The Welsh Marches

The Marches, or ‘Borderlands’ is the term used to describe the imprecisely defined area between Wales and England. The area contains Britain’s densest concentration of Motte-and-Bailey Castles and was home to the Marcher Lords who controlled the area until the English Crown took over control somewhere in the mid sixteenth century.

Ian Jones

3/13/20193 min read

Today there is no legal or official definition of what we now refer to as ‘The Marches’ but it is useful to travellers and tourists as a destination as there is much to see and discover of interest. This is somewhat simplistic historically and a far better description of the history and what it has to offer can be found in the excellent book ‘A Guide to Slow Travel in The Marches’ by Les Lumsdon.

Builth Wells sits within The Marches, or more accurately, The Welsh Marches, and is an ideal location from which to get out and about and walk, ride, photograph, paint or just explore the region which runs roughly from Oswestry in the north and Abergavenny in the south, including the counties of Powys, Monmouthshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. Geographically The Long Mynd, Hay Bluff, The Radnor Forest and The Brecon Beacons are all within The Marches as well as Wenlock Edge, Clee Hill and the Clun and Golden Valleys. The Severn, The Wye and the Usk are the main rivers of the Borders and there exists evidence of early border structures, Wat’s Dyke and Offa’s Dyke.

I have included some photographs from our visits in the region but as is apparent we have a great deal more still to explore.