The peaceful South Wales town of Hay-on-Wye offers few clues today of its brutal past on a violent frontier. A monument to this history can be found in Hay Castle. Once right on the border between England and Wales, it sits in a region densely packed with castles that saw border skirmishes and bitter warfare for centuries.
Known as the Welsh Marches, this borderland attracted tough people seeking their fortune at the expense of the Welsh people. There are few better examples of these folk than William and Matilda de Braose, the Lord and Lady of Hay. Their story is steeped in blood and myth before a dramatic and gory fall from favour.
Open to the public for the first time in its 900 year history, Matt Lewis visited Hay Castle to find out what it can reveal about life in England’s medieval Wild West.
Up Next in If These Walls Could Talk
-
Hidden in the Trees: Cardiff's Forgot...
A History Hit Community film. For nearly a thousand years, something high in the forest has been watching over the Welsh capital. A community pulled together in the Sixties, giving St. Mary's church in Caerau a short new life.
-
Stourhead: The Grand Tour
Kicking off our new series, Great British Houses, we join Alice Loxton and Dan Snow on a journey through one of the gems of the National Trust’s collection, the magnificent Stourhead.
In this documentary Alice and Dan set off on a whirlwind tour of the social and cultural movements which influen...
-
How did the English Civil War affect ...
Historian Michael Sewell reflects on how the British Civil War impacted and destroyed landmarks that were cherished and used by communities. Using Colchester as his Case Study he will show the conflict shaped our town’s landscape forever and show the lasting legacy of the conflict in English hist...
15 Comments