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BUILTH, or BUILTH WELLS

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 770 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BUILTH, or BUILTH See also:WELLS , a See also:market See also:town of Brecknockshire, See also:Wales. Pop. of See also:urban See also:district (1901), 18o5. It has a station on the See also:Cambrian See also:line between See also:Moat See also:Lane and See also:Brecon, and two others (high and See also:low levels) at Builth Road about 14 m. distant where the See also:London & See also:North-Western and the Cambrian See also:cross one another. It is pleasantly situated in the upper valley of the Wye, in a See also:bend of the See also:river on its right See also:bank below the confluence of its tributary the Irfon. During the summer it is a See also:place of considerable resort for the See also:sake of its waters—saline, chalybeate and sulphur—and it possesses the usual accessories of See also:pump-rooms, See also:baths and a recreation ground. The scenery of the Wye valley, including a See also:succession of rapids just above the town, also attracts many tourists. The town is an important agricultural centre, its fairs for See also:sheep and ponies in particular being well attended. The town, called in Welsh Llanf See also:air (yn) Muallt, i.e. St See also:Mary's in Builth, took its name from the See also:ancient territorial See also:division of Buallt in which it is situated, which was, according to See also:Nennius, an See also:independent principality in the beginning of the 9th See also:century, and later a cantrev, corresponding to the See also:modern See also:hundred of Builth. Towards the end of the 11th century, when the See also:tide of See also:Norman invasion swept upwards along the Wye valley, the district became a lordship marcher annexed to that of Brecknock, but was again severed from it on the See also:death of See also:William de Breos, when his daughter See also:Matilda brought it to her See also:husband, See also:Roger See also:Mortimer of Wigmore. Its See also:castle, built probably in See also:Newmarch's See also:time, or shortly after, was the most advanced outpost of the invaders in a See also:wild See also:part of Wales where the tendency to revolt was always strong. It was destroyed in 126o by Llewellyn ab Gruffydd, See also:prince of Wales, with the supposed connivance of Mortimer, but its site was reoccupied by the See also:earl of See also:Lincoln in 1277, and a new castle at once erected.

It was with the expectation that he might, with See also:

local aid, seize the castle, that Llewellyn invaded this district in See also:December 1282, when he was surprised and killed by See also:Stephen de Frankton in a See also:ravine called Cwm Llewellyn on the See also:left bank of the Irfon, 22 m. from the town. According to local tradition he was buried at Cefn-y-bedd (" the See also:ridge of the See also:grave ") See also:close by, but it is more likely that his headless See also:trunk was taken to See also:Abbey Cwmhir. No other important event was associated with the castle, of which not a See also:stone is now See also:standing. The lordship remained in the See also:marches till the See also:Act of See also:Union 1536, when it was grouped with a number of others so as to See also:form the See also:shire of Brecknock. The town was governed by a local See also:board from 1866 until the See also:establishment of an urban district See also:council in 1894; the urban district was then made conterminous with the See also:civil See also:parish, and in 1898 it was re-named Builth Wells.

End of Article: BUILTH, or BUILTH WELLS

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