Llandyssil

Neighbouring settlements

Connection with Celtic saints

History

Population and language

• 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

Archaeological and historic monuments

Prehistoric

• Brynderwen Enclosure. NGR: SO2064995184. Ditched enclosure close to the river Severn. Late Neolithic Peterborough ware pottery. Dated to c.3350-3000 BC.
• Cefn Llan Hillfort in Cefnycoed. NGR: SO20579476. Scheduled ancient monument. Enclosure situated on low hill, comprising a sub-rectangular platform 60m by 40m rising to c1.5m above the ditch. The original entrance is to the south. Site now overgrown and bank starting to erode.
• Cefn Llan Enclosure. Triple ditched enclosure c121m across, triple ditches only visible on the S side, the rest being single or double ditched. Linear earthworks to SW could be related.
• Cloddiau. Possible Late Bronze or Iron Age Cattle Krall or Banjo enclosure with triple banks and funnel entrance. Triple ditched sub-circular enclosure 92 x 78m enclosing an inner area of 2526m. Well-defined entrance to NE with flanking ditches. Excavations in 1993 showed the 4m wide inner ditch was just below the edge of the scarp, but no stratigraphy survived in either the rampart or the interior.
• Coed y Wig hillfort. NGR: SO1957096216. Iron Age Hillfort revealed by aerial photography. Possible enclosure, treble ditched to SE but only single ditch visible to E. NE part not visible. Site is set on 2 E-W ridges with a broad natural gully between. The ditches seem to be cutting across from one ridge to another.
• Cuckoo Hill Hillfort. NGR: SO1829794715. 3-ditched ovate enclosure 132.1 x 89.6m with no obvious entrance. Ditches to W show as cropmarks - those to E as parchmarks and slight earthworks. Defences spanning 31m. Located on low SW-NW ridge. Later house platforms cut into earthworks on SE side. Excavation 1993: triple ditched enclosure with earthworks surviving to c.0.2m high, the inner ditch was identified - width 3.7m. No stratigraphy was present. Single rim-sherd of probable Roman date from upper fill of ditch
• Fron Fraith Wood Hillfort. NGR: SO1695893508. North-west part of two ditched enclosures, possibly circular with diameter c90m. The ditches are c5m across and there is a possible entrance gap on east. The enclosure is 110m NE/SW by 65m across. Excavated in 1994.
• Goron Ddu Hillfort. NGR: SO1860096570. East of Upper Bryntalch farm, on the crest of a short ridge, aligned north-east/south-west, overlooking the river Severn at an altitude of 200m OD, to the N of the village. The site consists of a double banked enclosure with widely spaced ditches. The inner ditch defines an approximately ovate enclosure measuring about 67m north-east/south-west and reducing in width from 62m at the south-west end to 40m at the north-east end. The outer ditch defines a sub-rectangular enclosure with rounded corners, measuring 131m north-east/south-west by about 95m overall. Geophysical survey has shown a concentration of features in the centre of the enclosure, but with insufficient clarity to distinguish round houses.
• Mount Pleasant Defended Enclosure. NGR: SO1898893669. Scheduled ancient monument 1996. Double-ditched enclosure, 94.4m by 110m, with surviving earthworks, partly encapsulated in field boundaries. Excavation in 1994 identified the inner edge of the ditch, inside which were the remains of a clay dump rampart. Inside the rampart were remains of a hearth and grains of spelt wheat, and two post-holes which may have formed part of a four-post structure. Radiocarbon dates from the postholes of 2270-2330BP suggest that the site was occupied in the earlier Iron Age.

  Roman

• The Roman Road from Forden Gaer/Lavrobrinta to Caersws runs through the parish along the river, probably largely on the alignment of the B3484 from Caerhowel railway bridge to the Abermule railway bridge. During the construction in 2006 of the “Felin Hafren” housing estate in Abermule, a length of the Roman road was uncovered.

  Early Medieval and Norman

• Brynderwen Motte and Bailey Castle guarding the river Severn crossing. An early castle on the Severn. The motte has gone and the bailey area is occupied by a farm.
• Cefn Bryntalch Motte and Bailey Castle. To the SW of Cefn Bryntalch house. Earthen motte or ringwork at the NE end of a scarped natural ridge, with a cross-ditch dividing it from the bailey.
• Mound by Llandyssil Bridge. Suggested barrow, but with flat top and more likely to be a medieval mill mound. Place names in vicinity, such as Cae Melyn and Ty Melyn, may support its identification as a windmill mound for a Post mill.

  Church and chapel buildings

• Old Church and Graveyard. The former church of St Tysul stood on the hillside overlooking the village. Now only a stone porch with an 18th-century doorway remains, standing in the churchyard. The single-chambered medieval parish church is shown in a woodcut illustration to have been extensively rebuilt in the 18th century with round arched windows and roof dormers. It had also the most elaborate of the Montgomeryshire timber west bell-towers — a tower which was enclosed by an open gallery, corbelled out from the supporting framework, built inside the nave. Lych Gate to the graveyard by the architect Harold Hughes, of Bangor 1907.
• St Tysul. By the architect Thomas Henry Wyatt, 1863-6. Nave with west aisle, chancel, SE tower and spire. The church is orientated nearly north-south rather than the usual east–west. The four-bay arcade to the nave with polished red granite columns, with red sandstone and white limestone blocks used to decorate the stone arches. Chancel arch in Early English style. Caen stone and alabaster reredos. Monument to John Pugh. Bells by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel, and recent clock by Joyce of Whitchurch.
• Wesleyan Chapel, with Gothic windows, now converted into a house called “The Arches”.
• Bethesda Presbyterian Chapel, Cefn y Coed. Low building with three bays of cambered sash windows and porch. Founded 1840, but possibly the building is later. A good example of a simple rural chapel. Closed in 2008 and currently unused.

  Notable buildings and bridges

• Cefn Bryntalch. The house of 1867–69 by G F Bodley is an important early example of the Queen Anne revival. The house was completed by Philip Webb. The client was Richard Jones, who had made a fortune in the flannel trade. The exterior is cleanly detailed and well-executed in red brick, with prominent string-courses. The south front with three big gables and a balance of irregular chimneys and near-regular windows, and many C18 features – a hipped roof, two bays, sash-windows, and the central Venetian window. The symmetrical entrance front is rather a C17 vernacular – the west front is picturesque and irregular in contrast, an asymmetrical gable anchored by a shafted chimney; lower tile-hung wing. The interior is neo-Georgian, though the plan is arranged with the main sides at right-angles. The rear Courtyard has one side – a low service range extends from the house, with a stringcourse, and pediment over the doorway. At the North end, a large barn with timber-framing picturesquely closes the vista.
• Rectory. 1812–14 by the Shrewsbury architect Joseph Bromfield. An attractive and well-preserved Regency design. Stuccoed, with hipped roofs and hoodmoulded windows. The original front was of three bays. The low hip-roofed tower to the rear gives the air of a picturesque Tuscan villa. The interior of the house was modified, bay windows and a new brick wing were added by Thomas Penson in 1858 for the Rev Henry Foulkes. In 1865, the east range was added to match by Thomas Garland, clerk of works to Thomas Henry Wyatt. He also renewed the veranda, keeping the original iron stanchions, but adding wooden circles in the spandrels of the arcade. Grade II listed.
• Former School, opposite the church and built at the same time. By the architect Thomas Henry Wyatt. Now Village Hall Two-bay school with truncated chimney; gabled master's house. The interior contains some woodwork from the old church's box pews. The building has recently been restored and a weatherboarded extension added to the south.
• Phipp's Tenement. Three-bay farmhouse built of substantial square-timber framing. The dormer gable is dated 1630. At right angles to the main building a timber framed barn.
• Plas Robin. An old stone house which stood on the opposite side of the road to Phipp's Tenement. Demolished before 1960.
• Oak House and Smithy, built mainly of local Llandyssil siltstone and dating c1700, with surviving “Montgomeryshire” iron-framed windows. Possibly an Inn when the Old Coach road came through the village. Became the village shop when the Upper House was built. Shop owned by the Varley family and closed in 1959/60.
• The Upper House. Built as a Public House pre 1849. The village Quoits Court was behind the Pub until 2003.
• Brynderwen Bridge - in the old Llandyssil parish, close to Abermule. A single 109-ft span across the Severn on five iron girders. Designed by Thomas Penson. The openwork lettering on the outer ones reads 'This second iron bridge constructed in the county of Montgomery was erected in the year 1852'; 'Thomas Penson, County Surveyor'; 'Brymbo Company, Ironfounders'. The bridge came from Brymbo Ironworks, later steelworks, near Wrexham, and would have been transported to the site by the Montgomeryshire Canal. Grade II* listed.
• Fron Footbridge. An elegant iron suspension footbridge over the river Severn, taking a footpath from Severn Villa to Lower Llegodig Farm. Built in 1926 by David Rowell & Co, London bridge builders in 1926.
• Middle Llegodig. Timber-framed lobby-entry house of c. 1700, a late example of its type. In the later C18, the eaves were raised and a matching bay added to the right.
• Fronfraith Hall, designed by James Pickard of Shrewsbury, c1860 for ?Morris Jones. West wing burnt down in 1966.

  Quoiting

Sheep Dog Trials

Notable people

• John Billington British Junior High Jump Champion. AAA championships at Birmingham, 1954, when he cleared 6'0".
• Julie Christie, Oscar winning film actress. Lived at Whitehall, Cefn y Coed, in Llandyssil 1981–2010.
• Senator Rupert Davies, Canadian politician and newspaper editor, who was born in Welshpool, purchased Fronfraith Hall in 1932 and continued to use it as his home in Wales until he sold it in 1948.
• Diz Disley , jazz guitarist. Lived in Oak Cottages in the 1930s.
• Henry Powell Ffoulkes. Rector of Llandyssil 1857–1879 and Archdeacon of Montgomery 1861–1886. Ffoulkes demolished the old Church in Llandyssil, amid considerable criticism. He built the new church on its present site in 1863 at the cost of £3000. He also arranged for the building of the school and schoolhouse. He was a member of the Oxford Movement. A manuscript history of Llandyssil by Foulkes has recently been deposited in the Powys County Archives.
• Peter Warlock - alias Philip Heseltine. Composer. Lived at Cefn Bryntalch. Composed many of his more important works there and played the organ in Llandyssil Church.
• Nigel Heseltine, writer and colonial administrator. An illegitimate son of Peter Warlock, who was brought up by the Buckley Jones family at Cefn Bryntalch.
• Rear Admiral Sir Charles Thomas Jones, third son of Charles Thomas Jones of Fronfraith. Saw distinguished service in the Royal Navy and was knighted in 1809. High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire 1832.
• Brigadier General Lumley O W Jones, son of Richard and Catherine Jones of Cefn Bryntalch. Brigadier General commanding the 13th Infantry Brigade. Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Died of pneumonia 14 September 1918 aged 41 and buried at the Bagneux British Cemetery at Gezaincourt. He had started the war as a captain in 2nd Essex Regiment, and took part in nearly every battle on the Western Front. He was the last of 12 British General Officers to die on the Somme.
• Richard Morgan. Lived at Fronfraith. MP for Montgomery Boroughs 1592-3. He was married to Margaret Lloyd, daughter of Thomas Lloyd of Gwernabuarth.
• Robert Morgan. Third son of Richard Morgan MP of Fronfraith. In 1660 he became Archdeacon of Merioneth, and he was consecrated Bishop of Bangor in 1666.
• Brian Sewell, art historian and media personality. The illegitimate son of the composer Peter Warlock. For the first three years of his life, he was brought up at Cefn Bryntalch by his mother, Mary Jessica Perkins, who married Robert Sewell in 1936.
• George Thomas, writer and poet. In 1817 he married Bridget Stoakes of Kerry at Llandyssil, and lived for the remainder of his life in the parish at Bank Farm. Clerk to the Governors of the Montgomery Workhouse, and also observed the Chartist Uprisings, about which he wrote a poem. He became the first postmaster of Llandyssil. In 1817 he wrote a poem about Otter Hunting, and his involvement in the sport with John Lloyd of the Court, Abermule is commemorated by a painting in the National Museum of Wales.
• Iolo Williams. Naturalist and television presenter. Lives in Llandyssil.

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