RHAYADER was enjoying a boom time in its long history in the 16th century.
The town had been favoured as the home of the Radnorshire law and justice with Shire Courts held in the town since the Acts of Union in 1536.
However with its new found prestige had also come new dangers – in particularly from those who had sought to disrupt the courts.
Such men included the Children of Mat.
Little is known of these bandits who had settled in Radnorshire having originally stalked the lands of Cardiganshire.
Though it is entirely likely one or some of their number had been arrested and jailed at the Presbyterian Meeting House across the road from the court at Pen-Y-Porth which had overlooked the river Wye.
Nearby was Penymaes, the site of public executions and a place which struck fear into the hearts of such bandits.
The Children of Mat were also known by their Welsh name, Plant Mat, and comprised of disbanded soldiers who had come to make their living as bandits.
During the 1530s they had holed up in a cavern near Devils Bridge.
The River Wye near Rhayader. Picture: Geograph.
Seemingly a spy had informed them of the judge's route to Rhayader Church and resolved to apprehend him.
Under the cover of darkness the bandits crossed the Wye and waited in a thick grove of trees in Dderw in Cwmdauddwr Llansantffraid to meet their spy.
Having heard of the judge's planned route the bandits proceeded to cross the river at Waun-Y-Capel and upon seeing the judge at Maesbach where the judge was shot dead.
The hills between Devils Bridge and Cwmdauddwr. Picture: Geograph.
The judge's attendants had not been able to prevent the bandits escaping back to their lair.
However the assassination of a judge had proved their downfall as the country turned on them.
Following a manhunt the bandits were besieged in their cave and, following desperate resistance, were taken alive and executed.
Whether these men met their maker at Penymaes in Rhayader is unknown for in the aftermath of the judge's assassination Parliament decided to move Radnorshire's court to Presteigne which became the county's legal centre for the next 400 years.
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