Llanfair Waterdine

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 52.3811
longitude= -3.1179
official_name= Llanfair Waterdine
population = c. 200 (parish) [http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/factsfigures.nsf/viewAttachments/ZHIN-6YSD4H/$file/2001-census-parish-population-and-households.pdf]
shire_district= South Shropshire
shire_county = Shropshire
region= West Midlands
constituency_westminster= Ludlow
post_town= Ludlow|postcode_district = LD7
postcode_area= LD |dial_code= 01547
os_grid_reference= SO240764

Llanfair Waterdine, sometimes written as Llanvair Waterdine, is a small village and parish in South Shropshire, England, on the north side of the Teme valley and just a few hundred metres from the modern Welsh border.

Place name

"Llanfair" is a typical Welsh place name - in English it translates as "church of St. Mary". "Waterdine", which means "place by the water", was added to the place name to distinguish the village from other places called "Llanfair" (which is a fairly common place name in Wales).

Location

Llanfair Waterdine is just off the B4355, 2 miles northwest of Knighton and near the village of Knucklas, which has a railway station. The village lies 4.5 miles southwest of the small Shropshire town of Clun. Also nearby are the small villages of Lloyney (just on the other side of the Teme, in Wales) and Skyborry Green & Nether Skyborry (further downstream of the Teme, in the parish of Llanfair Waterdine). The village and parish is situated on the southern edge of the Clun Forest, a remote and very rural part of Shropshire, which is only partly forested.

Historically, it was in Wales as it lies to the west of Offa's Dyke. The River Teme has naturally altered its course since the Act of Union in 1536 and as such the border between Wales and England in the Teme valley no longer follows the centre of the river as it once did, but strays on what was the course of the river at the time of the border being fixed by the Acts.

Amenities

*A village hall - the Everest Hall (a tribute to John Hunt)
*A 17th century public house, which is now primarily a restaurant and hotel, the "Waterdine" (formerly called the "Red Lion", until 2000). The pub was originally built to serve the nearby Drover routes [cite web | author= | title= Daily Telegraph review |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2002/04/20/etpaddy20.xml | accessdaymonth=20 Nov | accessyear=2007 ] .

Walking

The village lies near 3 British long distance footpaths.

*The Jack Mytton Way
*Offa's Dyke Path
*Glyndwr's Way

Famous and former residents

* Leader of the first successful expedition to climb Mount Everest, John Hunt, Baron Hunt of Llanvair Waterdine [LondonGazette|issue=44045|startpage=7567|date=5 July 1966|accessdate=2008-01-11] KG, CBE, DSO (June 22, 1910 - November 8, 1998) moved to the area after World War II. The village hall in Llanfair Waterdine is dedicated to his achievement and is called the "Everest Hall".
* Hywel Ap Mathew (d. 1581), poet and historian, was a native of the village. A graduate of the first Caerwys Eisteddfod (1523), he was said by Lewys Dwnn to have been a bardic teacher. He addressed eulogies and elegies in the traditional manner to some of the leading figures of his time, including William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Richard Davies, the Protestant bishop of St. David's. An accomplished scribe, he made copies of The Book of Arms and was a herald bard. His chronicle of British history, written in Welsh, which survives in two copies, follows the style of contemporary historians in England, beginning with the sons of Noah and continuing down to 1556. In it Hywel states that he had been present at the siege of Boulogne in 1544 and some of his comments suggest that he was a devout Catholic. Both Lewys Dwnn and Dafydd Benwyn wrote elegies for him. ["The Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales", ed. by Meic Stephens. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986, 277 ISBN-13: 978-0192115867 [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0192115863 Amazon link] ]

ee also

*List of civil parishes in Shropshire

References

External links

* [http://www.llink.org.uk News and Information for Llanfair Waterdine and Lloyney]
* [http://www.llanfairwaterdine.co.uk Parish website]
* [http://www.waterdine.com Waterdine hotel & restaurant website]