Knucklas

The Central Wales line crosses the Teme at Knucklas on a viaduct of thirteen arches, and whoever designed it in 1863 decided that a functional stone bridge was not enough.

It has castellated parapets and turrets at each end. It is a railway viaduct dressed as a castle, and it looks entirely absurd and entirely marvellous, striding across a small Radnorshire valley in front of a village of a few hundred people.

Why

Victorian railway companies frequently spent money on appearance where a landowner had to be persuaded or a landscape placated, and the castellation here is generally read as a nod to the castle mound on the hill immediately above.

Whatever the reason, the result is one of the more photographed structures on the Heart of Wales line, which is still open — four trains a day from Shrewsbury to Swansea.

The castle

On the hill north of the village are the earthworks of a medieval castle, held at various points by the Mortimers and fought over during the Welsh wars. There is very little masonry.

Local tradition holds that Knucklas was the castle of Gogyrfan, father of Guinevere, and that Arthur married her here.

The village

A row of houses under the hill, a station on the line, and a community-owned village hall and shop, which in a settlement this size in this position is a genuine achievement.

Offa's Dyke runs a short distance east, and Glyndŵr's Way passes nearby.

Around

Knighton is three miles east, at the midpoint of the Offa's Dyke Path and with the interpretation centre for the trail.

The Teme valley here is the border country in miniature: Welsh place names, English field names, a river that has been a boundary for a very long time, and a railway that survives on social need rather than on traffic.