to keep good order. The inn is mentioned again in 1842, this time as the White Swan, when two barristers, appointed to revise the List of Voters in the election of a Knight of the Shire, met there for the Hundred of Painscastle. In the 1851 census the inn, now called the Baskerville Arms, was run by Peter Chaloner, aged 56, also described as a farmer of 126 acres. He lived there with his wife, Arabella, and two grown up children together with a land surveyor and two house servants.

However, in Kilvert’s Diary, the inn was still called the Swan. He noted in 1870: “….A wild rainy night. They are holding the Clyro Feast Ball at the Swan opposite. As I write I hear the scraping and squealing of the fiddle and the ceaseless heavy tramp of the dancers as they stamp the floor in a country dance….”. He also wrote of people “… swarming round the door and steps of the Swan laughing, talking loud, swearing and quarrelling in the quiet moonlight and laying by the roadside at night drunk, cursing, muttering, maundering, and vomiting…”

In short, he witnessed the World and the Flesh reeling about arm in arm. The Landlord at that time was probably William Price, who was certainly there in 1864. Magistrate’s courts were held in the dining room at that time. Then, according to the hotels Spirit Stock Book, John Evans was in charge from 1882 to 1891, followed by Sarah Evans, presumably his widow, until 1907, and Margaret Evans was at the helm from 1907 to 1935. In 1940 a half year’s rent was £23 10s, but in 1946 the Baskerville Estate was put up for sale and the hotel was bought by Harold Rowson, who stayed there until 1957. It was then bought by Roy Corner, who 10 years later sold it on to Stanley Smith for £10,250.

To cut a long story very short, the Inn was eventually purchased by June & David Slade in August 2005 who run it with the valued help of their experienced Head Chef, Joel and their Hotel manager (David’s brother, Andy) and a great team of local staff!

External links

• Community Website
• Clyro Primary School
• Photos of Clyro and surrounding area on geograph
• Current Website of the Baskerville Arms with a picture of the building