Llanfyllin#Bodfach Hall

File:Valley Floor - geograph.org.uk - 689442.jpg near Llanfyllin]]

The town lies in the valley of the River Cain near the Berwyn Mountains in Montgomeryshire, {{convert|14|mi}} southwest of Oswestry and {{convert|15|mi}} from Montgomery. The River Cain is joined by the small River Abel in Llanfyllin (presumably named after Cain and Abel in the Bible), and meanders through the valley, flowing into the River Vyrnwy at Llansantffraid.{{cite web|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/MGY/Llanfyllin/Gaz1868.html|title=Llanfyllin|publisher=The National Gazetteer|year=1868|access-date=2012-02-11}}

The town lies between Shrewsbury and Bala, for a long time the key market towns in this area of Wales and the Welsh borders. At nearby Bodyddon there is evidence of an early British settlement. Llanfyllin may be the "Mediolanum among the Ordovices" described in Ptolemy's Geography ({{Circa|AD 150}}),Williams, Robert. [https://books.google.com/books?id=spYxAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA59 "A History of the Parish of Llanfyllin" in Collections Historical & Archaeological Relating to Montgomeryshire, Vol. III, p. 59]. J. Russell Smith (London), 1870. although others argue for MeifodNewman, John Henry & al. [http://www.mocavo.co.uk/Lives-of-the-English-Saints-St-Gilbert-Prior-of-Sempringham-Volume-3/527392/459 Lives of the English Saints: St. German, Bishop of Auxerre, Ch. X: "Britain in 429, A. D.", p. 92.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321234154/http://www.mocavo.co.uk/Lives-of-the-English-Saints-St-Gilbert-Prior-of-Sempringham-Volume-3/527392/459 |date=21 March 2016 }} James Toovey (London), 1844. or Caersws.Roman Britain Organisation. [http://www.roman-britain.org/places/caersws.htm "Mediomanum?" at Roman Britain] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401114019/http://www.roman-britain.org/places/caersws.htm |date=2007-04-01 }}. 2010.

File:St Myllin's Well, Llanfyllin.jpg

The town is known for its holy well, Fynnon Coed y Llan. The well is dedicated to Saint Myllin, who is reputed to have baptised people here in the sixth century.{{cite web|title=St.Myllin's Well Coed Y Llan, Llanfyllin|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-8633-st-myllin-s-well-coed-y-llan-llanfyllin#.VTFEBJP5d-4|access-date=17 April 2015}} The parish church is also dedicated to Saint Myllin. There is a tradition that Saint Myllin is the Irish bishop, Saint Mo Ling (also named Moling Luachra) (614–697). However, this is uncertain. There is no record of Mo Ling travelling to Wales, and there is a tradition that Myllin is buried under the altar of Llanfyllin church whereas Mo Ling is believed to have been buried at his monastery in Ireland.{{cite web|title=Church of St Myllin, Llanfyllin|url=http://www.cpat.demon.co.uk/projects/longer/churches/montgom/16860.htm|publisher=The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust|access-date=19 April 2015}}{{cite web|title=St Myllin's Church, Llanfyllin|url=http://www.mathrafal.org/parishes/myllin.htm|website=Mathrafal Deanery|access-date=19 April 2015}}{{cite book|last1=Webb|first1=Alfred|title=A Compendium of Irish Biography|date=1878|publisher=M. H. Gill & Son|location=Dublin|page=[https://archive.org/details/acompendiumiris00webbgoog/page/n350 342]|url=https://archive.org/details/acompendiumiris00webbgoog|access-date=19 April 2015}}{{cite book|last1=Baring-Gould|first1=Sabine|last2=Fisher|first2=John|title=The Lives of the British Saints, Volume 3|date=1911|publisher=The Honourable Society of the Cymmrodorion|location=London|page=489|url=https://archive.org/stream/livesofbritishsa03bariuoft#page/489/mode/2up/|access-date=21 April 2015}}

The medieval motte-and-bailey castle of Tomen yr Allt was probably destroyed by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1257. The castle earthworks are still present.{{cite web|title=Tomen Yr Allt Motte|url=http://www.cofiadurcahcymru.org.uk/arch/query/page.php?watprn=CPAT1476&dbname=cpat&tbname=core|website=The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust|access-date=24 April 2015}}{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=J Beverley|title=Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales|date=2014|publisher=University of Wales Press|page=99|isbn=9781783160075|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yl6uBwAAQBAJ&q=Tomen+yr+Allt&pg=PA99}}

Llanfyllin was granted a charter as a market town in 1293 by Llywelyn ap Dafydd under Edward{{nbsp}}I, one of only two Welsh towns to have received its charter from a native ruler. The charter was confirmed by Edward de Charlton, Lord of Powys under Henry{{nbsp}}V.{{cite web|last1=Steele|first1=K.|title=Llanfyllin|url=http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/400455/details/LLANFYLLIN/|website=Coflein|publisher=The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales|access-date=24 April 2015|date=3 January 2009}} Llanfyllin Town Hall, which dated from 1789,{{coflein|num=32054|desc=Town Hall, Llanfyllin|access-date=7 September 2023}} and served as the meeting place of the borough council, was demolished in 1960.{{cite web|url=https://cylchgronau.llyfrgell.cymru/view/1264487/1271700/45#?cv=45&m=37&xywh=-2992%2C-226%2C9001%2C4508|title=Montgomeryshire collections relating to Montgomeryshire and its borders|publisher=National Library of Wales|volume=85|year=1997|access-date=7 September 2023}}

Llanfyllin is noteworthy for the quality and quantity of its buildings in locally-made brick.{{cite book|last1=Haslam|first1=Richard|title=The Buildings of Wales: Powys|date=1992|publisher=Penguin Books, University of Wales Press|isbn=9780300096316|pages=131–136|edition=1 (with corrections)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4Afx2aoNicC&pg=PA134|access-date=12 May 2015}}

File:Llanfyllin-St Mylin's Church.jpg

The parish church of St Myllin (Church in Wales) was founded in the seventh century, according to tradition by St Myllin. The present building which dates to around 1706 is mainly of locally-made red brick with battlements and a Welsh slate roof. It has a tower with six bells. It was adapted and extended by 1863 in the neo-Norman style, and restored in 1959.{{cite web|last1=Steele|first1=K.|title=St Myllin's Church, Llanfyllin|url=http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/400220/details/ST+MYLLIN%27S+CHURCH%2C+LLANFYLLIN/|website=Coflein|publisher=The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales|access-date=24 April 2015|date=17 November 2008}}

Pendref Chapel (Congregationalist) is said to be the oldest Welsh independent church in Powys. In 1640 its first minister was Vavasor Powell. The chapel was initially built in 1708; it was destroyed in the Jacobite rising of 1715, and was re-erected at government expense. The present building dates from 1829.

A late-15th or early-16th century hall house at Rhosfawr ({{Coord|52.7844|-3.3395|display=inline}}) near Llanfyllin, it is a Grade II* listed building. It has been used as a barn since the 17th century and has never been altered, and is perhaps the most complete and unaltered medium-sized hall house in Wales. It consists of four bays, crucks at the gables, a central truss, box-frame trusses and two tiers of trenched purlins with heavy curved wind braces. The central bays formed the hall.{{cite web|title=Cruck Barn at Rhosfawr, Cwm Nant Fyllon, Llanfyllin|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-8641-cruck-barn-at-rhosfawr-cwm-nant-fyllon-lla#.VTfC2ZP5d-4|publisher=British Listed Buildings}}

An historic house known as The Hall still exists on Vine Square within the town.{{cite web|title=The Hall, Vine Square, Llanfyllin|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-8627-the-hall-vine-square-llanfyllin#.VTFEEZP5d-4|publisher=British Listed Buildings|access-date=17 April 2015}} Its origins as Plas Uchaf (Welsh for Upper Hall) are 16th century. It is a T-shaped two-storey timber-framed building with an attached open hall. It was remodelled in about 1599, adding a floor in the hall and stairs between the house and the hall. It was further remodelled in 1832 with the addition of an extra storey and three gables facing the square. King Charles{{nbsp}}I stayed at The Hall in November 1643. The Hall is Grade II listed.

File:Parkland at Bodfach Hall - geograph.org.uk - 559379.jpg

File:Bodfach house, watercolour.jpg

Bodfach Hall is a Grade{{nbsp}}II listed building about 1 km north-west of Llanfyllin in the hamlet of Bodfach.{{cite web|title=BODFACH HALL|url=http://www.coflein.gov.uk/pdf/CPG365/|publisher=Coflein|access-date=22 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052910/http://www.coflein.gov.uk/pdf/CPG365/|archive-date=4 March 2016}} It is likely that a house was built on the site after the destruction in 1257 of Tomen yr Allt, a motte-and-bailey castle which stood on one of the hills above it.{{cite web|title=A Brief History Of Bodfach Hall, Montgomeryshire|url=http://www.bodfachtrust.org.uk/history_of_bodfach_hall.php|publisher=The Bodfach Trust}} The property is first recorded in 1160 in the will of Madog ap Maredudd, Prince of Powys. Sion Kyffin, a descendant of Madog, extended a house on the site in 1661, as recorded in an inscription above an old door on the west of the house. The house was considerably modified and extended over the years and was rebuilt {{Circa|1870}}. In 1945 the estate was broken up; most of the land was bought by its tenant farmers, and the hall and 33 acres were sold to one buyer to become an hotel. The grounds of the hall are listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.{{NHAW|uid=365|num=PGW(Po)55(POW)|desc=Bodfach Hall |class=HPG|access-date=6 February 2023}}

Llanfyllin Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1909 in Bodfach Park; the president was Sir John Lomax, the owner of Bodfach Hall and former High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire. It was a 9-hole course with a membership of 40 in 1914. It disappeared after World War I.{{cite web|title=Llanfyllin Golf Club, Powys.|url=http://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/wales-64/1054-llanfyllin-golf-club-powys|website=Golf's Missing Links|access-date=22 April 2015}}

File:Llanfyllin Workhouse - the west courtyard - geograph.org.uk - 2196351.jpg

Llanfyllin is also increasingly well known for the old Union Workhouse, known as {{Language with name/for|cy|Y Dolydd|The Meadows|links=no}}) locally, and built in 1838.{{cite web|title=Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire|url=http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Llanfyllin/}}{{cite web|title=Llanfyllin and district- The Union Workhouse - A Victorian prison for the poor|url=http://history.powys.org.uk/school1/llanfyllin/workmenu.shtml|publisher=Victorian Powys}} This old Victorian building had stood empty since the mid-1980s until a local voluntary group, the Llanfyllin Workhouse Project, started to renovate it for community use.{{cite web|title=Llanfyllin Workhouse - The Project|url=http://www.the-workhouse.org.uk/}} The first phase of the restoration was completed in 2021.{{Cite web |title=Celebration for volunteers as works completed at landmark Powys building |url=https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/19484426.celebration-renovation-works-completed-landmark-powys-building/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=County Times |language=en}}

The Llanfyllin Workhouse Festival was held at the Union Workhouse until 2013.{{cite web|title=Workhouse Festival, Llanfyllin|url=http://www.northwales.co.uk/features/workhouse-festival-llanfyllin-powys/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606165751/http://www.northwales.co.uk/features/workhouse-festival-llanfyllin-powys/ |archive-date=6 June 2009}}{{cite web |title=Workhouse Festival |url=https://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/workhouse |website=e-festivals |access-date=22 April 2023}}

• William Morgan (1545–1604), translator of the Bible into Welsh, was appointed rector of Llanfyllin in 1579. He was at the same time vicar of nearby Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. He was later Bishop of Llandaff and of St Asaph.{{Cite DNB |first=John Edward|last=Lloyd|wstitle=Morgan, William (1540?-1604)|volume=39}}
• Tomos Prys (Thomas Price) (c.1564–1634), soldier, sailor, buccaneer and poet, is said to have lived in The Hall.{{cite book|last1=The Royal Commission on The Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire|title=An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, Vol. 1 - County of Montgomery|date=1911|publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office|location=London|pages=95–97|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPQLAnNkbPUC&q=Bodyddon+roman+road&pg=PA97}}
• Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine (1634–1705), courtier, diplomat and politician lived in The Hall. He was the husband of Charles{{nbsp}}II's mistress Barbara Palmer and was James{{nbsp}}II's ambassador to the Vatican.{{Cite ODNB |author=R. A. P. J. Beddard |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/21209 |title=Palmer, Roger, earl of Castlemaine}}
• David Miall Edwards (1873–1941), a Welsh Non-conformist writer and theologian.
• Clement Davies (1884–1962), leader of the Liberal Party, 1945 to 1956.
• Robert Richards (1884–1954), Labour politician and Under-Secretary of State for India, 1924. He attended the County School in the town.
• Susannah Jane Rankin (1897–1989), Congregational minister, linguist and missionary in Papua New Guinea.
• Rama Samaraweera (1926–2021), artist, lived, worked and died in Llanfyllin.
• Ryan Davies (1937–1977), entertainer, lived at the Union Workhouse as a child, when his parents were managing an old-people's home in the building.{{Cite ODNB |author=Kate Woodward |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/101155|title=Davies, (Thomas) Ryan}}
• Elizabeth Vaughan (born 1937), soprano, was born in Llanfyllin.{{cite encyclopedia |entry=Vaughan, Elizabeth |encyclopedia=Grove Music Online |date=2002 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.o003818 |last1=Loppert |first1=Max}}
• Eric Ramsay (football manager) (1991–), football manager, grew up in Llanfyllin and attended Llanfyllin High School.{{cite magazine |last=Grosvenor |first=Gavin |date=19 November 2020 |title=Ramsay's rise from Llanfyllin school field to Chelsea backroom staff |url=https://www.bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk/news/llanfyllin/18882846.ramsays-rise-llanfyllin-school-field-chelsea-backroom-staff/ |magazine=Oswestry & Border Counties Advertizer |access-date=26 September 2024}}

Llanfyllin Council forms the lowest tier of local government and has twelve councillors.

Llanfyllin is an electoral ward of Powys County Council. It is represented by one county councillor who, since 2008, has been Welsh Conservative Party representative Peter Lewis.{{cite web|url=http://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Powys-1995-2012.pdf |title=Powys 1995-2012 |publisher=The Elections Centre|access-date=23 January 2018}}

The town has a primary school, and the bilingual Llanfyllin High School with approximately 1,000 pupils from the town and the surrounding area, about a quarter of whom travel from Shropshire, over the English border. The 2009 inspection of the high school reported GCSE examination results as well above the local and national average.{{cite web|last1=Thomas|first1=William Gwyn|title=A report on the quality of education in Llanfyllin High School|url=http://www.estyn.gov.uk/download/publication/81654.3/inspection-reportllanfyllin-high-schooleng2009/|publisher=Estyn|date=25 June 2009|access-date=23 April 2015}}

File:Llanfyllin Station 2026003 b6febe8b.jpg

The town sits on the main route between Welshpool and Bala. The A490 road connects the town to Churchstoke, and terminates just after passing through the town.

The Llanfyllin Branch of the Cambrian Railways opened in 1863, to provide access to the limestone quarries along the valley, terminating at {{rws|Llanfyllin}} station.{{cite web|url=http://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/llanymyn/llanym.htm|title=Llanymynech Heritage Area|publisher=Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust|access-date=2012-02-10}} The main line from {{rws|Oswestry}} to {{rws|Newtown (Powys)}} closed in 1965, as did the branch line to Llanfyllin, under the Beeching cuts.

The main bus service is the number 76 to Welshpool operated by Tanat which runs Monday to Saturday.{{Cite news |last=Sheridan|first=Mike|date=2021-06-20|title='Lifeline' Llanfyllin bus route will return|url=https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/local/llanfyllin/19384269.delight-llanfyllin-bus-route-restored/ |access-date=2021-06-23|work=County Times|language=en}}

File:Field outside Llanfyllin (geograph 3098637) (cropped).jpg

{{main|Lonely Tree}}

The Lonely Tree of Llanfyllin was a large Scots pine in an isolated position on Green Hall Hill above the town (at {{Coord|52.7624|-3.2506|display=inline|type:landmark}}). It was estimated to have been 200 years old. It featured in several local traditions: it was hugged for good fortune, marriages were proposed at the tree and cremation ashes were scattered beneath it.{{cite news|last1=Vidal|first1=John|title=Welsh town comes together to save 'Lonely Tree'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/08/welsh-town-llanfyllin-lonely-tree-winds-hurricane|access-date=5 March 2015|work=The Guardian|date=8 March 2014}}

The Lonely Tree was named Wales Tree of the Year 2014 by the Woodland Trust, and was entered in the 2015 European Tree of the Year competition.{{cite web|title=Llanfyllin's 'Lonely Tree' is Wales' tree of the year|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-30167814|website=BBC News|access-date=5 March 2015|date=23 November 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Barkham|first1=Patrick|title=It's the Eurovision for trees! Which one will you root for?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/04/its-the-eurovision-for-trees-which-one-will-you-root-for|access-date=5 March 2015|work=The Guardian|date=4 March 2015}} It fell in a storm in February 2014. An unsuccessful attempt was made to rescue it by packing its roots with nearly sixty tonnes of earth.{{cite web|last1=Williams|first1=Sally|title=Wales' majestic Lonely Tree has died a year after being felled by storms|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-majestic-lonely-tree-died-9398931|website=Wales Online|access-date=24 November 2015|date=5 June 2015}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite web|title=Llanfyllin|url=http://www.cpat.org.uk/ycom/mont/llanfyllin.pdf|website=Historic Settlement Survey - Montgomeryshire|publisher=Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3104619 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llanfyllin and surrounding area]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_VGEQ6TJG0 Video and narration of St Myllin's Well]

{{Powys}}

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Category:Towns in Powys

Category:Communities in Powys

Category:Wards of Powys

Category:Registered historic parks and gardens in Powys