HAY, or as it is often called, WELSH HAY, or THE HAY, a small market-town of Wales, in the parish of Hay, hundred of Talgarth, and county of Brecknock. It stands on the River Wye, near the point where the counties of Radnor, Brecknock, and Hereford converge. The town is well lighted and paved, and contains, besides various dissenting meeting-houses, a handsome parish church, rebuilt in 1838 in the early English style. It has also British and national schools, and a savings bank. The vestiges of a Roman camp near the church point to an ancient origin. The castle of Hay, a very old building, was destroyed by Henry II.; afterwards restored, and finally dismantled by Owen Glyndwr. Between two and three miles from the town is Clifford Castle, the birth-place of the celebrated Jane Clifford, better known as the "fair Rosamond," the favourite of Henry II., who built for her the maze at Woodstock, where she perished by the cruel jealousy of Queen Eleanor. There are six annual fairs at Hay, besides a weekly market on Thursday. Pop. (1851) 1238.