Welshpool

31 Aug

One of the greatest joys about doing this project has been the fact that I could travel and experience the sites with other people, including those closest to me. For the visit to the Swansea stone circle I took my little sister as she was down visiting me and for Welshpool (and following areas), I experienced with my father. Meeting him at the train station in Welshpool, we sat down in the Old Railway cafe and had a quick drink. As the conversation turned to stone circles, my dad looked out of the window we were sat next to and asked ‘that’s not one of them is it?’ I turned to look out of the window too and it did certainly look like one! I had not done much research on where the Welshpool stone circle was and so it was a wonderful feeling for my dad to be the one to spot it. This stone circle is located just off of a roundabout and for parking it is best to use the Old Railway car park across the road as we did. This site had some very important aspects to it in comparison to others.

The stone circle itself was relatively non-descript, but one thing my dad did suggest doing was taking note of how many stones made up the circle, as well as the nature of the center stone. As can be seen here, we counted 12 stones that made up the main circle, with another 2 extra stones. This was interesting as I have seen this at other sites but have no idea why some have extra stones outside the regular formation of the circle. Also, one of the stones (the stone closest to us in the picture) had a plaque with some information on.

It is quite difficult to read, but the plaque says ‘The Royal Navel Association Welshpool. These two oak trees were planted to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21st October 2005. Stone donated by Hansons, Criggion Quarry.

This was a fascinating bit of historical information about the surrounding area of the site and brings up questions of how the sites can be used not just to be used in conjuncture with the Eisteddfod and Welsh identity, or to be used as a park, but also for other aspects of heritage that a community wants to celebrate. It is also interesting how they are using trees to commemorate such an event.

Another aspect of note is the presence of an informative sign on the Gorsedd stone circle! Finally, there was another site with information!

This sign is particularly interesting because the number on the top of the sign suggests that it is part of a trail? I tried to look up what else is included in the trail but I could not find any information on it apart from the apparent fact that it covers ‘20 places of historical interest’, which does not seem to match up if this site is number 21!

The information present also does not give too much away, although it does highlight an important fact that I did not know: that Gorsedd stone circles can be reused if Eisteddfods happen again in the same place. This reuse is something I was not aware of, and it may just be in Welshpool this is the case but it is still a fascinating development in my understanding of how these spaces are used.

After taking a few more pictures and enjoying the green space, we jumped into the van and headed off to my new friend’s BnB in Llanymynech, just a 15 minute drive outside of Welshpool. Penyvoel Hall is a Victorian house that my new friends Sandra and Neil, along with their daughter, Sam and son-in-law Jamie have spent the last few years renovating. The result is absolutely stunning, and the view from the house up on the hill is astonishing. Fantastic hospitality was given to us as soon as we arrived, and we felt more like visiting friends than ‘normal guests’, but I am sure that everyone would feel just as welcome as we did regardless. Their whole family lives in the house and we got to meet everyone and enjoyed a nice meal down in the village at the Dolphin, on the Welsh side of the village. That’s right, the village that Penyvoel Hall overlooks is split down the middle by the border between England and Wales! In fact, it runs directly down the middle of the road in most of the village! Afterwards we got to have a few more drinks before turning in. I would highly, highly recommend visiting Penyvoel Hall if you like climbing, walking, trekking, or even just relaxing away somewhere. The link to their website is http://penyvoelhall.com/