Historic Landscape Characterisation

Bro Trefaldwyn

Transport and Communication

Because of its geographical location the area has formed an important line of communication between mid Wales and the Midlands from the earliest times, though the pattern of communication has undergone a number of dramatic changes due to political as well as economic factors. The road linking mid Wales to the Roman city of Wroxeter and the rest of the Roman empire took a lowland route along the valleys of the Rea and Camlad to the cavalry fort on the banks of the Severn at The Gaer, Forden. There seems little doubt that the fort was sited to control an already important river crossing here, although the main line of communication westwards continued to follow the southern bank of the river until a point just to the east of the Roman fort at Caersws. A second Roman line of communication westwards along the valley of the Caebitra and thence to Sarn is indicated by a further Roman fort and possible Roman marching camps at Pentrehyling. The possibility that a ford across the river Severn in the area was used from much earlier times has been suggested by the proximity the complex of earlier prehistoric ceremonial monuments near Dyffryn, on the opposite bank of the Severn, and by the location of the later prehistoric hillfort at Ffridd Faldwyn, above the town of Montgomery.

Little is yet known of any crossing points across the line of Offa's Dyke, erected to define the boundaries of the kingdom of Mercia in the later 8th century, though original breaks might be anticipated where it crosses valleys of the Camlad and Caebitra. The importance of the river crossing continued perhaps unbroken into the early medieval period, one of the settlements established as Mercia expanded to the west of Offa's Dyke in perhaps the 9th or 10th century being given the name Forden, derived from the Old English for 'ford settlement'. By the time the Domesday book was compiled for the Norman king, William I, in 1086, a settlement in the vicinity of The Gaer was named Horseforde meaning literally 'horse ford'. By the 13th century the ford just to the south of the Roman fort had become known to the Welsh as Rhydwhiman (or Rhydwhyman, Welsh rhyd chwima 'swift ford') and to the English as the ford of Montgomery (vadum aquae de Mungumery). Its symbolic significance as a meeting place had disappeared by the end of the 13th century, however, following the Edwardian conquest of Wales.

The river crossing continued to have some local significance, however, and though the major traffic towards the west from the 15th and 16th centuries onwards was carried by the first of a series of bridges further north at Cilcewydd and at Caerhowel to the south, just outside the boundaries of the historic landscape area, the ford at Rhydwhiman and a ford and ferry at Dyffryn continued in operation until some time in the 19th century.

Another important line of communication into mid Wales was the Kerry Ridgeway, or Yr Hên Ffordd 'the old road' which runs along the crest of the hill along the southern boundary of the historic landscape area. The antiquity of the ridgeway is uncertain, although it has been suggested that it was in use from the early prehistoric period, a possible break in the line of Offa's Dyke on the crest of the hill suggests that the route may also have been in use in the 8th century. The existence of a medieval route along the route is suggested by presence of Bishop's Moat earthwork castle. The Ridgeway is little used today, but its widely spaced hedges and broad verges suggests that it developed its present form as a drove road across the upland commons during perhaps the 17th or 18th centuries, enabling Welsh cattle and sheep to be driven on foot to English markets in late summer and autumn.

Lanes, trackways and footpaths developed between the early medieval and medieval centres of population that developed at Montgomery, Chirbury, Churchstoke, Hyssington, Forden and Snead and their outlying townships and farms, individual parishes and townships becoming responsible for their maintenance. Where possible roads were built on dry ground, running along the contours of the hill, as along the side of the upper Camlad valley between Snead and Churchstoke, or along the side Lan Fawr northwards from Churchstoke to Priest Weston. Considerable erosion was inevitable where routes ran across marshy ground or up and down the hill, substantial hollow-ways being created over the course of many centuries before the introduction of metalled surface and road drainage. Many local roads were in an appalling state by the 18th century, particularly during the winter, and impassable to wheeled carriages. Many improvements were made in late 18th and early 19th centuries, in the wake of the formation of the turnpike trusts, which transformed a number of local patterns of communication. Some existing roads were improved, other new roads such as the embanked road with new road bridges were built northwards from Montgomery to Forden and eastwards towards Chirbury, cutting across earlier field boundaries and replacing earlier twisting lanes. Toll-houses were set up and mileposts erected, some of which still survive, like the former toll cottages at Toll House Farm on the A488 east of Hyssington and the cottage on the B4385 to the south of Montgomery still survive. Some ancient tracks were all but abandoned, including a route from Churchstoke to the ford at Rhydwhiman via Rhiston and Lymore, marked partly by footpaths, partly by an abandoned hollow-way and partly by a modern side road.

From the late 12th or early 13th century the weir built across the Severn by the Cistercian monks of the abbey at Ystrad Marchell, north of Welshpool, had become the head of the Severn navigation, the transshipment point here favouring the development of the Newtown-Welshpool route into mid Wales during the later medieval and early post-medieval periods, further enhanced with the coming of the canal and turnpike roads in the 18th century and the railway in the late 19th century. Bro Trefaldwyn derived some benefit from the construction of the Cambrian Railway between Welshpool and Newtown in 1860, with its legacy of embankments, bridges, and railway cottages and former stations at Forden and Montgomery, the latter at Caerhowel, about 2km from the town. By curious irony, the name of the historic river crossing at Rhydwhiman has been preserved in the name of the level crossing on the lane across the railway - Rhydwhyman Crossing.