Welsh Journals

THE BOUNDARY OF THE MEDIEVAL GRANGE OF DOLHELFA DAVID PERCIVAL The medieval grange of Dolhelfa lay on the east bank of the river Wye about seven kilometres north-west of Rhaeadr. The land on which it was established was endowed to the Cistercian Abbey of Cwm-hir by Roger Mortimer in 1200 A.D. The boundary is defined in the charter as running along a stream with the old lost name of Lleussic. Charles2 suggests that this may be the stream that flows past the present farm of Dolhelfa-ganol. The boundary continued past Pant Beiting (name also lost) to the river Marcheini: thence to Trosgel, the present- day hill of Drysgol; past "the round willow grove" which Charles identifies with Ffos yr Helygen-gam (the ditch of the crooked willow) near the source of the Marcheini Fawr, eventually returning to the river Wye near Glascwm, just north of the old boundary between Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire. The grange is shown in Williams' Atlas1, presumably based on Rees' Map4, but the area indicated is considerably smaller than that described above and does not extend as far east as the Marcheini nor as far north as Glascwm. The map accompanying the 1839 tithe survey of the parish of St Harmon5 shows enclosures around the farms of Dolhelfa-ganol and Dolhelfa-uchaf, and also, further south, a re-entrant of enclosed land into the common land, based around the farm of Bwlch-gwyn. A broken line is shown running across the field boundaries of the latter, presumably indicating a feature which was still in existence at that date but which no longer had any function as a property or enclosure boundary. This feature is also shown by a broken line on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch to one mile map.6 On the ground, this can still be seen as low earthen bank (see fig. 1) obviously long superseded by the later enclosures. It runs in a north easterly direction from the angle (A on fig. 1) in a later enclosure bank, through the site of the farm named Perthu on the Tithe Map (Blaen y Bwlch on the First edition Six-inch) to the northern edge of the enclosed land (B on fig. 1). To the north-east, outside the enclosed land, it continues across the open moor to the rim of the Marcheini gorge. This section does not appear to have been depicted on any surviving map or plant but exists as a well-preserved bank, up to 2.0m high in places and accompanied by a substantial ditch along its eastern side. The bank ends on the lip of the gorge, at the point where a short tributary stream drops steeply to the Marcheini Fawr (C on fig. 1). The stream probably formed the continuation of the boundary. Close to the end of the bank, on the south-east bank of the stream, lies a small building platform. Interestingly, it lies just outside the area enclosed by the bank although, a vague enclosure, possibly associated with it does lie on the internal side of the boundary. Nearby, a further bank, which may be contemporary with the boundary runs north-westwards. South of the angle (A on fig. 1) at the junction of the earlier bank with the enclosure later boundary, a substantial bank accompanied by a steep gully to the east, continues south-west. Whilst it cannot be