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Garthbrengy

Garthbrengy maps

Historic maps of Garthbrengy and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Garthbrengy maps

Garthbrengy photos

We have no photos of Garthbrengy, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Brecon| Llyswen| Bronllys

Garthbrengy area books

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Garthbrengy books
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Memories of Garthbrengy

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Powys memories

So Quiet !

High Street 1955
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This photo evokes memories of Brecon when it was a small peaceful market town with little traffic. I find it difficult to imagine now that this street had two way traffic.
We had no traffic lights in Brecon then, just a traffic controller at the top of Ship St.
Today this scene would be of traffic everywhere, parked cars and lorries and of course it has been one way for very many years. This street is closed to traffic for the May and November fairs by an ancient charter.

Living in Trallong

I lived in Trallong at this time. I was 7 years old. I lived in a cottage next to the school and the church on top of the steep curving hill which led down to the vicarage. The vicar was Mr Lewis and his daughter Carol and I were good friends.
One day my brother and I borrowed a pram chassis from my mother, ostensibly to fetch wood but in actual fact for our trolley. We rode it down the hill from our house and when we were going round the bend a post van was coming up. We managed to steer the pram chassis up onto the bank to escape - it gave the driver a fright but we thought it was hilarious. Looking back it was rather silly really.

I Was Born Here

I was born in Station View, Sennybridge in 1954. Dad was at the army camp, we moved out approx 1957. I'm not sure if Station View was a road or the name of a house. I think there was a post office nearby.

Burning Feet

When I was about 12 years old, with feet as thick as young, strong leather, my father, who was a pilot (Allan Dyson) and Nina (my mum, Nina actually) took us all from our home on a plot of land in Halfway House in the Transvaal (some distance from a town or city) to Glasbury on Wye.
There, in the blacksmith's house, the farrier was beating iron.  We stood to watch and then the farrier asked 'What's burning?'.  We all looked at each other and sniffed.  Then I felt it.  A hot coal had made its way through the sole of my Transvaal foot and we had trouble removing it quickly enough.  My Welsh cousins were impressed with that only, my gran, May Saunders, amazed.  We were a little too wild.  But I remember how we loved Pop Pop; Fred Saunders, fisherman extraordinaire!

Alli in Glasbury

Fred took Allan fishing some time in the 1950's, when Allan was in his twenties. He had just married Norah (Nina) - (her mother used to call her No). Allan remembers wading out in Fred's waders and standing in The River Wye until the moon came up. Then Nina came and called him in. There was a shed, where they kept tea and a kettle, and when they went down, they would have tea. Alli always forgot time when he was there, in the river. They used crumbs for bait, in bottle with bottom removed to catch and watch sticklebacks. They were there to catch a trout and they did. About a year later, Alli and Nina went to Africa.

Oh! Happy Days of Childhood.

I first came to Glasbury when my father - Fred Whitchurch - became head gardener at the Maesllwch Castle Gardens. This was 1945, when I was but six years old. I went to Coedybolen School, where at that time there were many evacuees who, like us, were from the London area. However, we stayed on, and all of my schooling was either the result of efforts by Gwyn Evans at Coedybolen, or E.V.Howells and staff at Llandrindod. I left school in '55 and joined the RN, but emigrated to Canada in 1965. Glasbury still evokes many wonderful memories for me - most of all, every summer seemed to be sunny - but doesn't it always? I remain in contact with someone who was in my classes throughout school - Sheila Morgan (Sharpe), but have not been to the village in many years - I think in the 90's at some time. There are only my brother Dave and I left now, but time has not dimished the delightful memories. I... Read more

My Family

My family were the Davises who lived in the Bear House, Trecastle. Most of the people in the area were related to us. We were originally of Gypsy desent and can be traced back many hundreds of years. We were also related to the Pike family and to Adelina Patti who brought travelling singing shows to this country. Myself and my familly are travelling show people. My mother was Olwen Davis who married Rouen Wilkins, her mother was Violet Davis, and Harriet Davis was my great-grandmother, they all in turn owned the Bear House in Trecastle. My father and mother had the Three Horseshoes pub in the 1960s. My uncle Dilwyn owned the Castle. All of my late relatives are buried in Llwyl churchyard. Some of my cousins still live in Trecastle. When my grandmother Violet died, the Bear House passed to my mother, who due to ill health, sadly, had to take the decision to sell the Bear, which after hundreds of years, took it out of our family.... Read more

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