Talgarth

The town's name derives from the Welsh words tâl (forehead or brow of a hill) and garth (mountain ridge or promontory), thus meaning "end of the ridge". It appears as Talgart in 1121, as Talgard after 1130, and in its present form in the years between 1203 and 1208.{{cite web|url=https://www.cpat.org.uk/ycom/bbnp/talgarth.pdf|website=Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust|title=Historic Settlement Survey – Brecon Beacons National Park}}

The church of Talgarth is recorded in 1488 as dedicated to Sce Wenne Virginis, explained as Gwen (granddaughter of Brychan).{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/st-gwendoline-talgarth|title=St Gwendoline|publisher=National Churches Trust|access-date=11 June 2022}}

The Talgarth Festival of the Black Mountains, a popular countryside event, is held each August. Talgarth Walking Festival takes place in May, making use of the town's position at the foot of the Black Mountains.{{Cite web|url=https://www.talgarthwalkingfestival.org/|title=Talgarth's Eighth Walking Festival | talgarth|website=www.talgarthwalkingfestival.org}}

File:Talgarthadvert.jpg

File:Great_barn.jpgs at the Great Barn in the centre of Talgarth]]

Talgarth was an important healthcare location for many years, as the home of the large psychiatric hospital, the Mid Wales Hospital and the Mid and West Wales College of Nursing and Midwifery. Changes in health legislation in the 1980s saw such hospitals closed. The Mid Wales Hospital closed permanently in the 1990s. Since the early 2000s, regeneration efforts have been in place to support Talgarth's future.{{cite web|url=https://www.beacons-npa.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/oldsite/the-authority/planning/strategy-and-policy/spg-and-dc-guidance-notes/Talgarth%20Development%20Brief.pdf|title=Your Town Your Future - Talgarth Planning Brief|website=Brecon Beacons National Park Authority|date=December 2008}} A relief road has reduced road traffic in the town centre,{{Cite web |date=31 March 2006 |title=A479 Talgarth relief road and A438 Bronllys bypass, Powys |url=https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/5348/a479-talgarth-relief-road-and-a438-bronllys-bypass-powys/ |website=www.transportxtra.com}} allowing new businesses to open and buildings to be renovated and restored.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk/2018/06/evans-jones-ricketts-restoration-in-talgarth-mid-wales/|title = Evans, Jones & Ricketts Restoration, Talgarth | Ghostsigns|date = 15 June 2018}} The historic mill in the centre of town featured on the BBC's Village SOS television series.{{Cite web|url=https://talgarthmill.com/watermill.html|title=Our Watermill|website=talgarthmill.com}}

A fort near Cwmdu (Pen-y-Gaer) is of significance to Talgarth, as it was the site where a 1st-century AD British chieftain, Caratacus (of the Catuvellauni tribe), fought with the Romans.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00681288.1878.11887910?journalCode=yjba17|title= Pen-Y-Gaer, Chiefly in Connection with Caractacus, and Other British Remains in North Wales|first=T. F.|last= Dillon Croker, ESQ., F.S.A|journal= Journal of the British Archaeological Association|pages=139–144 |date=27 September 2017|volume= 34|issue= 2|doi= 10.1080/00681288.1878.11887910|access-date=11 June 2022}}

Talgarth was the royal residence of Brychan, King of Brycheiniog, in the 5th century AD. With three wives, 24 daughters and 24 sons, the family was an important force in Wales and responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the region.{{cite web|url=http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/brychbbg.html|title=Brychan Brycheiniog, King of Brycheiniog|publisher=Early English Kingdoms|access-date=11 June 2022}}

Talgarth (and Brycheiniog in general) was seized by the Norman Bernard of Neufmarché, who issued an undated charter concerning the district.{{refn|group=notes|Bernard of Neufmarché's charter, due to poor 17th century publishing practice (the charter was included in the 1655 publication Monastican Anglicanum by Roger Dodsworth, amalgamated with another of Bernard's charters, the latter being dated 1088) and a Victorian marginal note (the charter re-appears with an added marginal gloss AD 1088 in the 1867 work Historia et cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae by William Hart) is now dated by some people to 1088.}} The town became part of Bernard's Lordship of Brecknock (a Marcher lordship – an almost sovereign state). The Normans established Castell Dinas to control the passes on both sides.

In the reign of King John, the then Lord fell out with the king, and the east of the lordship was detached in punishment, forming a new Marcher Lordship of Blaenllynfi, ruled by Peter FitzHerbert. Although the caput{{What|reason=What is a caput?|date=February 2023}} of the latter lordship was officially Blaenllynfi Castle, Talgarth was its principal town, and the lordship was sometimes called the Sub-Lordship of Talgarth as a result.{{cite web|url=https://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/histland/midwye/1093.htm|title=Historic Landscape Characterisation: The Middle Wye: Ffostyll Gwernyfed and Talgarth, Powys|publisher=Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust|access-date=11 June 2022}}

The Lordship of Blaenllynfi eventually found its way back to the descendants of the last Welsh princes of Brycheiniog (in the person of Rhys ap Hywel).Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem: Volume 7, Edward III, File 14, entry 177Brecknock in S.Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, London, 1849, [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/wales online version]John Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, 1833–37, Volume 3, entry for Price, of Castle Madog

Rhys played a significant part in the implementation (though not the planning) of the final coup against Edward II, and consequently Edward's son, Edward III, was not well disposed towards him; he dispossessed Rhys' heir, and merged the Lordship of Blaenllynfi back into the Lordship of Brecknock (which, with the Lordship of Buellt, eventually became Brecknockshire, centuries later).{{cite web |url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/BRE/Gaz1868.html |title=Brecknockshire, Wales - History and Description, 1868 |access-date=2008-07-27 |year=1868 |work=The National Gazetteer |publisher=GENUKI}}

During the Jacobite revival, support in Talgarth was strong. The town was a Jacobite hotspot, backing Bonnie Prince Charlie in his attempt to retake the crown for the Stuarts. In 1727 a meeting of local Jacobite sympathisers in Talgarth ended with members having to appear before a local magistrate to explain their actions.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4y7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT73|title=Snapshots of Welsh History Without the Boring Bits|first=Phil|last= Carradice|year=2011|publisher=Headline|isbn=978-1908192448}}

During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie had expected the Welsh Jacobites to offer support, but after the Jacobite David Morgan was hanged, drawn and quartered for treason, the Welsh feared persecution. The failure of the Welsh Jacobites to join the House of Stuart prince in Derby was one of the main failures of the Jacobite uprising.{{cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |title=The Making of a Ruling Class: The Glamorgan Gentry 1640-1790|url=https://archive.org/details/makingrulingclas00jenk_765 |url-access=limited | publisher=Cambridge UP| date=2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingrulingclas00jenk_765/page/n198 174]}}

In 1735, Talgarth saw the birth of the Welsh Methodist revival when Howel Harris, probably the most influential person to come from Talgarth, was converted in Talgarth church while listening to a sermon by the Reverend Pryce Davies. The revival would sweep across Wales, leading to the development of one of the most influential Welsh denominations, that of the Calvinistic Methodists. It was at Talgarth that William Williams Pantycelyn converted, leading him to become one of Wales' most important hymn writers. Nearby is Trevecca, the location of the famous college that Harris established. Hywel Harris is buried in Talgarth at St Gwendoline's Church and his tombstone is still visible today. Talgarth is also thought to be the birthplace of the religious poet Jane Cave.Isobel Grundy, ‘Cave, Jane (b. 1754/5, d. in or before 1813)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/45838, accessed 10 December 2015]

File:Talgarthbridge.jpg

File:Talgarth Town Hall.jpg]]

• Talgarth Town Hall (1878) with a memorial clock tower, overlooking the Square{{cite book |last1=Haslam |first1=Roger |title=The Buildings of Wales Powys (Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire) |date=1979 |publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=0140710515 |page=372}}
• Tower House, also overlooking the Square, now the location of the Tourist Information Centre. The present building is probably 18th century, but it may incorporate a 14th-century or later defensive tower. The tower was used as a prison or a lock-up.{{Coflein|num=16250 |desc=Talgarth Tower House;tower House, Talgarth|access-date=29 September 2021}}
• The Tower Hotel was built in 1873 for gentleman farmers to attend the livestock market{{cite web|url= https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=tower-hotel-talgarth |title=Tower Hotel, Talgarth|publisher=History Points|access-date=11 June 2022}}
• St Gwendoline's Church, a Grade II* listed building{{NHAW|desc=Church of St Gwendoline|num=6636| access-date=11 June 2022}}
• Nearby Bronllys Castle{{NHAW|desc=Bronllys Castle House (including Castle Cottage)|num=6615| access-date=11 June 2022}}

Talgarth Mill is an 18th-century water mill in the centre of the town. In 2010 the mill, which had been unused since 1946, was fully restored using National Lottery funding to create the only working watermill in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The mill is run by volunteers as a community initiative; it includes a bakery and a cafe and sells locally made food and crafts.{{cite web |title=Watermill |url=https://talgarthmill.com/watermill.html |website=Talgarth Mill |access-date=30 November 2020}}

File:Talgarth Mill.jpg

Talgarth was served by a station on the Mid-Wales Railway. This has since closed.{{Quick-Stations|page=375}}

A Neolithic long cairn and chambered tomb at Penyrwrlodd, {{convert|2.5|km|abbr=on}} south of Talgarth, was discovered in June 1972 by a farmer when clearing a stone mound from a field for use as hard-standing in the farmyard. The cairn measures 5{{nbsp}}m by 22.5{{nbsp}}m and a maximum 3{{nbsp}}m high, and has been carbon dated to 3,900 BC, making it an early example of its type.{{Coflein|num=92191 |desc=Penywyrlod Long Cairn;pen-y-wrlod |access-date=29 September 2021|fewer-links=yes}} The discovery led to archaeological excavation of the site by Dr Savory of the National Museum of Wales. During the excavation a number of human remains were found along with a bone flute, a human rib and some worked flints and stone. The flute was made from a sheep metapodial bone, has three holes and may either have been a simple flute or whistle.{{cite web|title=Bone flute made by Wales' first farmers, c. 6,000 years ago|url=http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/8630|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327034238/http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/8630|archive-date=27 March 2008|access-date=2007-07-25|work=Item reference: 74.23H/6}}

The former Post Office was restored in 2019.{{NHAW|desc=Old Post Office|num=87795| access-date=11 June 2022}}

The Black Mountains Gliding Club is based on the hillside to the southeast of the town. It operates year-round using mountain lift, ridge lift and wave lift mechanisms.[https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/295546 Talgarth gliding club:: OS grid SO1732] – Geograph British Isles – photograph every grid square!

Talgarth's position next to the Black Mountains meant that it was once a popular location for pony trekking, with the sights of horses tied up outside local pubs well into the 1990s. There remain a number of riding operators in the area who hire out horses for both experienced and novice riders.{{cite web|url=https://www.breconcottages.com/guides/horse-riding-brecon-beacons|title=Horse riding in the Brecon Beacons|publisher=Brecon Cottages|access-date=11 June 2022}}

The Black Mountains above the town are used for upland hiking and hill-walking. The mountain ridges are around 2,000 feet high, with the highest point being Waun Fach at {{convert|811|m|ft}}. A walking festival based on the town and its hinterland was established in 2013. The event attracts visitors at the start of May each year.

The bedrock geology beneath Talgarth and its immediate neighbourhood consists of mudstones and siltstones together with occasional sandstones, which comprise a part of the lower Old Red Sandstone succession. The rocks directly beneath the town itself are assigned to the late Silurian / early Devonian age Raglan Mudstone Formation, whilst higher ground to the south and east of the town is formed by the overlying St Maughan's Formation. At the boundary between these two formations is a thick unit of erosion-resistant limestone, which forms features in the courses of the River Ennig and other streams. Known traditionally as the Psammosteus Limestone, it was later referred to as the Bishop's Frome Limestone and more recently as the Chapel Point Limestone.{{cite web |title=Talgarth: solid and drift geology |url=http://www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/mapsportal.html?id=1001707 |website=Maps Portal |publisher=British Geological Survey |access-date=7 December 2020}} This and similar limestone beds in the area are examples of calcretes, effectively carbonate-rich fossil soils, formed over thousands of years at times of non-deposition of sand and mud. Fish fragments are abundant in some strata exposed in local streamsides.{{cite book |last1=Barclay |first1=W. J. |last2=Wilby |first2=P. R. |title=Geology of the Talgarth district: a brief explanation of the geological map Sheet 214 Talgarth |date=2003 |publisher=British Geological Survey |location=Keyworth, Notts |isbn=0852724586 |pages=4–6 |edition=First}}

Within the Raglan Mudstone, and exposed in certain watercourses, is a distinctive rock layer known as the Townsend Tuff Bed, a tuff being a deposit of volcanic ash which has fallen from the sky, likely following a Plinian volcanic eruption in this instance.{{cite web |last1=Hawley |first1=Duncan |last2=Owen |first2=Geraint |title=Old Red Sandstone of the Black Mountains |url=http://swga.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/BlackMountains.pdf |website=Geologists' Association - South Wales Group |publisher=South Wales Geologists' Association |access-date=7 December 2020}}

File:Pwllwrach waterfall.jpg]]

The Pwll-y-Wrach woodland stretches along both banks of the River Ennig at Pwll-y-Wrach to within {{cvt|1|km|1}} of Talgarth town centre. It is designated in part as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to various uncommon plants, including the small-leaved lime tree and the lesser butterfly-orchid, both regarded as indicators of ancient woodland. The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales manage {{convert|17.5|ha}} of the SSSI as a nature reserve. Rare species present include toothwort and bird's nest orchid. Initially smaller in extent, the reserve was established by the former Brecknock Wildlife Trust in 1984.{{cite web |title=Pwll-y-Wrach |url=https://welshwildlife-6aa7.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/PlyWleaflet.pdf |publisher=Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales |access-date=7 December 2020}} In spring, wildflowers include bluebells followed by ramsons. The wood is home to the most important colony of dormice in the region and is also home to the lesser horseshoe bat.{{cite book |last1=Mullard |first1=Jonathan |title=The New Naturalist Library: A Survey of British Natural History: Brecon Beacons |date=2014 |publisher=William Collins |location=London |isbn=9780007367696 |page=275 |edition=First}}

There are a series of waterfalls within the wood, of which the largest is Pwll-y-Wrach, formed by a cap of the Chapel Point Limestone overlying {{cvt|10|m}} of siltstones. The name means 'witch's pool'.{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Richard |last2=Powell |first2=R. F. Peter |title=A Study of Breconshire Place Names |date=1999 |publisher=Carreg Gwalch |location=Llanrwst |isbn=0863815677 |page=132 |edition=First}}

File:Powys UK wards - Talgarth locator.png

Talgarth Town Council has twelve councillors representing the views of the community.{{cite web|url=http://www.talgarthtowncouncil.co.uk/TalgarthTC/councillors-15628.aspx |title=Town Councillors 2016 - 2017 |publisher=Talgarth Town Council|access-date=21 January 2018}}

The Talgarth ward elects a county councillor to Powys County Council. Since May 2004 it had been represented by Liberal Democrat councillor, William Powell (who also sits on the Town Council). He was re-elected unopposed in 2008 and 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Powys-1995-2012.pdf |title=Powys 1995-2012 |publisher=The Elections Centre|access-date=21 January 2018}} Powell was also an elected Assembly Member of the National Assembly for Wales from 2011 to 2016.{{cite web|title=Wales elections - Mid and West Wales|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/election2011/region/html/19844.stm|publisher=BBC News|work=Vote 2011|accessdate=17 May 2011}}

{{Election box begin | title= 2017 Powys County Council election{{cite web |url=http://www.powys.gov.uk/nc/en/elections/view-election-results/2017-county-council-elections/brecknockshire-results/ |title=County Council Elections 2017 - Brecknockshire |publisher=Powys County Council |access-date=28 January 2018 |archive-date=29 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129080645/http://www.powys.gov.uk/nc/en/elections/view-election-results/2017-county-council-elections/brecknockshire-results/ |url-status=dead }}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Liberal Democrats (UK)

|candidate = William Denston Powell *

|votes = 520

|percentage = 82.9%

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{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Labour Party (UK)

|candidate = Ryan Dixon

|votes = 95

|percentage = 15.2%

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{{Election box turnout|

|votes = 627

|percentage =

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• Edward Edwards (ca.1726 – 1783), scholar and clergyman
• Jane Cave (ca.1754 – 1812), poet, known for her poetry on religious subjects and on her headaches
• Llewela Davies (1871–1952), pianist and composer who toured with Dame Nellie Melba
• Geoff Lewis (born 1935), jockey

A number of films and dramas have been filmed in and around Talgarth, notably On the Black Hill. Others include Morgan's Boy, Nuts and Bolts (filmed at the old hospital), and Hearts of Gold (where the town was assumed to be Pontypridd).{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ky85t|title=Hearts of Gold|date=7 October 2011 |publisher=BBC|access-date=11 June 2022}}

Talgarth features as a location in Alfred Walter Stewart's 1931 novel The Boathouse Riddle, written under the pen name J. J. Connington.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=649HmQkKZZYC&pg=PA218 |title=Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961|first=Curtis|last= Evans|year=2012|page=218|publisher=MxFarland Publishers|isbn=978-0786490899}}

Talgarth is twinned with Pizzoferrato, Italy.{{Cite web|url=https://talgarth.fyinetwork.co.uk/my,29972-TALGARTH-TOWN-TWINNING-ASSOCIATION|title = TALGARTH TOWN TWINNING ASSOCIATION - FYI Talgarth}}

{{Reflist|group=notes}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|first=Richard|last=Morgan|year=1999|title=A study of Breconshire Place Names|publisher=Gwasg Carreg Gwalch |isbn=0-86381-567-7}}
• {{cite book|first=Paul|last=Remfry|year=2007|title=Castell Bwlch y Dinas and the families of Neufmarché, Hereford, Braose, Fitz Herbert, Mortimer and Talbot|publisher=SCS | isbn=978-1-899376-79-7}}
• {{cite book|first=Mike|last=Salter|year=2001|title=The Castles of Mid Wales|publisher=Folly Publications |isbn=1-871731-48-8}}
• {{cite book|first=Roger|last=Williams|year=1996|title=Talgarth-Jewel of the Black Mountains|publisher=Old Bakehouse Publications |isbn=1-874538-60-3}}

{{Commons category|Talgarth}}

• [http://www.talgarthtowncouncil.co.uk Talgarth Town Council website]
• [http://www.talgarthanddistricthistoricalsociety.co.uk Talgarth and District Historical Society]
• [https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=5973424 Photos of Talgarth and surrounding area on geograph]
• [http://www.blackmountainsgliding.co.uk/ Black Mountains Gliding club]

{{Powys}}

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Category:Towns in Powys

Category:Communities in Powys

Category:Black Mountains, Wales

Category:Wards of Powys