Radnorshire
Radnorshire was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolition in 1974, later becoming a district of Powys from 1974 to 1996. It covered a sparsely populated area, and was bounded to the north by Montgomeryshire and Shropshire, to the east by Herefordshire, to the south by Brecknockshire and to the west by Cardiganshire.
The county was formed in 1536 from several Marcher lordships under the Laws in Wales Acts, as part of the formal annexation of Wales into the Kingdom of England by Henry VIII. The county was named after New Radnor, which was the original county town. From 1543 onwards the assizes were held alternately at New Radnor and Presteigne, later settling at Presteigne alone. Presteigne then served as the county's administrative centre until 1889 when Radnorshire County Council was established and chose to base itself in Llandrindod Wells instead.
The administrative county was abolished in 1974, with the area becoming the lower-tier Radnor district within the new county of Powys. The district was renamed Radnorshire in 1989. Radnorshire District Council was abolished in 1996 when Powys became a unitary authority. Powys County Council then had a Radnorshire "shire committee" until 2018.
The largest town in Radnorshire was Llandrindod Wells, with other towns being Knighton, Presteigne, and Rhayader. The Radnor Forest is an area of high ground covering a large part of the east of former county.
History
The geographic territory of what was Radnorshire roughly corresponds with the Welsh territory of Rhwng Gwy a Hafren which fell under the control of the Marcher Lords at the end of the 11th century. The area that would become Radnorshire included Cwmhir Abbey, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1176 at Abbeycwmhir. The Battle of Bryn Glas was fought on 22 June 1402 at Pilleth during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr.Until the Laws in Wales Act 1535, Radnor was outside the Principality of Wales. This peculiar Marcher status and its wont of Welsh speakers gave weight to the traditional local expression, "Neither Wales nor England, just Radnorsheer"
The 1535 act created Radnorshire from a number of former territories, including the cantrefs of Maelienydd and Elfael and the commotes of Gwrtheyrnion and Deuddwr. The act also specified that New Radnor was the county town, and directed that the county's assizes and quarter sessions should be held alternately at New Radnor and Rhayader. A judge was murdered at Rhayader a few years later, highlighting the dangers to English judges in that part of the county. In 1543 the law was changed, directing that the assizes should no longer be held at Rhayader, but should instead alternate between New Radnor and Presteigne. The practice of holding sessions alternately at New Radnor and Presteigne later gave way to all sessions being held at Presteigne.
The county's poverty was remarked upon thus in the 17th century by an anonymous visitor:
Apart from a handful of parishes along the English border the Welsh language remained the first language of the county well into the second half of the eighteenth century. By 1850 the language had retreated to the western parishes of Rhayader, Llanyre, Cwmdauddwr, St Harmon and Nantmel. By 1900 Welsh was still spoken by a sizeable minority west of the town of Rhayader, the language disappearing as the century progressed. Of course there were Welsh speakers living in Radnorshire who had come from other parts of Wales, and today their number has been swollen by children being educated through the medium of Welsh in school.
When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over the local government functions of the old court of quarter sessions, the new Radnorshire County Council decided to meet at Llandrindod Wells rather than Presteigne. The county council was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972.
The area became the lower-tier Radnor district within the new county of Powys. The district was renamed Radnorshire in 1989. Radnorshire District Council was abolished in 1996 when Powys became a unitary authority. Powys County Council then had a Radnorshire "shire committee" comprising the Powys councillors elected from the wards covering the former Radnorshire district from 1996 until the county council abolished its shire committees in 2018.
Geography
In the east and south were some comparatively level tracts, including the Vale of Radnor, but much of the county is forest, moorland and low mountains, with the Cambrian Mountains running through the west of the county beyond Rhayader. The Radnor Forest is a slightly isolated dome of hills in the middle of the county near the village of New Radnor, and included what was the highest ground in the former county. Here is found the former county top of Great Rhos, at a height of above sea level. The Elan Valley contains several huge man-made reservoirs supplying water to Birmingham. The main rivers were the Wye, the Teme, the Elan and the Ithon. The Teme formed the boundary with Shropshire.The chief towns were Knighton, Llandrindod Wells, Presteigne and Rhayader. The backbone of local incomes was tourism, hill farming and the public sector such as care, education and road/public land maintenance. Sheep, dairy/cattle and poultry farming provided more revenue than crops which like much of Scotland, the Pennines and Wales received more than national average precipitation and can be subject to late frosts.
Governance
Constituencies
From 1542 there was a Radnorshire constituency for electing members of parliament to the English parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1918, merging with the neighbouring Breconshire constituency to become the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency. Brecon and Radnorshire is also the name of the Senedd constituency covering the area. Since 2024 the area has been a part of the Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe constituency in the United Kingdom parliament.Local government subdivisions
Hundreds
On the creation of the county it was divided into six hundreds. The names of the hundreds, which were not always consistently spelt, were as follows:- Colwyn
- Cefnllys
- Knighton
- Painscastle
- Radnor
- Rhaiadr
Poor law unions
Local boards of health
There were no town councils in the county until 1850, when a local board was formed at Knighton. Similar bodies were later formed at Llandrindod Wells and Presteigne in 1891.Sanitary districts
The Public Health Act 1875 divided England and Wales into sanitary districts, each governed by a sanitary authority. Instead of creating new bodies, existing local board districts became urban sanitary districts and the remaining areas of poor law unions became rural sanitary districts. The existing local board or poor law guardians became the sanitary authority for their area. By 1891 therefore, Radnorshire was divided between the following sanitary districts:- Builth RSD
- Hay RSD
- Kington RSD
- Knighton RSD
- Knighton USD
- Llandrindod Wells USD
- Presteigne RSD
- Presteigne USD
- Rhayader RSD
Urban and rural districts
- Colwyn RD
- Knighton RD
- Knighton UD
- Llandrindod Wells UD
- New Radnor RD
- Painscastle RD
- Presteigne UD
- Rhayader RD
Civil parishes