Powys

ounty of mid Wales. Powys County Council
owns and cities	The administrative centre of Powys is Llandrindod Wells. Other main towns are Brecon, Builth Wells, Newtown and Welshpool. Llandrindod Wells is a delightful Victorian Spa town which for one weekend in August, returns to Victorian times when the whole town dresses in Victorian clothing. Llandrindod Wells is also the home of the Welsh national bowls centre. Welsh is spoken by almost a quarter of the population. Knighton and Rhayader are important market towns.
rea	5,179 sq. km / 1,999 sq. miles.
opulation	(1996)123,600
opography	The north is almost wholly mountainous, a large portion consisting of bleak elevated moorland, but towards the English border there are several open, fertile and well-wooded valleys. Over one- half of the central district is 300 m / 1,000 ft or more above sea-level, the highest point being at 660 m / 2,165 ft in Radnor Forest. In the south the main geological formation is that of the Old Red Sandstone (Devonian System). The World Bog Snorkeling Championships are held in Llanwrtyd Wells every year where competitors have to swim the length and back of a dyke filled with dark peat stained water. On the border to Denbighshire in the Berwyn mountains is Pistyll Rhaeadr. Silver plumes of spray emanate from water falling 240 feet through hanging gardens of rock and beech. On the southern boundary this is overlain by Carboniferous limestone. In more central areas older Silurian rocks are exposed. There is evidence that the area was heavily glaciated.The Brecon Beacons National Park, the Black Mountains, the rivers Wye and Severn, which both rise on the eastern slopes of Plynlimon, and Lake Vyrnwy, an artificial reservoir supplying Liverpool and Birmingham. Main rivers include the Dovey , Taff, Tawe, Teme and Usk.
ommerce	Agriculture is the main occupation of the area. Much arable and dairy farming is undertaken on the lower valley lands, especially on the fertile alluvial soils of the Usk and Wye region. The central district belongs almost entirely to the basin of the Severn, where a pure breed of Welsh ponies is reared and where Welsh flannel manufacture was extensively carried out. The River Teme has good trout fishing. Afforestation has been undertaken extensively in the north; forestry and quarrying are undertaken in the south; and limestone is worked in the central areas.
amous people	The writer and MP George Herbert lived in the region, as did the philanthropist and manufacturer Robert Owen.
ttractions	Lake Vyrnwy Artificial lake, length 8 km / 5 miles. It was constructed 1890-1905 in order to supply water to Liverpool, 110 km / 68 miles to the northeast. The name is that of a tributary of the Severn used to fill the lake. The B4393 encompases the Lake with stop off points for walkers and bird watchers to take in the wonderful view. To the West of the lake is the Cambrian Mountain range which includes the picturesque Hirnant Pass linking to Bala Lake in Gwynedd. there is a visitor centre at the East end of the lake adjacent to the Dam. The countryside surrounding the Brecon Beacons is renowned for pot-holing, and the peaks, or “beacons”, are named from their use as sites for lighting signal fires. Hay-on-Wye is a pretty market town which is crossed by Offa’s Dyke Path. There is an alternative technology centre near Machynlleth (Celtica). Near Rhayader are the Elan Valley and Claerwen reservoirs owned by local authorities in the West Midlands of England. Four dams have been built on this river to form reservoirs for the city of Birmingham. On the River Claerwen, a tributary of the Elan, one of the highest gravity dams in Great Britain (height 56 m / 183 ft, length 355 m / 1,165 ft) has been constructed to create another reservoir The highest peaks of the area are Pen y Fan (885 m / 2,904 ft) in the Brecon Beacons, Waun Fach (811 m / 2,660 ft) in the Black Mountains, and Carmarthen Van (802 m / 2,630 ft) in the Black Mountain range. Some 5 km / 3 miles west of Brecon is Y Gaer, the Roman Bannium, an excavated walled fort. The 14th-century fortified manor house of Tretower Court and the adjacent Norman tower 5 km / 3 miles from Crickhowell are ancient monuments. In the Vale of Ewyas are the ruins of Llanthony Abbey, which was founded early in the 12th century.