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Rhayader
Crime and punishment |
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Salmon poaching on the Wye
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The
River Wye has long been famous for its salmon. The right
to fish in the river belonged to local landowners though, and they employed water bailiffs to
prevent anyone else from fishing there. Local people resented this, as they liked to fish for the salmon for much needed food. This led to trouble with the river authorities and the police on several occasions. In 1878 poachers attacked water bailiffs at Crossgates, and hundreds of people turned out to watch poaching on the Wye near Rhayader. The men doing the poaching used hooks or barbed forks attached to poles. They usually disguised themselves, and were often called Rebeccaites because the original Rebecca rioters had done this. (See pages on the Rebecca riots at Rhayader). The local people supported the poachers and police found it hard to get evidence against them. |
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Many
local people regarded the poaching as a sport, and enjoyed outwitting the
police. Things turned nasty in 1880, though. The poachers took to arming themselves and often fired their guns in the air to show their defiance of the police. It wasn't long before violence erupted and people were hurt. |
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More about
salmon poaching on the Wye... |
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Rhayader
Crime and punishment |
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More about...
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Salmon poaching on the Wye
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As
trouble built up in the area, the police became more concerned. The house of
a water bailiff in Rhayader was attacked by a mob who threw stones at his
windows. The police were determined to catch the poachers but they had difficulty, as this report shows. It is the report of the Chief Constable to the Justices, and it tells of the police attempts to catch the poachers one dark night in 1880... |
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The
extract reads: "I beg further to report that on the 7th January last at 7.30pm the Rhayader Police saw about 24 men (believed to be disguised) in the river Wye near to the town with lights and spears, the officers endeavoured to place themselves in a position to meet them but before they could do so the lights were extinguished and the poachers had disappeared".  Extra men were sent the next night but the police found nothing
except a salmon pinned by poachers to the Market Hall with a note attached.It read "Where were the river watchers when I was killed? Where were the police when I was hung here?" The poaching got worse and the poachers more daring. When a policeman was stabbed by the poachers things became more serious, and the nervous policemen were issued with cutlasses like the one to the right. But gradually the disturbances died out and things returned to normal. . Back to Rhayader crime menu |
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Rhayader
The Rebecca riots |
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2. How do we know what happened?
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Drawing by
Rob Davies |
The
attacks by Rebecca and her daughters began in South Wales with attacks in Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire. In autumn 1843 however the outbreak of attacks reached the Rhayader district. An idea of what happened can be pieced together from different sources. The attacks on tollgates created an uproar in the area and this was reported in the papers at the time. Old documents record the local court cases and decisions taken by the authorities. We also have two other sources which tell us what happened. |
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Sir
John Benn Walsh was the MP for Radnorshire and the Lord
Lieutenant at the time of the riots around Rhayader. When the trouble was
over he was asked to hold an enquiry into the events. His report tells us a
lot about the time.
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By kind permission
of the National Library of Wales |
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John Davies of the farm of Gwardolau looked after the nearby Nantgwyllt estate for
the owner, Thomas Lewis Lloyd. While the squire and his family took a holiday
in France, Mr Davies' letters kept him informed of local events. These letters, like the one above, are another valuable source of evidence for what happened. (Note that in Victorian times letters were often written down the page and across like the one above. This makes them very difficult to read !) A stormy September... |
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Rhayader
The Rebecca riots |
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3. A stormy September
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Early
attacks by Rebecca and her daughters were in south and west Wales, and the
news caused excitement in the Rhayader area, Rumours were
flying, and the town must have been buzzing with gossip on market day. |
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This must have increased dramatically when on
Friday 22nd September 1843
the Pen-y-pistyll
tollgate on the North Road from Rhayader was attacked.
In his letter to Thomas Lewis Lloyd, John Davies describes this attack as a "slight attempt" so it is not clear how much damage was done. This gate was on a relatively new turnpike road built along the Wye valley to the north. The map (right) shows the tollgate at the roadside. The blue dotted line is the parish boundary. |
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Drawing by
Rob Davies |
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Two days later a more determined attack destroyed the Llangurig gates
and terrified the gatekeeper.
Sir
John Benn Walsh was in Rhayader the following day and wrote,"There was considerable excitement in the town from the news that a gate at Llangerig about 9 miles from Rhayader on the Aberystwyth road had been levelled last night by a party of Rebbecaites". |
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Sir
John joined other landowners in offering a reward for the arrest of the rioters, but local
people were very sympathetic to the Rebecca rioters and nobody was given
away. See what happened later on the next page... Broke to atoms ! ... |
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Rhayader
The Rebecca riots |
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5. A famous night in Rhayader
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By
the time of the attack on the Newbridge gates local excitement was high, and
around Rhayader many were refusing to pay the tolls. The authorities were nervous and soldiers
had been called in. An old record of the time tells us what happened on the night of November 2nd 1843. |
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Drawing by
Davena Hooson |
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Sergeant Shaw of the
London police was in charge of a group of local men who had
been taken on as Special Constables. In the middle of the night they heard that the North gate (Pen-y-pistyll) was under attack again. They rushed over to find the gatekeeper terrified and the gates flattened, but no sign of Rebecca. The gatekeeper had been awoken by the noise and a voice calling through the window "lie still or death will be your doom". He wisely stayed indoors while the gates were wrecked. More about "a famous night in Rhayader"... |
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