Prehistoric History

In prehistoric times the area around Churchstoke was a sea with submarine volcanic vents eventually forming islands in the sea. Llan Fawr, Roundton and Todleth hills are these volcanic islands. The volcanos were long since quiet and the sea receded, when the ice age forged the Camlad Valley. The glaciers subsequently melting and creating a large lake on the valley floor. The lake remained for several centuries and its banks were the site of early human settlements. Over time the natural dam containing the lake eroded until one day it gave way with the surging water violently carving out the gorge known as Marrington Dingle.

During the late Bronze Age and into the Iron Age, defended sites were built on Roundton, at Calcot and at the Roveries. The generally small scale of these sites suggests they were used as a refuge in times of trouble for people normally living on the valley floor.

The Romans arrived in this area in the first century and temporary camp sites exist at Brompton. During the dark ages it is thought that people settled in a clearing in the forest overlooking the River Camlad. Here an unknown missionary came and taught the Christian faith and a church was established, which in due course would give its name to the Saxon village Cirestoc - the church in the holy place - Churchstoke.

Extracts from the Montgomeryshire Collections, entitled "Churchstoke and its Townships", published in 1928.

It has seven townships in Montgomeryshire and two in Shropshire, and in the following account of their boundaries and contents the Doomsday names, so far as they are indicated by Rev. R. W. Eyton, are given in brackets.

Weston Madoc (Westune) is separated from the parish by the two Shropshire townships of Brompton and Rhiston and is therefore described in the Ordnance Survey as detached.... The Tithe Schedule shows a large proportion of ancient meadow land,.... pointing to thorough cultivation over a long period.

Rhiston (Ristue) During recent years Rhiston has been closely associated with Brompton, the two together constituting a separate parish for all civil purposes.

Brompton (Lach) From Brompton Mill to a point just beyond Ditched Farm the line of Offa's Dyke cuts the township in half, but round about the Blue Bell, building and road-making have left little trace of the ancient earthwork....The inclusion of Brompton and Rhiston in Shropshire when the Marches became shire ground in 1535 is due to the fact that they had formed part of the hundred of Chirbury from very early times.

The next four townships to be considered from the area which is bounded in the north-east by the Camlad and on the north-west by the Ceibutrach, the boundaries on the remaining sides being the parishes of Lydham, Mainstone and Kerry. Each of these four townships touches the Ceibutrach, and each of them extends to within a short distance of the south-western corner of the parish. In this part of the parish are three deep depressions known as Cwm Hopton, Pentrenent Dingle and Cwm-y-Lladron, each with its little stream, form well marked boundaries between the townships, and the narrow strip which each of the four sends out towards the roadway described two centuries ago as "the road from Bishops Castle towards Llanidlas" suggests that in early times this road, often reaching a width of forty to fifty feet, was the chief means of communication with the outside world. At an average altitude of 1400 feet the people were at any rate clear of the swamps and marshes in the valley a 1000 feet below. If, as seems probable, the name Cwm-y-Lladron, the Robbers' Dingle, speaks of a secure hiding place where lawless bands could lie in wait for wayfarers on this important road, travelling did not lack adventure.

In this part of the Parish occurs a curious phenomenon know as the "Roaring of the Cwms". It marks the breaking of a long-continued frost and heralds a change to milder weather. It is said to be caused by the intermingling of two layers of atmosphere of wildly differing temperatures. The late Rev. Pemberley White thus described it in his parish magazine "Not a bough waves or a leaf moves, while a roaring is heard like the rush of a gale of wind which continues for some hours. Elderly parishioners relate how formally in severe winters, when work was unavoidably at a standstill and consequently little or no wages were paid, labourers with large families were in absolute want of food and rejoiced greatly on hearing the dingles roar, knowing that the days of starvation were coming to an end," This "roaring" possibly accounts for the name Cwm Dychau, "the Dingle of Sighs", formally given to the ravine known as Pentrenant Dingle.

Hopton Ucha Contains only 725 acres and more than one-third of this is hill pasture.

Hopton Isaf. Nearly half of this township is rough and steep.

Bacheldre. This parish also has its high ground and between the well-wooded dingles are the Lake Wood and the Argoed Wood, the name of the latter testifying to an even larger planted area than at present.

Mellington (Muletune) The township is well watered by the Pentre Brook and the Cwm-y-Lladron stream, but the fields near the Camlad are liable to floods.

The two remaining townships are north of the Camlad and each of them, like the four just dealt with, begins with a broad end based on the stream and terminates in a sharp point on the high ground some miles away. Every one of the seven townships thus comprises a lowland portion - 550 feet or less - and a highland portion reaching to a thousand feet and upwards.

Hurdley In conveyance documents of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the township of Hurdley is repeatedly mentioned side by side with Simon's Castle, as if the latter were also a township, and farms are described as being situate "in the township of Hurdley or Simon's Castle, or one of them". Then in the Chief-rent Roll for the Manor of Halcetor for 1599 there are separate schedule for "Hurdley Vill" and for "Symons Castell", though these two are added together before being totalled with the other members of the Manor. The known facts seem to point to an early division, giving Simon's Castle the burbage lands once attached to the military post at Broadway, with an amalgamation of the two shortly after 1599.

Chuchstoke (Cirestoc) The last township to be noticed is that in which the church and village are situated, and which in many Welsh parishes would be called "Y Llan".

The Industries of the Parish

The various trades dependent on agriculture have always been well represented, the blacksmith in particular being within easy reach, though the forge that existed at Alport in 1724 has long been closed. The wheelwright, too, still plies his useful trade, but the saddler departed about twenty years ago. Previous to 1815 the present smithy in the village was occupied as a cooper's shop and this trade did not finally disappear until about 1880.

The Ceibutrach stream provides the power for corn mills at Bacheldre and Brompton, but milling operations have for some years been suspended at the latter. Hurdley Mill, perhaps the same as Broadway, is mentioned in 1622, when its business was stated to have been injured by the opening of Pentre Mill across the valley. Churchstoke Mill, which no doubt stood on the Mill Meadow below the Courthouse Inn, is mentioned in a charter of 1190. Malting operations are still carried on at Bacheldre, but have ceased at Green, Corndon and the Cann.

At the Cave lived until about 1860 Morris the Weaver, who made counterpanes and other useful articles from the woolen yarn spun by the farmers' wives and daughters. Above Lower Mellington are two fields named from the Paper Mill which once stood there, and which was driven by water power from the Ceibutrach. The paper produced was apparently of a course quality.

Mines and Quarries. On the west side or Corndon are some quarries which were long famous for the excellence of their flagstones. The quarries which cover more than three acres were worked out about 1870. There are also numerous places where stone of good quality is raised. Payments for breaking stones in Simons Castle Quarry frequently appear in the parish accounts.

The mining of barytes (barium sulphate) locally known as "spar" has for a long period provided employment for a number of people at the foot of Corndon.The survey of 1609 reported that an earlier enquiry had shown the mine of "white stone" to be worth ten shillings a year, but that it was then "at a stay"....it is remarkable that from time to time so many fresh attempts have been made to revive the industry....barytes is ground to a fine powder and used in the manufacture of white paint.

Pottery. An industry which arose , flourished and disappeared in a little over thirty years, was the making of bricks, drain-pipes and flower pots on the Brompton side of the village. After 1895 the industry waned and has now quite died out."