Qualla: Hay Castle

Hay Castle: Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Batty, (Robert), d. 1848 Finden, Edward Francis, 1791-1857, CC0. On 1 April 1977, Richard Booth declared himself King of Hay-on-Wye. He stood on the steps of his castle, the medieval and Jacobean ruin he had bought for almost nothing in 1961, and announced that the small Welsh border town of perhaps 1,800 souls had seceded from the United Kingdom. He printed passports. He distributed peerages to anyone who paid for one. The whole thing was a joke, but it was also an exquisitely calibrated piece of marketing for a town that Booth had spent the previous decade turning into the world's largest second-hand book market. The castle, however, was already in trouble. Fires in 1939 and again in 1977 had gutted most of the building. By the early 21st century it was derelict. The castle finally opened to the public for the first time in its history on 26 May 2022 - nine centuries after it was first built.

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Image: Batty, (Robert), d. 1848 Finden, Edward Francis, 1791-1857 | CC0

Hay Castle: The Normans and the Ringwork

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John George Wood, Public domain. Norman expansion into south Wales began in the late 1060s, soldiers pushing westwards out of recently conquered England and building castles wherever they paused. Bernard de Neufmarché conquered Brecknock in 1091 and assigned the manor of Hay to Philip Walwyn, one of his follower...

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Image: John George Wood | Public domain

Hay Castle: Burnt by King John, Then by Llywelyn

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pauline Eccles, CC BY-SA 2.0. The de Braose castle had a turbulent first century. During the First Barons' War in 1215, Reginald de Braose joined the alliance against King John, and the king himself attacked the castle and took it. In 1231 the Welsh prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great, grandfather...

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Image: Pauline Eccles | CC BY-SA 2.0

Hay Castle: The Jacobean Mansion

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Owain, CC BY-SA 3.0. In the 17th century someone - either Howell Gwynne in the early years or James Boyle of Hereford in 1660 - built a new house against the old medieval keep. The Jacobean mansion was two storeys tall with three counting the facade and seven dormer gables in a Dutch style, with a la...

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Image: Owain | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hay Castle: Richard Booth and the Books

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Koffermejia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Around 1961 the castle was acquired by Richard Booth, a wildly eccentric Oxford graduate who had decided to open a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye. He chose the town because property was cheap, transport was easy enough by road, and the surrounding farmland and chapels were full of unwant...

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Image: Koffermejia | CC BY-SA 4.0

Hay Castle: Five Million Pounds and a Public Castle

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeremy Bolwell, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 2011 the castle was sold for around two million pounds to the Hay Castle Trust. Rick Mather Architects were appointed to design the restoration. Grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund of over five million pounds, with additional money from the Welsh Government and priv...

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Image: Jeremy Bolwell | CC BY-SA 2.0