Erwood ( cy, Erwyd) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

lying beside the River Wye, on the

A470 road The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigate ...

some 6 miles south-east of Builth Wells in

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 429. It is in the historic county of Brecknockshire (

Breconshire , image_flag= , HQ= Brecon , Government= Brecknockshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= Brycheiniog , Status= , Start= 1535 , End= ...

) and the older cantref of Cantref Selyf. The community includes the settlements of

Crickadarn Erwood ( cy, Erwyd) is a village and community lying beside the River Wye, on the A470 road some 6 miles south-east of Builth Wells in Powys, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 429. It is in the historic county ...

, Gwenddwr and Llaneglwys. Nant Clettwr, flowing from west to east before turning north through the village to join the River Wye, divides Erwood between the two parishes of Gwenddwr, to the northwest, and

, to the southeast. The church of Saint

Dubricius Dubricius or Dubric ( cy, Dyfrig; Norman-French: ''Devereux''; c. 465 – c. 550) was a 6th-century British ecclesiastic venerated as a saint. He was the evangelist of Ergyng ( cy, Erging) (later Archenfield, Herefordshire) and much ...

in Gwenddwr was extensively rebuilt in the

Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

after a fire. In former times drovers would ford the Wye at Erwood on their journey towards the

English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

and eventually

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where they would sell their livestock. Erwood is overlooked from across the Wye by the ancient

hill-fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

of Twyn y Garth. On its 325-metre-high summit is a German field howitzer, a trophy from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The fact that it is pointing towards Erwood from the neighbouring county of Radnorshire is part of a local running joke. At the southern end of the

, on the Nant Scithwen, is Trericket Mill where Roderick Murchison recorded in the 1830s that he had identified "the first true Silurian".

Village name

The name Erwood is of uncertain origin and is recorded in numerous forms over the centuries. It may derive from the rare ''cerwyd'' meaning 'stag' with subsequent anglicization to '-wood'. It is known in Welsh as ''Erwyd'' which may be a cymricization of Erwood.

Village life

The Erwood

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

consists of the village, the two ancient parishes of Gwenddwr and Crickadarn, and the former

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

hamlet of Llaneglwys. The village is the centre of a flourishing branch of the Young Farmers' Club. The village shop and post office no longer exists, and of the two pubs one, The Erwood Inn, is now a family home. The Public Toilets in the village, open 24/7, are now cleaned and maintained by the local community. Until 1962

Erwood railway station Erwood railway station is a former station on the Mid Wales Railway in Erwood, between Brecon and Llanidloes, Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor ...

, about away, served the village. Now a renowned Centre for the Art
Erwood Station Gallery & Tea Rooms
The nearby Crickadarn was used as a location in the film '' An American Werewolf in London'', for the portrayal of the fictional village of "East Proctor".

References

{{authority control Villages in Powys Films shot in Wales