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Abandoned railways around Hay on Wye, Wales

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editor

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hay-railway-06.jpg


I've just posted up a new article on the abandoned railways around Hay-on-Wye, including walks to nearby Glasbury and Whitney-on-Wye.

Me and Eme spent a lovely couple of days walking around the area, with some of the journeys taking us down these beautifully melancholic old lines.

Because of bastard Beeching, the nearest station to Hay is now some twenty miles away, resulting in tons more car traffic, noise and pollution...

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/hay-railway.html
 
I grew up round there - I know the lines through Clifford, Whitney et al well. Pretty, isn't it? The abandoned lines and stations, the remains of the railway bridge over the Wye are all so sad - I think of how much we had to drive around the area, and how much easier the trains would have made it. A family friend told me that she could get a train from Clifford (a VERY sleepy little hamlet, even by hamlet standards) to London without changing. Try doing that now...
 
The lines in the picture above baffled me. They look like railway lines but they're clearly too far apart and seem to go nowhere.

The area was too rural for them to be from a crane or any kind of loading mechanism, so I wonder what they were for?
 
brixtonvilla said:
A family friend told me that she could get a train from Clifford (a VERY sleepy little hamlet, even by hamlet standards) to London without changing. Try doing that now...
Click to expand...
We walked past Clifford and it certainly was sleepy!

There's a nice old crumbling castle on the hill, with two abandoned lines running nearby, although I don't think there was ever a station there.

Map: http://tinyurl.com/fpxan
 
i stayed there a few years ago, at an old methodist chapel (still in use on sundays) called maesyronen, high up on the hills above hay on wye, beautiful views, had to drive there though...
 
editor said:
The lines in the picture above baffled me. They look like railway lines but they're clearly too far apart and seem to go nowhere.

The area was too rural for them to be from a crane or any kind of loading mechanism, so I wonder what they were for?
Click to expand...


Whitney-on-Wye is my ancestoral home:) Beautiful area. You'd love a visit to the mountains of Spain I was living in last year. Miles and miles of very interesting old railways and engineering works.

My guess about the above would be some sort of carriage from the open cast mines in the area? Or, to carry stone from the river for road or, even railway building??? Dunno.
 
Stanley Edwards said:
My guess about the above would be some sort of carriage from the open cast mines in the area? Or, to carry stone from the river for road or, even railway building??? Dunno.
Click to expand...
Thing is, the river was a fair way away (and the line crosses it further up anyway), there was only a dirt track running by and the rails were something like 8ft apart.

There was no evidence of any buildings nearby. Odd, innit?
 
editor said:
I've just posted up a new article on the abandoned railways around Hay-on-Wye, including walks to nearby Glasbury and Whitney-on-Wye.
Click to expand...

You missed out 3 letters ;) ... there's an abandoned track there too .... :p

Great pix!!! Still wish I'd been able to come!!
 
editor said:
Big photo feature on the area coming up very soon!
Click to expand...

Looking forward to that. :)

For a couple of years in the early 90s I lived in Clyro and worked at Llowes, both the other side of the river from the railway line. Without a car and relying on the patchy bus service and a bicycle, I could have done with the railway line still being open to get me to Hereford and back reliably.
 
editor said:
We walked past Clifford and it certainly was sleepy!

There's a nice old crumbling castle on the hill, with two abandoned lines running nearby, although I don't think there was ever a station there.

Map: http://tinyurl.com/fpxan
Click to expand...

Hope you didn't tramp too loudly, you'll wake me Dad up...

Think there were 2 railway lines running through Clifford, one on the valley bottom (which connected to Whitney via the bridge) and one further up on the hillside, which had the station. Think you can see both on the map. Local legend has it there's a tunnel runnig from under the castle under the river to the other side of the valley. I have my doubts, mind.
 
brixtonvilla said:
Local legend has it there's a tunnel runnig from under the castle under the river to the other side of the valley. I have my doubts, mind.
Click to expand...

Hardly seems worth it. You can ford the river easily enough with a horse. :D

Edit: maybe not that side of Hay.
 
brixtonvilla said:
Think there were 2 railway lines running through Clifford, one on the valley bottom (which connected to Whitney via the bridge) and one further up on the hillside, which had the station.
Click to expand...
<goes off and flicks through some dusty books>

Ah, right. Clifford had one station, on the old Golden Valley line from Hay to Pontrilas - but that had closed by 1941.
 
editor said:
hay-railway-06.jpg


I've just posted up a new article on the abandoned railways around Hay-on-Wye, including walks to nearby Glasbury and Whitney-on-Wye.

Me and Eme spent a lovely couple of days walking around the area, with some of the journeys taking us down these beautifully melancholic old lines.

Because of bastard Beeching, the nearest station to Hay is now some twenty miles away, resulting in tons more car traffic, noise and pollution...

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/hay-railway.html
Click to expand...
Ooh! I was up there at the Hay Festival, and the place we stayed at had a huge embankment/viaduct behind us, so this will be interesting...

I wonder if the government will have the foresight, as they move inexorably towards nuclear power, to recognise that one of the best things they could do, environmentally speaking, might be to move a lot of traffic (especially freight) out of fossil fuel powered vehicles, and onto a nuclear electricity powered railway?

No, I don't suppose they will, either. :mad:
 
Oh, and in the navigation menu on the right in all the other pages, Llowes is spelled incorrectly as "Llowse"
 
And if I'm being pedantic, it should be "Hay-on-Wye" - with hyphens :p

(though I believe the "-on-Wye" bit was added as recently as 1974. Everyone local refers to it as plain 'Hay')

Also, no mention of Hay Bluff and Lord Hereford's Knob? :D
 
Some more typos that caught my eye...

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/hay-glasbury.html

Cusop, not Cussop Dingle.

---

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/glasbury-hay.html

Caption of the picture of the church: Lowes -> Llowes

---

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/hay-on-wye.html

Dulais Brook, not Dulas Brook

Addyman Books, not Addyman's Books

IIRC, it's 'Back Fold' not 'Backfold'.

---

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/llowes-church.html

"St Meilig reputedly strutted in from Clydeside around c.650 AD and founded a clas here, with the the Taxatio of 1291"

clas?

(point of style: I don't think you need both 'about' and 'c.' 650 A.D.)


"such as shepherds tenants, labourers or farm servants"

comma (or an unlikely apostrophe ;)) required after shepherds

---

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/hay-on-wye-blog.html

"Rhydspace" - I think you meant "Rhydspence"

---

Navigation links: you seem to have lost the space between "Llowes" and "Church"
 
One last thing (hopefully)

Unless things have changed since I last drank in there: if you return to Hay, it may be worth noting that the Blue Boar on Castle Street has Brains beer on tap. :)
 
Cheers for the updates it's much appreciated. :)

Cusop, not Cussop Dingle: fixed
Lowes -> Llowes : fixed

Dulais Brook, not Dulas Brook: the OS map deffo says Dulas
http://tinyurl.com/mnqx2

Addyman Books, not Addyman's Books
The sign above the shop says 'Addymans' - I just zoomed in and checked!

IIRC, it's 'Back Fold' not 'Backfold'.
Are you sure? There's load to references to 'Backfold' and there's even a "Backfold Books and Bygones"

clas? That's really the word!

"Rhydspace" - I think you meant "Rhydspence": fixed

Cheers!
 
cybertect said:
Unless things have changed since I last drank in there: if you return to Hay, it may be worth noting that the Blue Boar on Castle Street has Brains beer on tap.
Click to expand...
They had Brains at the Wine Vaults too!
 
You missed out Kilvert's - probably the best pub in Hay IMHO. No matter, it's too crowded in there anyway.

A thought about the mysterious loading bay/bridge thing in your original post; loading & unloading livestock, maybe?
 
editor said:
Dulais Brook, not Dulas Brook: the OS map deffo says Dulas
http://tinyurl.com/mnqx2
Click to expand...

Ah well. Damn alternative spellings... Dulais fits better with the pronunciation I know. :)

Addyman Books, not Addyman's Books
The sign above the shop says 'Addymans' - I just zoomed in and checked!
Click to expand...

Ha! :D and I'd checked their web site :confused: Addyman is one of my favourite book shops in Hay - they usually have some interesting architectural content in.

IIRC, it's 'Back Fold' not 'Backfold'.
Are you sure? There's load to references to 'Backfold' and there's even a "Backfold Books and Bygones"
Click to expand...

No I'm not - working on my memory of the street sign. Probably both are in common use, as ever.

clas? That's really the word!
Click to expand...

Wow. I found Taxatio, but not that. learn something new, etc...
 
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