Welsh Journals

Notes (1) Readers should see the Rhayader Guide Book for an imagina- tive description of the scene of the discovery by the author. (2) Vide also Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and MOllJnouthshire-III. County of Radnor, No. 530. The dis- covery was made on the 26th May, 1889, in a crevice of what are known as the Carreg Gwynion rocks, which form the southern- most flank of Gwastedin Hill, two miles S.E. of Rhayader. -(Editors.) The same author has also written of Rhayader Castle. He says that Rhayader anciently derived its importance from its Castle. According to Caradoc of Llancarvan, this fortress was built by Rhys ap Gruffydd, Prince of South Wales, in 1178, to check the depredations of the Normans and Flemings, and to avenge Einion Clyd and Morgan ap Meredith, who were murdered by the Normans on the Cwmdauddwr hills within sight of the town of Rhayader. It occupied a commanding position on a precipitous point of land, which projects into the channel of the River Wye on the western side of the town. Hexagon of shape, it was built of timber, not a vestige of which now remains even the Fosse which was excavated out of the solid rock being now filled with ashes and debris. No sooner had the Prince Rhys completed the structure, when the sons of Cynan from North Wales attacked the Castle, but had to raise the siege. In 1194 the sons of Cadwallon ap Madoc (founder of the Abbey of Cwmhir, and a brother of Einion Clyd) captured it. In 1231, Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, after burning Montgomery Castle, subjected Rhayader Castle to the same fate. REVIEWS Radnor New and Old, by W. H. HOWSE, with a foreword by the Rt. Hon. the Lord Rennell of Rodd. Printed by Jakemans, Ltd., Hereford. (4/-). Last year Mr. Howse published a book of 20 pages on New Radnor Past and Present, which was so well received that he has now in so short