Vale of Ewyas

The Vale of Ewyas (Welsh: Dyffryn Ewias) is the steep-sided and secluded valley of the River Honddu, in the Black Mountains of Wales and within the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Further south near the valley entrance, at Cwmyoy, the church there has suffered gradual subsidence over the centuries, and is best known for the disorienting tilts and twists of the building which add to its character.

Bruce Chatwin's book On the Black Hill depicts the upland livestock farming community over the past 100 years or so in the area.

A locally born writer and academic Raymond Williams may well have set to restore the balance with his two books on the People of the Black Mountains, written a few years afterwards.

The associated lodgings still attached to the ruins and known as The Abbey Hotel, are still used and there is a cellar pub where refreshments can be had during regular opening hours.

View up the Vale of Ewyas
(Photo by Trevor Rickard)
St Mary's Chapel
Llanthony Priory tower and nave