A journey along the Welsh Border in 1963

Wynford Vaughan Thomas and friend travel the length of the border between England and Wales in 1963.

But the tone of the commentary could come from a topographical book of 30 years before. Anything that smacks of modernity or progress is suspect and the old ways are to be supported, however silly. There's an obsession with market day, while farmers can do no wrong.

Also in line with such books, there is disapproval for visitors' buses, but the writer's own car gets a free pass.

Still it's lovely country and Montgomery is still a little-known treasure. And Knucklas Viaduct still carries trains despite what the film says about Dr Beeching.

What really interested me in the films are the remains of Victorian agricultural improvement on Long Mountain, because I once discovered them for myself.

I had stayed for the night at Colebatch, the first village south of Bishop's Castle. I set off the next morning to walk to Montgomery. At first I went cross country via Bishop's Moat and Mellington Hall to meet the Offa's Dyke Path.

In those days I sometimes carried a radio when I went walking, and I can remember sitting in the sun listening to The World at One. It was at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and there was an item discussing how an independent Ukraine would fare.

I remember laughing because such a notion would have been unthinkable a few days before, and perhaps because I had called at a pub for a lunchtime drink. Looking at the map, I think it must have been the now-closed Blue Bell near Pentreheyling.

Anyway, I passed the turn for Montgomery and kept going because it was only mid afternoon and I felt fine. That's why I found myself on Long Mountain, and wondering what these strange Victorian remains were, before I managed to snag a bed for the night in Welshpool.

Now you could find out online, but this was 1991. Yet, by another of those strange coincidences, there was an item about them in, I think, The Times a couple of days after I got home.

But Wynford Vaughan Thomas is getting impatient, so you'd better watch the video. But after you've done so, you might enjoy my review of All the Wide Border by Mike Parker.

Lembit Opik has gone over to the dark side

Nation Cymru reports that Lembit Opik, former Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire and leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, has spoken at a meeting billed "How to Stop the Lib Dems with Lembit Opik."

The website says he was introduced by Chris Grayling: it's sad to see a man fall so low.

Over to Alison Alexander, the Lib Dem Senedd candidate in Montgomeryshire:

"Many people here have fond memories of the good Liberal and Liberal Democrat MPs and MSs did for the constituency and I think they’ll find his comments very sad. ...

"As for the Tories, they should be worried about stopping us. We are rebuilding rapidly ... and it’s only natural they see their Senedd and council seats under threat."

Lembit describes himself as gravitating "towards common sense and liberty". I'll give him liberty. Common sense, not so much.

Brecon and Radnorshire and Nigel Tufnell

With a by-election taking place Brecon and Radnorshire, I have naturally been thinking of the 1985 by-election in Brecon and Radnor, as it was then called.

That contest was caused by the death of the sitting Conservative Tom Hooson, who was a cousin of Emlyn Hooson, the former Liberal MP for neighbouring Montgomery.

Tom Hooson had gained the seat at the 1979 general election, but for 40 years before that it had been held by Labour.

So, in contrast to the contest taking place there at the moment, the 1985 by-was a fight between Labour and the Liberals.

I was between engagement sat the time and so was able to spent several days in Brecon and Radnor. On polling day I was in Cwmtwrch near Ystradgynlais.

Situated at the very north of the Valleys, it was a strongly Labour area. One of my memories of the day is having a gang of small boys practically fighting each other for the honour of delivering my Liberal leaflets in a close where every house had a Labour poster.

Elsewhere in the constituency the demographics were different and the landscape was stunning.
I have heard that Lloyd George got a mention in some of our leaflets, which reminds me of a story I have told here before:

A young Liberal activist was telling at a polling station out in the wilds somewhere, when an elderly farmer turned up. 

"What are you doing?" he asked. "I always take the numbers for the Liberals."
It turned out that for years the farmer had come along on polling day, collected numbers for a couple of hours and then taken them home with him. 

It represented a folk memory of Lloyd George's day. Any Liberal organisation in the area had long since disappeared. All the was left was the ancestral knowledge that taking numbers somehow helped the party.

Labour had held Brecon and Radnor for the 40 years up to 1979 because they had won a by-election there in 1939. It took place on 1 August, just as this year’s contest will.

At the 1935 general election Labour lost to a National Government supporting Conservative. It’s candidate was Leslie Haden-Guest, the father of the diplomat, dance and choreographer Peter Haden-Guest.

And Peter was the father of the actor Christopher Guest, best known for playing Nigel Tufnell in Spinal Tap.

As Leslie Haden-Guest had been made a hereditary peer in 1950 and the title had passed down to Christopher, Nigel Tufnell was a member of the House of Lords for three years before Tony Blair’s reforms removed most of the hereditaries in 1999.

Parish Church of St Nicholas, Montgomery

This view of the town's Grade I listed church was taken from Montgomery Castle.

Alan Turing and Emlyn Hooson

Embed from Getty Images

On Friday BBC News reported that court files recording details of Alan Turing's convictions for homosexual acts have been put on display at Chester Town Hall.

As Helen Pickin-Jones, chair of Chester Pride, says in the BBC report:

"Just a few simple lines of text reveal the appalling treatment of one of our national heroes."

One of the documents displayed in Chester shows the mathematician admitted "acts of gross indecency" at a trial there in 1952.

Turing was working at the University of Manchester when he was arrested for having a relationship with 19-year-old Arnold Murray at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the UK.

The version of it on the BBC site has been cropped, but if you look at the full version on the Alan Turing: The Enigma website an interesting fact emerges.

Arnold Murray's defence counsel was E. Hooson. That was Emlyn Hooson, who went on to be Liberal MP for Montgomery between 1962 and 1979.

He appears to have defended his man by trying to place the blame on Turing. Dark days.

Shrewsbury to Minsterley disused railway 1

Another exploration of a disused railway in Shropshire. The blurb on Youtube says this one closed in the 1950s as a result of a coal strike and had originally been intended to reach as far as Montgomery.

Part 1 takes us as far as Pontesbury. I am looking forward to part 2, as I have explored the line between there and Minsterley myself.

Montgomery Castle

The castle ruins stand above this neat little town and command views east towards Bromlow Callow, the Stiperstones and Corndon Hill.

David Davies' institutes in Llanfair Caereinion and Montgomery

David Davies - the 1st Baron Davies - was Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire between 1906 and 1929. As an article in the Journal of Liberal History (Issue 29, Winter 2000–01) by J. Graham Jones showed, he was a trusted lieutenant of Lloyd George and an influential adviser on foreign affairs.

As well as being a politician, Davies was a public benefactor. And among his good works were institutes, built to spread learning and keep men out of the pub, in several of the small towns in his constituency. I came across a couple of them during my recent holiday.

The one above is in Llanfair Caereinion and was opened in 1913 - it is an interesting building to find in such a remote location and the tower is reminiscent of Lutyens.

The one below was opened in Montgomery after the end of the First World War. It is striking how much more backward-looking its architecture is - as well as how much better the weather was on the day I visited it.

The style of this later building may have been an attempt to fit in with the more picturesque setting Montgomery provides, but it may also tell us something important about the effect of that war on British life.

The Old Gaol, Montgomery

This grandiose gateway was added to the Montgomeryshire County Gaol after the Prison Act of 1865, but the establishment closed in 1878.

The governor's residence still stands - that is the red brick building you can see behind the arch - as does part of one cell block wall.