Beguildy () is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Wales. It lies in a remote tract of countryside, northwest of Knighton, on the B4355 road to Newtown, near the

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

of the River Teme, at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''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 equipotenti ...

of . The village has a pub, 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 (, 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 is approxima ...

. It falls in the historic county of

Radnorshire Radnorshire () was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974, later becoming a Districts of Wales, district of Powys from 1974 to 1996. It covered a sparsely populat ...

. An

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. At the 2011 Census this ward had a population of 1,411.

Castle

Beguildy Castle is a Norman

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively eas ...

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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

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 (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

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

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

(which reputed to carry marks made by Cromwell's troops sharpening their swords), a holy water stoup at the south door and a priests door in the south wall. The

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

is a fine example of 15th century workmanship and is well preserved, bearing the original coloured Tudor roses. 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'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 Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

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 John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, teacher, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divination, ...

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

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

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. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

as the royal tutor in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. He later became the Queen's

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

but is remembered as a distinguished early scientist and astronomer. He was reputedly a descendant of Rhodri Mawr, King of Wales.

References

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