:''This article is about the county of Wales. For the ancient kingdom, see
Kingdom of Powys.''
:''For people called Powys, see
Powys (surname)''
'Powys' is a local government
principal area and a
preserved county in
Wales.
Geography
:''See the
list of places in Powys for all towns and villages in Powys.''
Powys covers the former administrative counties of
Montgomeryshire and
Radnorshire, most of
Brecknockshire, and a small part of
Denbighshire — an area of 5,196
km², making it the largest principal area in Wales by land area.
It is bounded the north by
Gwynedd,
Denbighshire and
Wrexham; to the west by
Ceredigion and
Carmarthenshire; to the east by
England (counties of
Shropshire and
Herefordshire); and to the south by
Rhondda Cynon Taff,
Merthyr Tydfil,
Caerphilly (county borough),
Blaenau Gwent and
Monmouthshire.
Most of Powys is very mountainous with north-south transportation by car and rail being difficult.
Just under a third of the residents have Welsh linguistical skills and first language 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 (Sir Drefaldwyn), and the industrial area of
Ystradgynlais in the extreme south-west of Brecknock (Sir Frycheiniog).
Radnorshire (Sir Faesyfed) was almost completely Anglicised by the end of the 18th century.
For a map of the current distribution of welsh speakers in the county see the website of
bwrdd-yr-iaith/The Welsh Language Board
Distribution of Welsh speakers
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.
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
[1].
The county motto is, ''Powys - the paradise of Wales'' () .
Government
Powys from 1974-1996.
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.
Places of interest
External links
★
Powys County Council (official site)
★
Powys Heritage
★
Tourism in Powys
★
Coleg Powys
★
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
★
Reducing the area's carbon footprint - Recycling and Composting in Powys
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