Beguildy ( cy, Bugeildy) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

, Wales. It lies in a remote tract of countryside, northwest of Knighton, on the

B4355 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Gre ...

to Newtown, near the

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

of the

River Teme The River Teme (pronounced ; cy, Afon Tefeidiad) rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of B ...

, at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of . The village has a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the Radnorshire Arms, a post office, and a place of worship. Beguildy Church in Wales Primary School closed in 2013.

Toponymy

Beguildy is an anglicization of Bugeildy, which means ''shepherd-house'' in Welsh, from ''bugail'' for shepherd and ''tŷ'' for house.

Community

The large, rural community of Beguildy includes the settlements of Beguildy, Felindre, Dutlas, Lloyney, Heyope and

Knucklas Knucklas ( cy, Cnwclas, meaning "green hillock") is a village in Powys, Wales, previously Radnorshire. It lies in the upper valley of the River Teme, just off the B4355 road and is served by Knucklas railway station on the Heart of Wales Line. ...

. It falls in the historic county of Radnorshire. An electoral ward in the same name exists. At the 2011 Census this ward had a population of 1,411.

Castle

Beguildy Castle is a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

motte-and-bailey castle of which the well preserved 20 foot high motte and earthworks remain. The village and the castle lie on the border between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Church

The church, which is mainly 14th century, was restored considerably in the 19th century, with the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

being rebuilt in 1885 and the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

restored in 1896 (to the design by William Radford Bryden). The original tower collapsed in the 19th century and bells, which date from 1661 and 1664, were re-hung in their present position in 1936. The church features a 14th-century octagonal font (which reputed to carry marks made by Cromwell's troops sharpening their swords), a holy water

stoup A holy water font or stoup is a vessel containing holy water which is generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is often placed at the base of a crucifix or religious representation. It is used in the Catholic Church, Anglican Churches ...

at the south door and a priests door in the south wall. The rood screen is a fine example of 15th century workmanship and is well preserved, bearing the original coloured

Tudor rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists o ...

s. Probably from the same period are two oak benches. The dug out parish chest, which was reputedly hewn out of a solid block of timber, is an ancient

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

's chest and probably dates form the 13th century. At the end of the chest is an iron ring for use when it was drawn by a horse to be buried or hidden in times of trouble. One part of the chest would have held the church valuables and the other the churchwarden's treasures. Each compartment was locked separately. The church is well endowed with 20th-century stained glass windows. In the porch there are two sculpted heads. They were sculpted as a representative of the vicar when the Church was renovated by a stonemason called James Wear(1837-1913)

Associations

John Dee has probably been incorrectly associated with Beguildy. He served at the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

as the royal tutor in mathematics. He later became the Queen's Ambassador to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

but is remembered as a distinguished early scientist and astronomer. He was reputedly a descendant of

Rhodri Mawr Rhodri ap Merfyn ( 820 – 873/877/878), popularly known as Rhodri the Great ( cy, Rhodri Mawr), succeeded his father, Merfyn Frych, as King of Gwynedd in 844. Rhodri annexed Powys c. 856 and Seisyllwg c. 871. He is called "King of the Britons" ...

, King of Wales.

References

{{authority control Villages in Powys Communities in Powys Castles in Powys