Welsh Journals

The Mediaeval Castles of North Montgomeryshire: A Topical Survey. ROBERT RICHARDS, M.P., F.S.A. IV. TOMEN YR ALLT. With the notable exception of Sycharth, which has won for itself an unique place in the affections of Welsh people on account of the romantic career of its occupant Owen Glyndwr, and the spirited description of it, as it was in the heyday of its glory that Glyndwr's poet, Iolo Goch, has left us, none possesses greater fascination than Tomen yr Allt, once possibly the residence of the princelet, who bestowed upon the borough of Llanfyllin its earliest Charterl. Tomen yr Allt lies on the southern spur of a hill, which at its highest point in Coll Melyn attains an altitude of 1125 feet. Coll Melyn is the yellow hill-a name it well deserves on account of the profusion of gorse with which it is covered in summer. The Tomen itself however lies at a height of only a little above 800 feet, but its southern side, where it descends to the valley of Nantfyllon, is, none the less, fairly precipitous. This spur on which it stands is cut off from the main hill behind by a slight depression through which the old road, formerly the high road from Llanfyllin to Llangynog and Bala, winds its way, and at the point where this old highway approached nearest to the Tomen, there stood in former days a well known Inn of the name of Minffordd. The motte is one of the most formidable and even after centuries of decay and neglect it still has a very impressive appearance. The core of it consists of an outcrop of the rather shaly type of rock that is common in the neighbourhood of Llanfyllin, and on its south-eastern side there is evidence that the ditch was cut through this somewhat friable rock. 1. But see below.-P.6. (1). See Mont. Coll. Vol. III, P.91 et seq. for the Charter.