Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for RHAYADER

RHAYADER, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred, in Radnor. The town stands on the river Wye, and on the Mid-Wales railway, 14 miles S of Llanidloes; was originally called Rhaiadr-Gwy, signifying "the cararact of the Wye; " took thatname from a slight river-fall which was almost destroyed in 1780, by operations for building a bridge; had acastle, built in 1178 by Rhys ap Gruffydd, burnt in 1231by Llewelyn, and demolished in the civil wars of Charles I.; had also a cell to Strata-Florida abbey; is a boroughby prescription, governed by a bailiff; unites with Presteigne, New Radnor, Knucklas, Knighton, and Cefnllys in sending a member to parliament; was once a seat of assizes; is now a seat of county courts and a polling-place; occupies a situation of much beauty, amid a tract of barren hills; serves as a centre to tourists forexploring circumjacent scenery; consists chiefly of fourstreets, intersecting at right angles; and has a head post-office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, a good inn, a town hall built in 1768, a church, three dissenting chapels, an endowed school with £11 a year, and a bequest of £2,000 for a divinity lecture. Markets are heldon Wednesdays and Saturdays; and fairs, on 6 and 27 Aug., 26 Sept., 14 Oct., and 3 Dec. The borough includes all R. parish and part of Dyffryngwy township. Pop. in 1851, 1,007; in 1861, 1,030. Houses, 214. The parish was disjoined from Nantmel in 1735. Acres, 1 88. Real property, £1, 598. Pop., 846. Houses, 183. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of St. Davids. Value, £75.* Patron, the Vicar of Nantmel.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Cwmtoyddwr, St. Harmon, Abbey-cwm-Hir, and Llanwrthwl, the last electorally in Brecon. Acres, 74,004. Pop., 3, 639. Houses, 679. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Nantmel, containing the parishes of Nantmel, Llanfihangel-Helygen, Llanyre, Cefnllys, and Llan-badarn-fawr. Acres of the district, 105, 532. Poor-rates in 1863, £4,085. Pop. in 1851, 6, 796; in 1861, 6, 816. Houses, 1, 219. Marriages in 1863, 58; births, 231, of which 41 were illegitimate; deaths, 175, of which 69 were at ages under 5 years, and 6 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 410; births, 2, 279; deaths, 1, 213. The places of worship, in 1851, were 11 of the Church of England, with 2, 586 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 1, 390 s.; 8 of Baptists, with1, 538 s.; 5 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 272 s.; and 4of Calvinistic Methodists, with 537 s. The schools were 5 public day-schools, with 267 scholars; 6 private day-schools, with 177 s.; and 20 Sunday schools, with 1,002s. The hundred comprises six of the same parishes as the district. Acres, 67, 935. Pop., 4, 853. Houses, 884.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Rhaeadr AP/CP       Rhaeadr Hundred       Rhayader SubD       Rhayader RegD/PLU       Radnorshire AncC
Place names: RHAIADR GWY     |     RHAYADER
Place: Rhaeadr

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