URPoint Details
Builth became fashionable in the 18th century as a spa town and famous for its medicinal springs.
Its earliest buildings date from this period, as the town was totally destroyed by a fire in 1691.
The River Wye is spanned by a spectacular 6-arched bridge, and the River Irfon meet at Builth, and a little further up the Irfon valley is a delightful brook called the Nant-yr-arian, meaning the 'brook of silver'.
The mound of a 13th-century castle is all that is left, and from this period dates a shameful episode in the town\'s history, which earned the inhabitants the nick-name 'the traitors of Builth.' In 1282 a prince of Wales, Llewellyn the Last, hunted by the English, asked for shelter from the townspeople. They refused and he was later killed near Cilmeri.
In times of plague farmers brought produce to the brook and the townspeople threw coins into the water as payment.
(pronounced Beelth)
- Type:
- Landmark