Llandyssil

Llandyssil

Llandyssil in 1971, looking north
Llandyssil
 Llandyssil shown within Powys
Population 1,527 (2011)[1]
Principal areaPowys
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town MONTGOMERY
Postcode district SY15
Dialling code 01686
Police Dyfed-Powys
Fire Mid and West Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK ParliamentMontgomeryshire
List of places
UK
Wales
Powys

Coordinates: 52°33′00″N 3°11′10″W / 52.550°N 3.186°W / 52.550; -3.186

Llandyssil is a village in Powys, Wales, about two miles from the town of Montgomery. The village is within the parish of the same name; in 2001 there were 420 inhabitants in the parish, of whom 300 live in the village itself.[2][3]

Neighbouring Settlements

Bettws Cedewain Dolforwyn Berriew Garthmyl Caerhowell Forden
Abermule Llanmerewig Aberbechan Montgomery Churchstoke
Kerry Sarn

Llandyssil and its connection with Celtic Saints

Old St Tysul's Church, Llandyssil c.1855. From a drawing by Harry Longville Jones.

Llandyssil takes its name from St Tysul, a little known Welsh saint of the 7th century AD.[4] Only two churches in Wales were dedicated to this saint, Llandyssil in Montgomeryshire and Llandysul in Ceredigion and the feast day for this saint was celebrated on 31 January.[5] The old church in the village (largely demolished in 1866) stood in the graveyard to the SE of the present village. This suggests that the present settlement dates back to the period around 700AD. There is also a connection with another early Welsh and Breton saint, St Padarn.[6] On the highland to the south in Cefn y Coed, is the farm Cwm Badarn. The Llandyssil Brook rises in this Cwm or valley, and between Cwm Badarn Farm and the Pinion, is a rock cut spring, that was possibly a Holy Well, dedicated to St Padarn.

Administrative History

In the Medieval period Llandyssil was in the Cantref of Cedewain in the Kingdom of Powys. The parish was divided into four townships: Bolbro, Bronywood (or Bronycoed), Bryntalch and Rhandir. Rhandir, which contained the parish church, was the largest of these townships. It was probably an amalgamation of three other townships; Cefn-y-coed, Coedywig and Trefganol.[7] In 1536 following the Act of Union Llandyssil became part of the new county of Montgomeryshire. For ecclesiastical administraration the parish was in the Bishopric of St Asaph, the Archdeaconry of Montgomery and the Deanery of Cedewain.[8] For Parliamentary representation Llandyssil fell within the County of Montgomery until 1885, when the for electoral purposes, it was included within the Montgomery Boroughs. It was transferred back to the County in 1918, when only one MP represented the Montgomeryshire. With the establishment of the Montgomeryshire County Council in 1894 Llandyssil Parish Council was created, and it was included in Forden Rural District Council. In 1974 as a result of Local Government reform Llandyssil Parish Council became a Community Council within the Montgomeryshire District Council.[9] At this time Llanmerewig was joined with Llandyssil to form the new Community Council and in 1984 this was renamed Abermule with Llandyssil Community Council. At this time, the Community Council covered the old parishes of Llanmerewig and Llandyssil, together with Dolforwyn, which had been a township in Bettws Cedewain parish. In 1996, with the abolition of the Montgomeryshire District Council], the Community Council became part of Powys County Council.

Population and Language

The Census returns are as follows:.[10]

  • 1801-645
  • 1811-758
  • 1821-870
  • 1831-914
  • 1841-876
  • 1851-808
  • 1861-790
  • 1871-830
  • 1881-890
  • 1891-704
  • 1901-606
  • 1911-626
  • 1921-661
  • 1931-572
  • 1951-509
  • 1961-520

In 1880 a portion of the township of Bolbro was transferred from Llandyssil to Llanmerewig and the size of the parish was reduced from 4187 acres to 3800 acres. This may be reflected in the decrease in population between the 1881 and 1891 censuses.

During the later part of the 18th century it appears that the Welsh language was supplanted by English for general usage in the village.[11] There are some Welsh speakers in the village, but they have mainly come from elsewhere in Montgomeryshire.

Archaeological and Historic Monuments[12]

Llandyssil is particularly rich in archaeological sites especially of the Later Bronze Age and Iron Age[13] To the NE it is overshadowered by Ffridd Faldwyn, possibly the largest Hillfort in Wales, which is adjacent to Town Hill in Montgomery. Most of the sites have been discovered by aerial photography. The main sites are:

Prehistoric[14]

Roman

Early Medieval and Norman

Church and Chapel Buildings

St Tysul's Parish Church

Notable Buildings and Bridges

Cefn Bryntalch
River Severn, Fron footbridge - geograph.org.uk - 923467
Print of Fronfraith Hall, Llandyssil, 1870

Quoiting in Llandyssil

Playing Quoits was a widespread pastime in many rural areas. It had largely died in much of England by the 2nd World War, but after the War enjoyed a revival in Mid-Wales when the quoits were made by a light engineering company in Newtown. In Llandyssil the “Old” or Long Quoits rules were followed. The quoits court was moved to behind the Upper House Public House by 1983, when an international game was played between Wales and Scotland. The Welsh team was captained by Glyn Owen of Llandyssil and other village players were Les Owen and George Mills. The Welsh team lost to Scotland. In the 1991 International match at Llandyssil, when Les Owen was in the team, Wales convincingly beat Scotland 252 to 83. The last championship match was held at Llandyssil in 2003, after which the court was closed. It is to be hoped that the sport might be revived in Llandyssil in the future.[48] [49]

Sheep Dog Trials

The 2012 Welsh National Sheep Dog Trials were held on the field by Llandyssil bridge at Henfron, Llandyssil, between 19 and 21 July 2012 by kind permission of Mr A. & Mrs S. Harding. This brought the village much publicity and was greatly enjoyed by local people[50]

Notable People

Otter Hunt - John Lloyd of Abermule and George Thomas, by Thomas Weaver c.1817

Llandyssil Gallery

References

  1. "Community population 2011". Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  2. http://www.llandyssil-powys.co.uk/ The population figures are approximate because the 2001 Census figures do not coincide with the historic boundaries of the parish
  3. English E (ed) 1999 "A Collected History of the Communities of Llandyssil, Abermule and Llanmerewig".
  4. Bartrum P C “A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000”, National Library of Wales, 1993, 630. Tysul’s full name was Tysul ap Corun ap Cunedda - or son of Corun, son of Cunedda
  5. Thomas D R The History of the Diocese of St Asaph, Vol I, Caxton Press, Oswestry 1908 (2 ed.),524.
  6. “Bartrum”, 522-524.
  7. ’‘Thomas’’ Vol 1, 524,
  8. "Thomas" Vol 1, 524
  9. “English”, unpaginated. This provides a very detailed history of the Parish and the successor Community Council,
  10. http://www. history.powys.org.uk/school1/primhome.shtm. "Montgomery and the border district: Victorian Powys”. Powys Digital History Project. This gives information about the census returns - which has been supplemented with information from local directories
  11. Pryce W R T “Changing Language Geographies of Montgomeryshire c1749-1991” in Jenkins D (ed) “The Historical Atlas of Montgomeryshire”, Powysland Club, Welshpool 1999, 118
  12. RCHMW : An Inventory of Ancient Monuments Volume 1, County of Montgomery, HMSO, 1911, 77,
  13. http://www.www.cpat.org.uk/ycom/mont/llandyssil.pdf.
  14. Silvester, Robert J , 2011, Recent Research on Late Prehistoric and Romano-British Enclosures in Montgomeryshire , "The Montgomeryshire Collections" : 99 : 1-26. This provides the most recent survey of the Llandyssil earthworks in their Montgomeryshire context
  15. Gibson, A M & Musson, C R , 1990 , A cropmark enclosure and a sherd of later Neolithic pottery from Brynderwen, Llandyssil, Powys , The Montgomeryshire Collections : 78 : 11-15
  16. “RCHMW” : 77, no 385, no386
  17. http://www://cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/cpat/english/cpat_interface.html CPAT PRN187
  18. http://www://cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/cpat/english/cpat_interface.html CPAT PRN3645
  19. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/.../iha-banjo-enclosures/banjoenclosures.pdf
  20. Chris Musson “Wales from the Air: Patterns of Past and Present” RCAHMW c.1996, 133, excellent air photograph.
  21. ”Musson”, 87
  22. Britnell, W J & Thomas, D , 2010 , Trial excavations on defended enclosure sites in the Llandyssil area of Montgomeryshire in 1993-94 CPAT Report 1042
  23. "Silvester" 2011, 2-4, fig2
  24. http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/cpat/english/cpat_interface.html PRN 3717
  25. http://www.archwilio.org.uk CPAT PRN 1822
  26. 1 2 "Britnell & Thomas" 2010
  27. "Silvester" 2011, 19
  28. http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/cpat/english/cpat_interface.html CPAT PRN 3722
  29. http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/cpat/english/cpat_interface.html CPAT PRN 155
  30. "Silvester" 2011, 16-17
  31. http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/cpat/english/cpat_interface.html CPAT PRN7500
  32. "Silvester" 2011, 19, fig11, for plan of site
  33. “Musson” 88-89, with excellent aerial photograph pf the Roman fort
  34. RCHMW : “An Inventory of Ancient Monuments Volume 1, County of Montgomery”, HMSO, 1911, 77, no 386
  35. http://www.Coflein NPRN 306271
  36. RCHMW : An Inventory of Ancient Monuments Volume 1, County of Montgomery, HMSO, 1911, 77, no 387
  37. Musson C, “Montgomeryshire Past and Present from the Air”, The Powysland Club, 2011, 93, Col. Plate
  38. 1 2 "Archaeologia Cambrensis" 125-132 and 269-272
  39. "Thomas" 524-529
  40. "Thomas" 524-529
  41. Haslam R Powys: The Buildings of Wales Penguin, London 1979, 75
  42. Foulkes Parish Notes, Llandyssil Church Records, Powys County Archives
  43. “Llandyssil Rectory: its architecture and building history” Montgomeryshire Collections, Vol. 90, 2002, 99-108.
  44. Peter Smith "Houses of the Welsh Countryside" 2nd ed, 1988, HMSO/RCAHMW, fig. 177a
  45. shown on Llandyssil Tithe Map of 1849- photocopy in Powys Archives, Llandrindod
  46. C. R. Anthony “Penson’s Progress: the work of a 19th-century county surveyor”, Montgomeryshire Collections, 1995, Vol 83, 115-175.
  47. "English" Section 6.1
  48. http://www.lindahome.co.uk/Quoits1/ABindex.htm
  49. The History of Quoits in Wales http://www.ukquoits.org
  50. http://www.sheepdogchampionships.co.uk/welsh/2012.htm
  51. htmp://www.gbr athletics.com/bc/bc3.htm
  52. “English’’, 6, section 1
  53. Brown R L , Henry Powell Ffoulkes, Archdeacon of Montgomery. The Montgomeryshire Collectons, Vol 94, 2006, 131-142
  54. Meic Stephens (ed) "The New Companion to the Literature of Wales", 2nd edition, UWP, 1998, 317
  55. Richard Williams “Montgomeryshire Worthies", Newtown (1884), 59
  56. http://www. twgpp.org/information.php?id=2776855, with photograph of headstone
  57. http://www.ww1wargraves.co.uk/ww1_cemeteries/ww1_cemetery_b.asp
  58. Frazer Thomas. George Thomas of Llandyssil, 1786–1859. The Montgomeryshire Collectons, Vol 97, 2009, 101-121
  59. "TV presenter Iolo Williams says 'sign the petition'", County Times (Welshpool), 13 May 2013.

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