Cylchgronau Cymru

Flax retting on the Brecknock- Monmouth border James D. P. Graham The Vale of Ewyas forms the 'panhandle' of north Gwent and separates Brecknockshire from Herefordshire. Halfway between the hamlets of Cwmyoy and Llanthony, hidden in a fold of the Ffwddog Ridge, some 700m. from the county boundary and at a height of 230m. lies Troed yrhiw gou (S022 at 285243). The ruinous, overgrown and largely forgotten complex is unlike any other set of buildings within many miles. If, as alleged, it was a site of retting flax it is unique in the district as a relic of 18th century agricultural enterprise, and looks as if it had been built or modified from an existing building for the purpose. Growing and preparing flax for the manufacture of linen was an activity subsidised by Government during the late 18th century and as a consequence was widely practiced throughout Britain, but has now virtually disappeared. At that time there was, for a period, a linen manufacturing company in Brecon and a crop was raised near Hay. Flax has a very short growing season and has to be hand pulled in July; the seed is winnowed and the stems tied in bundles and stacked upright in wooden tanks through which runs a trickle of water. When the stalks have rotted the bundles are taken out and the fibre seperated from the woody part by 'scutching' or beating, then laid out to dry before transport to the mill. At least three flax dressers carried on their business in Abergavenny between 1698 and 18301 It is somewhat of a mystery how sufficient flax could be grown at Llanthony to justify the creation of this special structure but there is a wide bowl of good land which now forms a part of the farm on which Troed yrhiw gou stands, and growing flax may not have been the sole enterprise there. In essence the building consists of two substantial parallel drystone walls running more or less north and south. The eastern one acts as a buttress on the outward slope; in places it has fallen away but in its time was almost 1m. in thickness and very strong. The western boundary wall is in a better state of preservation; immediately outside runs the mountain stream which may have determined the site of the operation. The enclosure between the two walls is on two levels, a flat raised area contained by a buttress wall some 30m. in length, terminated by a cross wall and interrupted by a square bay of 1.5m. dimension. Possibly this was the loading place for bundles of dried flax which had been spread on the green. The remainder of the area, at a lower level, now contains much rubble but presumably was flat.