Mochdre is a small village high up in the hills above Newtown and the Severn Valley. When the webmistress visited some years ago the churchyard was immaculate, as the photo above shows.

"Mochdre is a parish situated about 3 miles S.E. from Newtown, and is in its county court, union and postal district. The parish is of a very irregular and mountainous character. The church, re-built several years since, is a neat, but small building, dedicated to St. Asaph. Carding and fulling are carried on to a small extent. Population in 1861, 526; in 1871, 542" (Slater's Directory, 1880)^[1].

The church had been restored over a decade before the Directory entry and reopened in 1867^[2]. When the Powisland Museum opened at Welshpool in 1874 there were a number of items from Montgomeryshire churches on display, including two ancient wooden carvings from Moughtre church that were exhibited in a glass case alongside a bronze lion found in Guilsfield churchyard and a photograph of Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, that had been found in Whitchurch Church^[3].

The bell here was said to have been made in 1665 and to weigh four hundredweight. By 1955 it needed repairing as it had been "rung by the unusual method of striking the clapper against the side without moving the bell"^[4], which cannot have been easy for the bellringer.

In 1813 Ann's gg grandmother, Martha Lewis, was baptised in the Parish Church of Mochdre (or Moughtrey), though clearly not in the building as it is today. Martha was actually born at Pentre and was the daughter of Edward and Maria Lewis, nee Wolley, who had married at Mochdre in 1805. She was married twice, first to Richard Lewis at Llanllwchaiarn and then to George Swain at Newtown. Their youngest child was the great grandmother of the web mistress. It is not clear when Martha, her brother or her parents left Mochdre but she lived in Newtown as an adult.

Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society and Powys FHS both have information about the parish. To locate their websites, please click on "links" in the page footer.

References and notes:

^[1] "Slater's Directory of North and South Wales etc." (1880), [Part 1: N & S Wales], p.175

^[2] "Cambrian News.", 8 June 1867. It was to re-open on Wendnesday, 26 June.

^[3] "Eddowes's Shrewsbury Journal.", 7 October 1874.

^[4] "Western Mail.", 15 August 1955.