Written by John Addis from Crickhowell

"Described by many as 'The Garden of Wales' or the 'Glittering Jewel of the Vale', very few places could be named with such beautiful words and I don't think there are many who would try and take that honour from Crickhowell.

The bilingual signs as you enter this beautiful town state the Welsh name of Grug Hywel, meaning Hywel's Rock. This of course is the Table Mountain overlooking the town unmistakable with its flat summit (1,486 ft.), believed to have been where the Welsh ruler Hywel Dda held his fortress.

Although this is disputed it was certainly a camp of a Welsh Chieftain called Hywel, and I like to think it to have been Hywel Dda the Welsh ruler. The belief is he never came down as far as Crickhowell. So which Hywel was it? I cannot honestly believe that he would not want such a strategically important valley.

As a Welsh border town the name changed from the Welsh name Grug Hywel to Crickhowell and is favoured today as Crickhowell because of the absence of Welsh-speaking people. But nevertheless, local families can go back many hundreds of years and are very proud to be "Crickhowell Welshman". At one time, all the people living in the valley surrounding Crickhowell seemed to be related to one another - through marriage or direct blood!

Crickhowell lies in the Usk Valley beneath the Black Mountains with the river Usk meandering through its picturesque scenery like a sparkling silver ribbon. Beyond the Table Mountain lies the peak of Pen Cerrig-Calch which is 2,300 feet.

Crickhowell was one time under the Parish of Llangattock. Llangattock formerly included the parishes of Llanelli, Llangenny, Llanbedr, Llangynidr, Cwmdu, Patricio, Brynmawr and Beaufort. Sometime during the 14th century, Crickhowell became a parish of its own.

During the Georgian period, the town centre was completely redesigned. Tower Street was rebuilt in 1850 (its old name was Bailey Street). Before Tower Street was built, there used to be a road at the back of Ivy Towers, then up the alleyway by the side of the Dragon Guest House.

Of great historical interest is a street leading off the centre of town, named Standard Street, so called because it was here that Sir Richard Evans raised his standard in 1485 and with three thousand men marched to assist Henry Tudor (Henry VII) and shared his victory on Bosworth Field.

In the 18th century, High Street was known as Cross Street and the centre of town was known as High Cross. Another street that ran from the town centre was Barriance Street believed to have ran from the centre of town and then towards Porthmawr. The road that runs from Porthmawr to the river bridge, (known as New Road) and then on to Llangynidr was built in c1830.

Bridge Street leads up from the bridge and used to be the main street that led from the old ford. The road still runs by the side of Bethabara Chapel and leads across the river then across a field to the Leqar; and is still a public right of way. The houses in Bridge Street are mostly 18th and 19th century and they're used to be a "Pound" house at No. 4. The lower end is still prone to floods and the flood bank and walls that were built in the late 1960s were breached in 1979, causing a considerable amount of damage.

On October 24th 1998, heavy floods again caused considerable damage to local properties, mainly on the Legar and to the Bridgend Public house. The reason for flooding more frequently to the Legar side could be the flood defence on the Crickhowell side pushing all the flood water over to the Legar side.

The bow-fronted windows are still on some houses in Bridge Street and I remember No. 11 at one time a shop. No. 12 Bridge Street was a blacksmith shop but if you take a close view of the gable end at the side entrance, you can see evidence of an arch, perhaps belonging to a place of worship.

In 1890 a new town hall was built and opened in 1892. The hall was called the Clarence Hall after the visit of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who laid the foundation stone to the building. The Duke stayed at Glanusk Park during his visit to Crickhowell.

Run by a management committee for the local council, the hall has been used for many different occasions but I think the most memorable was as a cinema that was held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Matinees were also held for the children on a Saturday morning. Building work to the hall took place in the 1980s when a new roof and new floors replaced the old.

During the year of 1886, a building in Beaufort Street was rebuilt and called the Percy Davies Institution. It comprised of a Library, Coffee Tavern, Reading Rooms and Recreation Rooms. By a codicil in her will, dated 1900, Mrs Percy Davies of Porthmawr (who survived her husband and died in 1903) left the house and premises in Beaufort Street and Standard Street known as Queen Coffee Tavern, with all furniture, stables and yard that joins the main building, upon trust for the people forever, to carry on the named institution known as the Queen Coffee Tavern.

In 1996 the stables were sold off and the money invested and in 1971 the Library was moved to Silver Lane. Many of the books that were kept in the library at the Queen's Coffee Tavern were sent to the Brecon Library. Of most interest was the collection that belonged to John Andrew Doyle of Pendarren House, Llangenny. He left in his will part of his valuable collection of books to the people of Crickhowell and part to Brynmawr Library. Eventually, the Doyle collection ended up at King Edward VIII school Abergavenny. Crickhowell's new library in Silver Lane was found to be too small to house the books, and no one else would take them.

In the early part of the 19th century, Crickhowell was granted the right to hold three fairs annually. They were to be held in the main street on the 1st of January, 12th May and the 31st of August. Sadly the tradition is dying out and the fairs seem to come only once a year and sometimes not at all.

Market days were on Thursdays and Saturdays, also held in the main street, today there are only a few stalls selling vegetables and bread in the market hall and the street market has completely disappeared.

Just after the Second World War, two new council housing estates were built. There were thirty semi-detached brick houses at Dan-y-grug, sixty-five prefabricated houses and ten brick houses at Ffynnonau. In the late 1950s and running into the 1970s, a new council estate was built at Brynant, housing 48 families.

In the middle of the 1960s, a new housing estate started on the site of Pregge Farm with 174 families in private houses, and in 1973 a new housing site started on the old bowling fields at Brecon Road with 93 families in private houses. A new site started in the 1980s called Derwen Fawr on fields under Oak Road, housed 28 families. I have mentioned these because of the size and numbers of people involved, but many more houses have been built around the town. Castle Road and Upper House Farm have new sites. The new site at Upper House was built for people who wanted to work from home using computers. It is known as a "Tele Village", the first of its kind in the UK.

The population of Crickhowell has virtually doubled overnight. The 1999 Register of Electors shows a total of 1,819 people in the district of Crickhowell."

Article written by John Addis