All About Clyro

The daily life of Clyro has been evocatively preserved in the diaries of the Reverend Francis Kilvert, curate here in the 1860's and 70's, while he lodged at Ashbrook House

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set his story The Hound of the Baskervilles in the West Country, it is believed that his visit to Clyro gave him some of the source material.

Although the present church is mostly of nineteenth century construction, this was a rebuilding of an earlier mediaeval church. A look at a map even as late as the 1880's shows the pattern of a typical self-supporting, mediaeval village, with habitations grouped around the church: a stream flowing by it that services a mill. There were probably earlier mills along the stream as some names and some ruins suggest. There was a succession of smithies. Within Clyro Court Farm are the remains of a monastic grange, probably founded from the Cistercian abbey of Cwmhir. There is part of a stone barn and a fourteenth century arch.

There are various interpretations given to the word "Clyro". It is thought to mean, "shining" or "clear water". The old names were "Cleirwy" and "Clidderwy", meaning "The Wye flowing on a bed of clay".

The Baskerville Estate was sold off in the 1950's. The coming of the railway to Hay-on-Wye may have brought about some change in the appearance and way of life in Clyro, but on the whole the radical changes happened after the demise of the Baskerville Estate. The whole area had been a place of woods and extensive orchards as celebrated by Kilvert. In more recent times the A438 cut a swathe to one side of the village and opened up a greater mobility and all that comes with it. The break-up of estates often means the visual fragmentation of a settlement. Unless the resulting vacuum is filled by an authority conscious of design, exploitation results. The Castle Estate was built up against the castle mound; Begwyns Bluff Estate was developed on a hill above the village and Baskerville Court Estate was built on a slope behind the nineteenth century "Baskerville Arms".

Clyro is on the A438 in the Welsh marches close to the Powys/ Hereford border
23 miles west of Hereford
15 miles East of Brecon
(and the Jazz Festival)
1.5 miles south to Hay-on-Wye.
Builth Wells/Llanelwedd and the Royal Welsh showground are 21m. to the west.

Places to stay (

Bryngwyn Riding Stables 01497 851 669
Robert Palmer 01497 821046
Walks:

Nearby events
Hay Literary Festival May/June 1.5m
Royal Welsh Show July
Rowayl Welsh Showground events
Brecon Jazz Festival
Three Counties Show
Hereford County Show

There many walks around the village
and out into the community.
Some walks follow the footsteps of Kilvert,
others pass through, or near to historical sites
such as Clyro castle.
Castle Tump, the site of Clyro Castle is worth a visit.

Visitors