Offa's Dyke
Offa, King of Mercia 757–796 AD ruled an enormous area from the northern Rivers Trent and Mersey south to the Thames Valley, from the Welsh border east to the Fens and was Bretwalda (acknowledged overlord) of even more Saxon kingdoms. He was an immensely powerful ruler. He is associated with the building of this c.80 miles long dyke, begun c.785, much of which actually joined together existing banks, ramparts and ditches along what is roughly the modern border between Wales and England. It was a formidable barrier at least 27 feet / 8 metres high + rampart stakes and 89 feet / 27 metres wide. Indeed, it was still a huge landscape feature a 100 years later when Bishop Asser, biographer of King Alfred the Great wrote: a certain vigorous king called Offa... had a great dyke built between Wales and Mercia from sea to sea. Modern excavations have shown it to have been built in sections by different gangs, who occasionally missed joining it up exactly! See: The Offa's Dyke Association.
Longtown
The name is the long tun, Old English for a fenced complex of buildings, homestead or estate. However, the original name was Ewyas Lacy, with ewyas deriving from the Welsh for sheep district. It argues for an open, pasture area. Recent excavations have revealed Roman occupation. In the Medieval period the de Lacys carried out expensive work on the castle. To pay for all this they planned a new town, or borough, which from its shape became known as the Long Town of Ewyas Lacy. Traces of these burgage plots, houses each with a long enclosed garden behind, which lined the road up to the Castle, can be seen in the fields opposite The Crown pub.
Longtown Castle
- originally Ewyas Lacy
- The Roman army built a fort on this site to house a cohort of 500 soldiers.
- The first Medieval castle, a motte–and–bailey, built soon after 1066 Norman Conquest, utilised the old Roman ramparts for the bailey, the area for domestic buildings, stables, and storage. The motte / man–made mound was constructed to hold a wooden tower / keep. It was one of a chain of defensive castles along the Welsh-English border built by Walter de Lacy and William FitzOsbern, High Steward of Normandy and Earl of Hereford (son of Osbern Pentecost, see Ewyas Harold). This area was then at the fore–front of political and military interest and activity. It is peaceful now...
- In c.1150, the reign of King Stephen, Gilbert de Lacy rebuilt the castle in stone with the very latest, up–to–date technology of a cylindrical keep, corners being considered defensive weak points. Round keeps were subsequently built elsewhere along the border and on the de Lacy lands in Ireland.
- Visitors to the area included King Henry II who is recorded as camping here with his army.
- The Church of St. Peter was rebuilt in the 19th century, retaining a few earlier features. It is now redundant and privately owned.
The Crown
- Built in 1751 ‐ one of the oldest pubs in the area.
- In 1782, the Longtown Turnpike Trustees held their meetings there.
- In 1973, the flood water still ran in through the front door and out through the back
