Category: Welsh History & Heritage
Essays on the social, cultural, local and built history of Wales, with particular emphasis on mid Wales, rural communities, historic places and the people whose lives shaped them. This archive complements the more detailed subject guides across the site.
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The Ceniarth Farm Dispute of 1900: A Montgomeryshire Farmer Challenges His Landlord
In 1900 Evan Owen of Ceniarth Farm near Machynlleth challenged his former landlord over rent, timber damage and improvements, in a Welshpool case exposing the changing rights of…
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Caeadda, Llanwrin: Three Centuries of Farming in the Montgomeryshire Uplands
The history of Caeadda near Llanwrin, from early records and archaeological finds to the Davies and Pughe families, Victorian farming and the working farm today.
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Sir Francis Edwards (1852–1927): Knighton, Welsh Liberalism and the Politics of Radnorshire
The life of Sir Francis Edwards (1852–1927), Liberal MP for Radnorshire, from his Knighton home and Welsh Church reform to the electoral contests of 1910 and his funeral…
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Arthur Henry John Walsh (1859–1937): Radnorshire, the Royal Court and the Decline of the Ormathwaite Estates
Arthur Henry John Walsh, 3rd Baron Ormathwaite, represented Radnorshire in Parliament and served two monarchs, while debts undermined his family estates. His final years and his remarkable will…
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Sir Powlett Milbank (1852–1918): Norton Manor and Public Life in Radnorshire
Sir Powlett Milbank, Conservative MP and Lord-Lieutenant of Radnorshire, his life at Norton Manor, farming interests, county service and family connections.
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Norton Manor: The Rise and Changing Fortunes of a Radnorshire Country Estate
The history of Norton Manor, near Presteigne, from Richard Price’s nineteenth-century mansion and the Green-Price estate to wartime occupation, the hotel and the changing landscape of Norton Manor…
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Rhayader Railway Station: The Surviving Gateway to the Upper Wye and Elan Valley
Rhayader Railway Station stood at Cwmdauddwr as the gateway between Rhayader, the Mid-Wales Railway and the Elan Valley waterworks. Its surviving station building, platform and goods shed still…
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Diana Hambro, Lady Gibson-Watt: A Life at Doldowlod
Diana Hambro, Lady Gibson-Watt, remembered through wartime nursing, Doldowlod, horticulture, politics and first-hand recollections of her influence on a younger generation.
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Doldowlod Railway Station: A Country Station on the Mid-Wales Line
The history of Doldowlod Railway Station, from Agnes Pyne and the opening of the Mid-Wales Railway to timber traffic, railway workers and closure in 1962.
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Plas Winton and the Hotel Commodore, Llandrindod Wells
The history of Plas Winton and the Hotel Commodore, from Victorian rectory and Jane Sheen’s private hotel to post-war modernisation and later tourism.