Welshpool is a busy market town, founded in the mid-13thC. It was described in 1822 as being 'large and populous, and the appearance of opulence is very predominant throughout the place, perhaps owing to its trade in Welsh flannels, which is carried on here to a very great extent'. This trade was further enhanced with the building of the Montgomery Canal.
Newtown is the largest town in Powys, much altered since its founding at the end of the 13thC, but with plenty of interest surviving and some very fine countryside in the surrounding Severn valley. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, had an administrative centre at nearby Dolforwyn Castle (visited on one of these walks). Edward I, not being entirely happy about this, seized Llewelyn's land and transferred it to the Mortimers at Newtown. |