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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Powys
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County (pop., 2001: 126,344), east-central Wales. The county seat is at Llandridod Wells. It is named after the Welsh princedom of Powys, located in the border country between Wales and England. At its most powerful in the 12th century, the princedom was unable to gain ascendancy in Wales because it was so close to the border area where the cultures of Wales and England intermingled. Main elements in the landscape are the valley lowlands leading to Shrewsbury and Hereford. There are remains of Iron Age and Roman settlements.

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British History: Powys
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County of the middle Welsh borderland. The name derives from the Welsh kingdom of post-Roman times. With Norman control it was divided into a series of marcher lordships which were themselves integrated in 1536 into the counties of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire. It was not until the Local Government Act of 1972 that the name was revived and given to the new county formed by the merging of Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, and Breconshire. In spite of active campaigning by Montgomeryshire, Powys was retained in 1996 as a unitary authority.

Celtic Mythology: Powys
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[Latin pagenses, (land of the) country-dwellers]

Ancient and medieval kingdom of eastern Wales and now a county, re-formed in 1974, adjacent to the border with England. Believed to have developed from the territories of the ancient Carnovii, Powys reached its apogee during the reign of King Madog ap Maredudd (AD 1138–60), when its borders extended as far north as Pulford, near Chester, and east to the upper Severn. Esteemed for the welcome it extended to minstrels, Powys was called the ‘Garden of Wales’ in the poetry of Llywarch Hen (9th-10th centuries). Evidence of the Powys dialect is found in the language of the second branch of the Mabinogi. Powys also provided the background for Breuddwyd Rhonabwy [The Dream of Rhonabwy], although the kingdom had disappeared by the time the text was composed. Powys is also the name of a castle near the town of Welshpool. The modern county of Powys was forged in 1974 from the former counties of Montgomery, Radnor, and Brecknock; it includes a great deal of territory never a part of medieval Powys and is the most thinly populated of all modern counties. The heroic elements of regional stories prompted Alwyn and Brinley Rees (1961) to see a link between Powys and Ulster.

Bibliography

  • Wendy Davies, Wales in the Early Middle Ages (Leicester, 1982)
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Powys
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Powys (pō'ĭs), county, 2,009 sq mi (5,204 sq km), E central Wales. The terrain is a network of lowlands, highlands, and connecting plateaus. Agriculture is economically important, as are sheep and cattle raising. There are some light and service industries. Named after the Welsh princedom, Powys peaked as a vital region in the 12th cent. Tourists are attracted to the 8th-century Offa's Dyke, a feature within the landscape, and to the remains of numerous Norman castles.

Dictionary: Pow·ys   (pō'ĭs) pronunciation
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Family of British writers, comprising the brothers John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), whose novels, such as Wolf Solent (1929), glorify nature; Theodore Francis Powys (1875-1953), who wrote allegorical novels, such as Mr. Weston's Good Wine (1927); and Llewelyn Powys (1884-1939), known primarily for his essays.


Wikipedia: Powys
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This article is about the county in Wales. For other uses, see Kingdom of Powys and Powys (surname).
County of Powys Sir Powys
WalesPowys.png
Geography
Area
- Total
- % Water		 Ranked 1st
5,196 km²
? %
Admin HQ Llandrindod Wells
ISO 3166-2 GB-POW
ONS code 00NN
Demographics
Population:
- (2007 est.)
- Density
 		 Ranked 10th
132,000
Ranked 22nd
25 / km²
Ethnicity 99.3% White
Welsh language
- Any skills		 Ranked 7th
30.1%
Politics
Powys-coa.png
Powys Council
http://www.powys.gov.uk/
Control Independent
MPs
AMs
MEPs

Powys (pronounced /ˈpaʊ.ɪs/[1] by most English-language speakers, but [ˈpowɪs] in Welsh) is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.

Contents

Geography

See the list of places in Powys for all towns and villages in Powys.

Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire, and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,196 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.

It is bounded to the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham; to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by Shropshire and Herefordshire; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire and Neath Port Talbot.

Most of Powys is mountainous, with north-south transportation by car being difficult.

The majority of the Powys population is made up of small villages and towns. The largest is Newtown, with a population of 12,783 (2001).

Just under a third of the residents have Welsh linguistic skills and Welsh speakers are concentrated mainly in the rural areas both in and around Machynlleth, Llanfyllin and Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant (where William Morgan first translated the whole Bible into Welsh in 1588) in Montgomeryshire (Welsh: Sir Drefaldwyn), and the industrial area of Ystradgynlais in the extreme south-west of Brecknockshire (Welsh: Sir Frycheiniog). Radnorshire (Welsh: Sir Faesyfed) was almost completely Anglicised by the end of the 18th century.

For a map of the current distribution of Welsh speakers see the website of bwrdd-yr-iaith/The Welsh Language Board

History

This area is named after the older Welsh/British Kingdom of Powys, which occupied the northern two thirds of the area as well as lands now in England, and came to an end when it was occupied by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of Gwynedd during the 1260s.

In December 2007 Powys was awarded Fairtrade County status by the Fairtrade Foundation[2]

Heraldry

The gold in the county coat of arms (see right) symbolises the wealth of the area. Black for both mining and the Black Mountains. The fountain is a medieval heraldic charge, always shown as a roundel barry wavy Argent and Azure. It represents water and, therefore, both refers to the water catchment area and the rivers and lakes. The arms, therefore, contain references to the hills and mountains, rivers and lakes, water supply and industry.

The crest continues the colouring of the arms. A tower has been used in preference to a mural crown, which alludes to the county's military history and remains. From the tower rises a red kite, a bird almost extinct elsewhere in Britain, but thriving here. The bird is semy of black lozenges for the former coal mining industry, while the golden fleece it carries is a reference to the importance of sheep rearing in Powys [3]).

The county motto is, Powys - the paradise of Wales (Welsh: Powys Paradwys Cymru) .

Government

Powys from 1974-1996.
See also: Powys County Council

Powys was originally created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and originally had Montgomery and Radnor and Brecknock as districts under it, which were based directly on the former administrative counties.

On 1 April 1996, the districts were abolished, and Powys was reconstituted as a unitary authority, with a minor border adjustment in the north-east (specifically the addition of the communities of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Llansilin and Llangedwyn from Glyndwr district in Clwyd, all historically part of Denbighshire).

The first Lord Lieutenant of Powys was previously the Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire. The Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire were appointed as Lieutenants.

The present Lord Lieutenant is The Hon. Mrs Elizabeth Shân Legge-Bourke LVO of Crickhowell.

Quality of life

Recent research suggests that Powys is the happiest place in the UK[4]

Places of interest

Cave systems

Lakes, reservoirs and waterfalls

Museums and exhibitions

Castles

Walks

Others

References

  1. ^ "pow-iss", with the vowels of "how" and "hiss"
  2. ^ Sally Williams. "FairTrade Resource Network". http://www.fairtraderesource.org/2007/12/07/wales-ahead-in-bid-to-be-first-fairtrade-country/. Retrieved 03 July 2008. 
  3. ^ http://www.ngw.nl/int/gbr/p/powys.htm International Civic Heraldry site
  4. ^ "BBC - "Britain's Happiest Places Mapped"". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7584321.stm. Retrieved 28 August 2008. 
  5. ^ http://www.mikehollandphotographic.co.uk/photo_51647.html Langorse Lake at dawn
  6. ^ "Llani Leisure". http://www.llanileisure.org.uk/Sarnsabrinaroutenarration. Retrieved 03 July 2008. 

External links

v • d • e
Local government in Wales
Principal areas
established in 1996
Counties and districts
1974–1996
Powys
Counties
established before 1889
v • d • e
Flag of Wales Preserved counties of Wales

Counties of the Lieutenancies Act 1997
Clwyd • Dyfed • Gwent • Gwynedd • Mid Glamorgan • Powys • South Glamorgan • West Glamorgan
v • d • e
Transport in Powys
Road
A40 · A44 · A438 · A458 · A470 · A479 · A481 · A483 · A487 · A488 · A489 · A490 · A495 · A4059 · A4113 · A4221 · B4574
Railway stations
Cambrian Line
Heart of Wales Line
Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway

Coordinates: 52°18′N 3°25′W / 52.3°N 3.417°W / 52.3; -3.417


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Celtic Mythology. A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Copyright © James MacKillop 1998, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Powys".  Read more