Hay-on-Wye   closed its castle gates 400 years ago. However, the way to Hay-on-Wye still lies open for all to see what this historic town has to offer! Lying in Powys, mid Wales, Hay-on-Wye sits on the border between England and Wales. It is in fact a Welsh town, yet its postcode uses the County of Herefordshire. Perhaps it is just easier for the Royal Mail postmen!  It is indeed a little Welsh medieval market town, lying alongside the river Wye, just one of the many attractions for visitors who flock here each year. With picturesque views of the Wye Valley, the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons National Park close at hand one wonders why they needed to become the most famous "book town" in the world.

Town Centre

With only around 1,900 inhabitants and thirty bookshops, it could be said that there are more books than people in Hay-on-Wye! The town is a ‘mecca’ for second hand books and bibliophiles, which is why it appeals to so many authors, writers and historians. It was Richard Booth, self proclaimed King of Hay and owner of Hay castle, who opened his first second hand bookshop in 1961 and pursued his dream to create the largest second hand and antiquarian book selling centre in the world. Obviously he had been collecting books for years himself!

The town also holds its own weekly market in the town centre. Every Thursday throughout the year, stall holders move into the Buttermarket and Memorial Square. From 8am to mid afternoon the area is busy with shoppers, buying anything from eggs to thimbles! It is a busy yet welcoming atmosphere and you will find anything you need right here.

For those with an eye for craft and detail, Hay-on-Wye also houses its own gallery. The Bowie Gallery offers a range of contemporary ceramics, jewellery, textiles and metalwork and is situated right in the centre of Hay overlooking the 18th century Buttermarket. This is definitely one gem in the town which is well worth a visit for its warm atmosphere and delightful displays.

If you fancy a bite to eat, there are plenty of cafes and restaurants dotted about Hay-on-Wye to keep you happy. They are proud of their fresh local produce, and several hotels are also public houses, so you can go for one of the real ales on offer or try something from the wine list while waiting for your meal!

Attractions

There are plenty of both indoor and outdoor attractions to be found in Hay-on-Wye and the surrounding area.

Guardian Hay Festival

Founded in 1988 by Peter Florence, the world famous Hay Festival celebrates the works of the best writers and performers of the creative arts. Peter Florence’s mother was from the Black Mountains area of Wales herself and Florence felt that with its second hand bookshops and rustic charm, that Hay was the perfect place for a literary festival. The festival is today sponsored by The Guardian newspaper (hence its name!) and is believed to attract around 80,000 visitors.

Hay Food Festival

There are so many excellent food and drink producers in this beautiful part of Wales that the Food Festival decided to bring them all together for a wonderful celebration and display them for everyone to enjoy. There are plenty of delicious delicacies to appetise you and a wide range of foods are available to buy. There are over 50 producers both from Wales and the Borders and a wide range of activities await you: the Chef’s Demonstration, children’s hands on cookery workshops, Local Schools Fairtrade fruit stall and the Gwynt-y-Ddraig cider and apple bar.

Brecon Beacons and other Walks

There are several walks. From short walks around the town or along the river bank to long distance walks that take in the most beautiful parts of the Black mountains and Brecon Beacons National Park.

Brecon Beacons and other Bike Trails

The whole area has also earned a reputation as a centre for Mountain Bike Trails.

Hay history and the Castle

As with many Welsh towns, border towns in particular, their "built" heritage can be traced back to those war torn times when the Anglo Normans invaded the land in the late 11th and 12th Centuries. First there would be a motte and bailey, a large mound, the motte, on which was built a large wooden fort or bailey.  Later these would be abandoned, or strengthened, and either reinforced or rebuilt with stone walls becoming the castles that we see today. Hay can be said to have an even more troubled past than most border towns .. it was destroyed by the English King John in 1216, and soon after the Welsh Prince Llywelyn set fire to it !

Motte and Bailey

The romantic ruins of the Hay-on-Wye castle are still standing today, but let us not forget the original stronghold, the motte and bailey settlement on the western edge of the town. Although little remains of the motte today it can be seen that the motte is 3m high and 20m across at the summit. It lies close to Saint Mary’s church on the western edge of the town and overlooks a gorge and small stream leading to the Wye. Little is known of the original settlement but it is believed to have been constructed by William Revel, a knight of Bernard de Newmarch.

Hay Castle

The motte and bailey was replaced around 1200 by the present stone castle, lying on the south side of the river Wye. It was built by Matilda de Braose, and the castle stayed in the de Braose family until 1230 when William de Braose was hanged in Abergwyngregyn for "having it off" with the wife of the Welsh ruler Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, Llywelyn the Great.

What followed was typical of Welsh border castles with the stronghold changing hands between the English and the Welsh over the centuries. The 13th Century saw the rebellions where the Welsh Princes Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and later Llywelyn ab Gruffydd fought unsuccessfully to free themselves from the English yoke. The early 15th Century saw the last revolt, the Glyndwr rebellion, and the castle again suffered damage by  Welsh forces. But a few years on the Hay Castle was once again listed as defensible against the Welsh. Indeed the castle was sacked by both the English and the Welsh which led to its eventual abandonment and decay.

Come the 17th Century and part of the castle was rebuilt as a Jacobean mansion house that is now part of the longest-established bookshop in the town of books.  Little is left now of the castle apart from its ruined walls as many parts were taken down following the building of the railway during the 1860s, but the walls and steps can still be appreciated from Castle Square in the town.

Surrounding Area

If you feel like the car’s been sitting around in Hay-on-Wye doing nothing except wearing out its handbrake, then there are plenty of places you can take it to see some of the most charming areas in the surrounding area. Plus it’ll thank you for it as you both get to experience the beautiful Powys landscape and the landmark Black Mountains.

The area of Hay Bluff lies just 4 miles south of Hay-on-Wye, mostly on a single track road. Hay Bluff is a favourite jumping-off point for hang-gliders and offers incomparable views over the Wye Valley and far into central Wales.

And of course both the Brecon Beacons National Park and the Black Mountains are just a short drive away. Both popular with walkers and and mountain bikers.

Modern History

It was Richard Booth who woke Hay-on-Wye up to the 20th century, as previously it had been a small, virtually unknown Welsh town. With the arrival of the second hand books which also, on Booth’s terms, took over the fire station and cinema, Hay-on-Wye has pulled in many bibliophiles to its book shops including US Presidents and British Prime Ministers.

Hay-on-Wye formerly had its own railway station, but it was closed in 1963 following the famous Beeching Axe, under which a large number of smaller train stations were closed.

Accommodation and Services

If you need any extra help, Hay Tourist Information bureau is located adjacent to the main car park. A selection of maps, leaflets and booklets are available at the Centre and members of staff are happy to help with any queries or needs you have. On display in the Centre is information about the many activities the area has to offer. Information is also available on accommodation in the Hay-on-Wye area and further afield. If you haven’t already found accommodation, you may book accommodation through the Centre for a fixed charge, regardless of the number of telephone calls required to obtain accommodation.

There are plenty of accommodation choices, from hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs, as well as self-catering cottages and farmhouse stays. For outdoor sleeping, there are plenty of caravan and camping sites along the A438 road outside Hay-on-Wye.

A Post Script :

The Oldest Gate in Europe ?

The Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales recently (2008) sent their investigator Richard Suggett to investigate the ancient gates at Hay Castle with colleagues from the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory to find out whether it might be one of the oldest surviving gates in Europe.

Surviving gates from the Middle Ages are extremely rare. The gates at Hay Castle can easily be overlooked as they are in a long-closed gateway at the rear. The castle was rebuilt as a house in the seventeenth century and is now part of the longest-established bookshop in the town of books. The right-hand half of the gates is similar to the gates at Chepstow Castle, which were recently tree-ring dated to the later twelfth century. Tree-ring dating involves drilling fine cores across the grain of the timber and comparing the pattern of growth rings with dated historical sequences of good and bad years. The Hay gates were drilled, and the left hand gate was successfully dated to between 1610 and 1640. Unfortunately, the right-hand gate, which is almost certainly much older, could not be dated accurately. It may well be fourteenth-century or earlier. It might be possible to date it in future as techniques advance.

Whether or not it is possible to establish the castle gates as the oldest in Europe it can surely be said that Hay-on-Wye is the gateway to Wales !