Historian mythbusting local history on the Powys border

Dr James Wright FSA (Triskele Heritage), is an award-winning buildings archaeologist, author and broadcaster.  

Dr Wright has two decades professional experience of “ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens”.

He will be holding talks in Montgomery and Bishop’s Castle, each talk having specific local content - based on his new book, Historic Building Mythbusting, which launches on June 6

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Dr Wright has said he “hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period” – this includes a personal quest to find the oldest continuously used pub in Britain.

Organisers of the event said: “Go to any ancient building in the Welsh Marches and there will be interesting, exciting, and romantic stories presented to the visitor.

“They are commonly believed and widely repeated – but are they really true?

“These stories include those of secret passages linking ancient buildings, spiral staircases in castles giving advantage to right-handed defenders, ship timbers used in the construction of buildings on land, blocked doors in churches which are thought to keep the Devil out and claims to be the oldest pub in the region.

“James will explain the development of such myths and investigate the underlying truths behind them. Sometimes the realities hiding behind the stories are even more interesting, romantic, and exciting than the myth itself.”

 Dr Wright will be holding his first talk at Bishop’s Castle Town Hall on Thursday June 20 and you can get tickets here.

He will be holding a second talk at Montgomery Town Hall on Saturday June 22 with tickets available here.