eee itl alt 
47 
place, containing only some 750 inhabitants. It consists of four streets intersecting 
each other at right angles, nearly N., S., E., and West. In the centre is a Town 
Hall, built in 1762, the principal rooms of which are upstairs, and are supported 
upon massive oak pillars. There are two stone arches, one at the east and the 
other at the west end. Upon one of these is a sun-dial, and it may possibly in- 
terest some to know that it was made by a local celebrity and learned arithmetician, 
the Rev. Llewellyn Davies, of St. Harmon, a town near Rhayader. 
The bridge over the Wye (which is now under repair) was built in 1780, and 
is the uppermost stone bridge standing over the Wye, as all the others above it 
were washed down during the floods of last winter. 
Tradition says Rhayader was of far greater magnitude, and that it extended 
from Cefn Ceidio on the east, to Felindré on the south, and that the avenues were 
once inhabited streets. At all events, it was once considered a very important 
place by the Rhyses and the Gwynedds, Princes of South and North Wales, being 
the scene of frequent contest and of many bloody sieges. It was in the church of 
Rhayader, in the presence of the chieftains, that Rhys of Gwynedd, the Prince of 
North Wales, confirmed the grant with which he had endowed the then newly- 
~ founded Abbey of Strata Florida (1164), now a beautiful ruin in Cardiganshire, 
- 
between Tregaron and the Devil’s Bridge. In 1340, in the reign of Edward III., 
Rhayader was the property of Roger Mortimer, Earl of Wigmore and Marche (of 
whom you heard mention at our last meeting at Wigmore Castle), and it remained 
in that family until Edward IV., Duke of York, ascended the throne, when it 
became part of the Crown property (1461). 
The town suffered severely during the disturbed times of Owen Glyndwrdwy, 
as well as under the oppressive edicts of Henry IV. consequent upon such disturb- 
ances. These harsh measures existed until the accession of the English Tudors, 
when they ceased (1485). 
There were held at Rhayader a County Court and a Court of Session. The 
hall or court was situate at Pen-y-Porth, on the bank overlooking the Wye, just 
above the bridge, and the present Presbyterian Meeting House was the gaol or 
prison. The iron rings and chains to which prisoners were bound, and the bars of 
the windows are shown to this day. Executions took place on the north end of 
the town, near a house known by the name of Pen-y-Maes. 
+ last Rhayader was deprived of these Courts, and it arose in this way. A 
band of ruffians who called themselves Lant Mat, or the children of Mat, com- 
posed of disbanded soldiers and others, living in the caves about the Devil’s 
Bridge, waged war and exacted black mail over the surrounding districts. They 
arrived one night on the right bank of the Wye and concealed themselves in the 
thick grove of oaks at a place called Dderw, where, being informed by their spy 
that the judge would repair at a certain hour on the ensuing morning to the 
Church at Rhayader, before commencing his duties at Sessions, they sallied forth, 
crossed the river at Waun-y-Capel, met him at Maesbach, fired, and shot the ven- 
erable man through the heart. During the amazement of those who attended, the 
assassins effected their escape, and returned over the hills to the mountain fast- 
ness. The country soon rose up against them—the murderers were besieged in 
