Related Directory Categories
- Presteigne (16)
- Business and Economy (4)
- Arts and Entertainment (2)
Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Presteigne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Presteigne (Welsh: Llanandras; the church of St Andrew) is the county town of the traditional county of Radnorshire, lying in Powys, mid Wales. The town sits on the River Lugg which forms the northern border with Herefordshire.
Notable buildings in the town include the parish church, parts of which are Anglo-Saxon, the Jacobean Radnorshire Arms hotel and the Judge's Lodging, decorated in mid-Victorian style.
Presteigne attracted national attention in 2004 for an unpopular and ultimately unsuccessful campaign by its Mayoress, Peggy Fraser-Scott to enforce a curfew on the town's youth.
Henry Edward's Old English Customs: Curious Requests and Charities mentions the bell-ringer appointed by John Beddoes in 1565 to ring a 'day bell' at 8am, and a curfew at 8pm. Beddoes specified that in the event of the custom being abandoned for more than a year, (except in plagues) the funds set aside for this position would revert to his heirs.
Beddoes also gave his name to Presteigne's secondary school, which he established in 1565, donating 5 flocks of sheep whose wool was to be used to fund the school. John Beddoes School, which is attended by about 580 pupils [1], keeps many traditions and customs in honour of its founder, including the controversial 'Bell Day' on December 3rd, when after a solemn, torchlit march to the town's church at dawn, pupils run through the streets ringing school bells until sunset. The high expense of replacing the many bells lost each year led to a suspension of the event in 1989, but it was reintroduced in 2004 with a National Lottery grant.
During the 1930s, the Ministry of Labour opened a work camp for long-term unemployed young men. Many of the inmates came from the crisis-hit mining and heavy industry communities of South Wales. Presteigne was one of a number of Instructional Centres created by the Ministry, and it also had a satellite camp in Shobdon, over the border in Herefordshire. By 1938, the Ministry had 38 Instructional Centres across Britain. The camp may have been at Greenfield Farm, which was used to hold enemy prisoners during the Second World War, but this is not entirely clear.
Public Transport links are provided by :- Sargeants Brothers, who provide four buses daily (Monday to Saturday) to Kington in Herefordshire with connections from there to Hereford, and four buses daily to Knighton,in Powys, Wales, and a school service to Lady Hawkins School in Kington.
Lugg Valley Travel provide bus links to Leominster in Herefordshire.
Visit the Presteigne and Norton Website
Among the many notable residents of Presteigne were the explorers Captain Peter Puget and his friend Captain Joseph Baker.
The town has become a local cultural centre. It hosts 2 indigenous festivals: the oddly named Sheep Music Festival dedicated to contemporary music [2] and the Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts [3] which casts a broader cultural net.
The town is fortunate to have an award winning museum - the Judges Lodgings [4].
The Church of St Andrew permanently houses a 16th century Flemish Tapestry.
- Field, J. Learning Through Labour: Training, unemployment and the state, 1890-1939, University of Leeds, 1992, ISBN 0-900-960-48-5 (work camps)