Don’t step inside a fairy ring.
Because why ? You might disappear ? Get taken by the fairies ? End up in a parallel dimension ?
There is something magical about a ring of toadstools. They are tantalising, irresistible – to step or not to step. It isn’t only toadstool rings that have this fascination for me.
The meridian line at Greenwich, one foot in the western hemisphere, one in the east.
Land borders between states or countries – such a foreign concept growing up in an island nation – always give me a little thrill when crossing those invisible lines.
What was it like for my ancestors living in times where borders moved frequently ? Was it an instant thing ? Was there a schedule ? What was it like to go to bed one night in Somerset and wake up in Devon ?
Nowadays, borders don’t change so much – at least not in Great
Britain where there are no feudal disagreements. The lines are drawn, set in
place on maps for all to see. Squiggly lines, not always straight ones,
following natural boundaries, streams, valley floors, back and forth, this way
and that.
My great-great-great-grandmother was born in the Marches, that area of moving boundaries between Wales and England, near Llanymynech; a town divided. Part in Wales and part in England. The border runs down the centre of the main street, you can park the car in one country and cross the road to another; the pub actually straddles the border.
The village is nestled on the Montgomery Canal (Camlas Trefaldwyn). “The Monty” is a partially restored canal running 53 kilometres from the Llangollen Canal at Frankton Junction to Newtown, passing through Welshpool. Currently only 11 kilometres is navigable and connected to the national Canal & River Trust network, from Frankton Junction to Gronwyn Wharf. Separately a short stretch at Llanymynech and a central section around Welshpool are navigable, but isolated and not connected to the national canal network. At Llanymynech you can take a walk along the towpath starting in one country and ending in another. The walk is just 4 kilometres long and takes a circular route, returning across fields. You will see the Locks at Carreghofa and walk a little further to the Vyrnwy Aqueduct and marvel at the engineering feats of days gone by. You can follow Offa’s Dyke part of which runs alongside the canal. It is a defensive earthwork built in the 8th century by Offa, King of Mercia. 1300 years ago ! Definitely a structure which Ann Thomas, her siblings and parents would have been familiar with. The area surrounding Llanymynech is rich in limestone and the village developed as a mining settlement in early times. One chimney survives from a Hoffman lime kiln and can be seen when walking. Lime was transported on canal boats from the wharf in the village to be used as fertiliser in surrounding farms.
Originally the canal was known as the Montgomeryshire Canal, at Carreghofa Locks it connected to the Llanymynech Branch of the Ellesmere Canal. These elements of the present day Montgomery Canal where unified when each section became part of the Shropshire Union system between 1846-1850.
The canal was first proposed in 1792 and the first parts were completed by early 1796.
So there you have it, a brief history of Llanymynech. Step over the line – I dare you !
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