By Ines Keane
Start with the number. Wikipedia gives Hay-on-Wye a population of 1,675 at the 2021 census. A town that size has no business being known across the country for what is on its shelves, and yet here we are.
Where it is
Wikipedia calls Hay a market town and community in Powys, Wales. It sits on the south-east bank of the River Wye, at the north-eastern tip of the Brecon Beacons National Park, just north of the Black Mountains. The nearest city is Hereford, about 22 miles (35 km) to the east. Lonely Planet, a commercial travel guide, says the town “straddles” the Wye just inside the border and gives the Welsh name as Y Gelli Gandryll. Wikipedia says something a little different: the Wye was the historic boundary between Radnorshire and Brecknockshire, with Hay in Brecknockshire, and the England border is defined by the Dulas Brook. A river that divides two old counties and a brook that marks the national line are not the same thing, and we leave both statements as written.
The castle
Two pages on the castle and one on the town give a layered story. Wikipedia’s town article says Brycheiniog was conquered between 1088 and 1095, that a motte-and-bailey castle was built near St Mary’s around 1121, and that the present castle appears to date from the late twelfth century and was reinforced in stone around 1200. It says the castle was damaged around 1401, during Owain Glyndŵr’s rising, and again in 1460, during the Wars of the Roses. Its separate castle article says the Normans built an earth ringwork with a stone gate tower in the late eleventh or early twelfth century, and that the de Braose family expanded it in stone around 1200.
The Hay Castle Trust, the charity that runs the site, says Matilda de Braose is said to have built it in one night. “Said to” is the Trust’s wording, and we take it as a story. The Trust gives no date for the legend.
The Jacobean mansion is a point of difference. Wikipedia’s castle article says it was built in the seventeenth century, but historians differ on whether that was the early 1600s or 1660, and on who was responsible. It also records two fires, in 1939 and 1977, which destroyed the interiors of the eastern and western sides in turn.
The books
The Bookseller’s obituary of Richard Booth says he opened a bookshop in Hay’s former fire station in 1961, and Lonely Planet gives the same year. The Bookseller says that on April Fool’s Day 1977, after declaring himself “King of Hay”, he proclaimed Hay an independent kingdom, as a publicity stunt. The Castle Trust’s history also says he declared himself King of Hay in 1977. He died in 2019, according to Lonely Planet, and The Bookseller’s obituary gives his age as 80.
How many shops are there? Wikipedia’s introduction says “over twenty” and its later text says “two dozen”, while noting the number has fallen sharply. Lonely Planet says more than 20, some specialised, including antique-book and old-map shops. We give all three and no count of our own.
The festival
Wikipedia says the Hay Festival has been held since 1988, is the town’s annual literary festival, and usually runs for ten days in late May or early June. Lonely Planet agrees on 1988 and on the late-May to early-June timing. Those are the only festival facts we use.
Dates in order
- 1088 to 1095: Brycheiniog conquered, according to Wikipedia.
- Around 1121: motte-and-bailey castle near St Mary’s, according to Wikipedia.
- Around 1200: castle reinforced in stone, according to Wikipedia.
- Around 1401: damage during Glyndŵr’s rising, according to Wikipedia.
- 1460: further damage in the Wars of the Roses, according to Wikipedia.
- 1884: the clock set going on Christmas Day, according to Wikipedia.
- 1939 and 1977: fires at the castle, according to Wikipedia.
- 1961 or 1962: Booth’s first shop, according to Lonely Planet and Wikipedia respectively.
- 1977: Booth’s “kingdom”, according to Wikipedia and the Castle Trust.
- 1988: first Hay Festival, according to Wikipedia.
- 2011: the Trust is established or buys the castle, according to the Trust and Wikipedia respectively.
- 2018: restoration work begins, according to the Trust.
- 26 May 2022: the castle opens to the public, according to Wikipedia’s castle article.
Side by side
The first shop is 1961 in one source and 1962 in another. The shop count is “over twenty”, “two dozen” or “more than 20”. The Trust describes Booth’s castle purchase as happening in the 1960s and Wikipedia’s castle article says around 1961. Our reading: a book town is a loose thing to count, and a shop opening in a firehouse is easy to date by the wrong year. That is our inference, and none of the sources says it.
What kind of sources these are
Two Wikipedia articles, which anyone can edit; a commercial travel guide; and the Castle Trust’s own history page, which is a charity describing itself. We read no council, tourism-board or museum page, so we give no opening hours, travel directions or entry details.
What we left out
We left out a quotation about the festival, since we had no second source. We left out restaurant, cafe and shop names, restoration funding, entry charges and walking routes.
Roam first. Shop later.