The Talardy Hotel, St Asaph
The Talardy Hotel, St Asaph
The present Talardy Hotel is a Georgian building, accompanied by a walled garden and Victorian glasshouse. It replaced an older building. The polymath Edward Lhuyd (1660-1709) described the Talardy as a “house of note” in a book published c.1700.
Talar is a Welsh term for a headland. The -dy suffix comes from tŷ, which means "house". But the building’s site, on the valley floor, was clearly never a promontory by the sea or river. Prof Hywel Wyn Owen explains that the original meaning of talar was the margin of land at the end of a field where the plough would be turned to dig the next furrow. It evolved to mean also a "boundary".
Talar was the name of a township in Llanelwy, recorded as Talâr in 1560 and Talare in 1608. There’s even a reference to Talaard in 1292, which could relate to the same place.
Captain Thomas Everard Hutton, a survivor of the “Charge of the Light Brigade”, lived at the Talardy for many years. The military fiasco occurred in 1854 when a communications error sent lightly armed soldiers to attack Russian artillery during the Crimean War. Capt Hutton was wounded in both legs. While living here, he and his family organised and attended balls. In 1891 he caught a 10kg salmon, which he was too frail to carry home by himself. He died in Bath in 1896, aged 74. Follow the link below to see a photo of him in uniform.
Noted estate agent Evan Powell died while staying here in 1903. He hailed from Powys and was sent in 1883 to survey some property in the USA. While there he founded a colliery company in West Virginia, where the settlement of Powellton was named in his honour. One of his sons, Godwin, managed the company. Another became vicar of St Asaph.
With thanks to Prof Hywel Wyn Owen, of the Welsh Place-Name Society, for place-name information
Postcode: LL17 QHY View Location Map
National Army Museum website - information about Captain Hutton and a photo of him