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Llanfilo
Llanfilo maps
Historic maps of Llanfilo and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Llanfilo maps
Llanfilo photos
We have no photos of Llanfilo, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Bronllys| Talgarth| Llyswen| Three Cocks| Brecon| Glasbury On Wye
Llanfilo area books
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Memories of Llanfilo
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Powys memories
Day Trips to Brecon
As a child growing up in the mining village of Cwmtwrch in the 1940's and 50's, I enjoyed the family day trips to the cathedral town of Brecon, especially in summer. The public bus would take us from Ystradgynlais to Brecon,a distance of 20 miles passing interesting places such as Craigynos Castle (once owned by the famous opera singer Adelina Patti), the Crai Reservoir, and Sennybridge. The bus stopped somewhere near the Usk Bridge. From here, we would walk along the river path, passing Milton Pool until we reached the Boathouse and Cafe. I can remember my father hiring a rowing boat and taking us on the River Usk. If the weather was fine we would have a picnic lunch on the grass, play some games and enjoy the scenic views of the Beacons. An ice-cream was a must. If the weather was inclement, we would walk around the town visiting the shops, particularly Woolworths. By early evening we would be back on the bus to Ystrad, then Cwm, arriving... Read more
So Quiet !
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.
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
Early Memories of Hay During The Second World War, Part 1.
Memories of Hay during the Second World War. When I was still quite young, I recall that there were three phrases used by my father over and over again in conversation. The first, tellingly, were those remarks, usually making contrasts of some kind, beginning "Of course, before the war". And then post-1945 there was the obvious "During the war". And finally there was, with contrasts doubtless still in mind, "After the war". What is obvious is that for people of his generation the Second World War was the great watershed of the century, bringing cataclysmic changes that even impinged on small towns like Hay. And I suppose it is fair to say that two of those phrases were used to contrast the present (usually unfavourably!) with distinct former periods of personal history, years when the speaker was younger and when local society was supposedly more cohesive (the 'war-effort' etc.). Little wonder that social historians of the twentieth century may now describe the revolutionary effect that the Second World War had... Read more
Wartime Memories of Hay: Part Two
Memories of Hay during the Second World War: Part Two. (Continued from Part One) Thoughts of 'Dad's Army' remind me that the local Home Guard occasionally used Forest Road for some kind of exercise. I've dim recollections of one or two coming into the garden of 'Wayside' with their rifles and taking up whatever position was thought advantageous. Soldiers marching through the town was not an uncommon sight. I have quite a vivid memory of a large column of soldiers with pack-mules proceeding westwards up Belmont Road past the Wye Cafe, probably on their way to Brecon. Likewise, a small boy was always likely to be attracted by processions of army vehicles, Bren-gun carriers, tracked vehicles in camouflage khaki livery. There was a petrol station opposite the Swan Hotel (J.V. Like's garage in peace-time) manned by American soldiers who not only responded favourably to requests of "Any gum, chum?" but also were known to give away tiny pairs of (?army-issue) light-weight dice. Each small, top-like, die (less than an inch long when... Read more
