Crickhowell
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 Crickhowell Market Hall and the Lucas Memorial Fountain | |
  Crickhowell Location withinPowys | |
| Population | 2,063 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SO217186 |
| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CRICKHOWELL |
| Postcode district | NP8 |
| Dialling code | 01873 |
| Police | Dyfed-Powys |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
51°51′35″N3°08′14″W / 51.8597°N 3.1372°W /51.8597; -3.1372 Community map
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Crickhowell (/krɪkˈhaʊəl/;Welsh:Crucywelpronounced[krɨkːəu̯ɛl], non-standard spellingCrughywel) is a town andcommunity in southeasternPowys,Wales, nearAbergavenny, and washistorically in the county ofBrecknockshire.
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The town lies on theRiver Usk, on the southern edge of theBlack Mountains and in the eastern part of theBrecon Beacons National Park. Significant parts of the surrounding countryside, over 20,000 acres (81 km2), form part of theGlanusk Park estate.[2]
The nameCrickhowell is an anglicised spelling that corresponds to theWelshCrucywel. The name is derived fromCrug Hywel, meaning 'Hywel's mound'. This is usually identified with theIron Agehill fort on nearby Table Mountain, although this has the local name ofMynydd y Begwn. It may be thatCrug Hywel refers to the castle mound in the town itself.[3] The language of Crickhowell (and Llangynidr) was originally Welsh. In his 1893 bookWales and her language, John E. Southall, reports that over 60% of the population of Crickhowell spoke Welsh, although the town was only a few miles from more anglicised Abergavenny.[4]
There is aprimary school and asecondary school; both act as a central point for a large catchment area. There is somelight industry on the outskirts of Crickhowell at the Elvicta Industrial Estate. The town centre[5] includes a variety of traditional businesses, many of which are family owned. Other facilities in Crickhowell include a library, two play areas, public toilets and the CRiC building, which houses a tourist information centre, an internet cafe, an art gallery and a local history archive. There arepubs,cafes,restaurants and two hotels: "The Bear" and "The Dragon".[6]
The churches in Crickhowell includeSt Edmund's Church which holds a service every Sunday, Crickhowell Evangelical Church,[7] aBaptistchurch and aCatholic church.[8]
In 2015, Crickhowell appeared in a TV documentary, claiming it as the first British settlement to purposely use similar tax avoidance tactics used by multinational businesses to avoid paying taxes themselves, in protest at the way large corporations use legal loopholes to avoid paying UK corporation tax.[9]
A market and fair have been recorded since 1281.[10]
There are two tiers of local government covering Crickhowell, atcommunity (town) andcounty level: Crickhowell Town Council andPowys County Council. Planning matters fall to theBrecon Beacons National Park Authority. The town council meets at the Crickhowell Resource and Information Centre on Beaufort Street and has its offices in the adjoining Clarence House (part of the Clarence Hall complex).[11]
Crickhowell was anancient parish in the Crickhowell (or Crucywel)hundred of Brecknockshire.[12] Themanor which covered the town was called the 'borough of Crickhowell', but it was never given acharter and it appears that no borough council ever operated.[13] Any residual claim Crickhowell may have had to be called a borough was extinguished under theMunicipal Corporations Act 1883.[14]
When elected parish and district councils were introduced in 1894, Crickhowell was given a parish council and included in theCrickhowell Rural District. The rural district was abolished in 1974, after which Crickhowell was included in theBorough of Brecknock in the new county of Powys; the borough in turn was abolished in 1996 and its functions passed to Powys County Council. The parish of Crickhowell was redesignated as a community in 1974; its community council took the name Crickhowell Town Council.[15][16]
Today, Crickhowell is a populartourist destination. In 2005 a tourist information centre was built in the centre of town and during summer the town is notably busier. Many people visit Crickhowell to see the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons, and perhaps to enjoy somemountain-biking,camping,hillwalking,rock climbing,fly-fishing,hang-gliding orcaravanning, or simply to tour the area by car, staying inbed-and-breakfast accommodation. TheGreen Man Festival takes place annually in mid-August at nearbyGlanusk Park.[17]
Notable features in Crickhowell include theseventeenth-century stone bridge over theRiver Usk with its odd arches (twelve on one side, thirteen on the other) and its seat built into the walls, the 14th-centuryparish church ofSt Edmund, and the ruins ofCrickhowell Castle on the green "tump" set back from theA40Brecon toAbergavenny road.[18]
Crickhowell Market Hall (originally the Town Hall) on The Square dates from 1834, nowadays with market stalls on the ground floor and a cafe in the first floor old courtroom. In 2007 Powys County Council handed over responsibility of the hall to a charity, the Market Hall Trust.[19] The stone building, raised on twin doric columns, is Grade II*listed.[20]
Crickhowell has two schools: Crickhowell Community Primary School and asecondary school,Crickhowell High School.[21]
The former Crickhowell & Penmyarth Golf Club was founded in 1897 and played on a course at Glanusk Park. The club and course disappeared in the late 1960s.[25]
Cwrt y Gollen, aBritish Army training base, is near Crickhowell.
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