Bringing local history to life
Kington is a border town which has the river Arrow passing through. Offa’s Dyke cuts through it leaving one part on the Welsh side and part in the English side, although the whole town is In Herefordshire, England.
A few years before the battle of Hastings, when Edward The Confessor was King, Llewellyn, a Welsh Prince decided to raid into England travelling through Kington. The Kington people joined with him not sure whether they were Welsh or English and joined with him and sacked Hereford. Harold Godwin was told (ordered) by King Edward to raise an army to drive the Welsh back into Wales. Prince Llewellyn retreated into Wales and left Kington to its fate, which in turn was sacked by Harold Godwin and a lot of land was claimed by Harold for himself and the King.
Kington was also on the Drover’s Road with animals walking out of Mid Wales heading to London and Birmingham. Anything (numbers) up to 90.000 cattle a year passing through. The vast number of pubs reflected the amount of travellers and some even had “penny plocks” where the Drovers could pen their animals over night.
