516-0

Newtown to Montgomery

Image: Newtown, Montgomeryshire. Newtown and Montgomery were larger than Llanidloes, but also combined industrial activity in a rural setting

“(Newtown) is a large, irregular market-town…Lying in a beautiful valley of meadow and pasture, it is bounded on each side of the stream by moderately rising hills, most of which are mantled with wood.

Here is the chief manufactory of Welch flannels, the weaving and spinning of which are carried on in several buildings in and next to the town….Nothing can divest the mountain-sheep of the country of the fineness of their fleece, which is of short staple, and admirably adapted to the purpose.

From Newtown, the Montgomery canal accompanies the Severn for many miles. Much business is transacted on it, in the conveyance of lime, coal, slate and timber.

Although Montgomery is the county town, it was, no further back than the year 1756, little more than a village in extent….Formerly it contained only about two hundred timber–and-plaister dwellings, forming a single street; but the houses are now chiefly of brick, roofed with slate: altogether its appearance is remarkably clean and neat, and around the market-place it is not without some pretension to elegance. The circumjacent scenery indicates fertility of soil; and, from the number of pretty cottages of a superior class, which occupy the most agreeable spots in the environs, it may be said to possess considerable attractions for persons of moderate fortune, fond of good society, and of the inexpensive enjoyments of life. The process of tanning is carried on to some extent in this town; but its general traffic is not considerable. Here, however are five annual fairs for horses, sheep, and horned cattle.

The surrounding country is luxuriantly rich in meadow and corn land; and the views, in every direction, are extensively and beautifully diversified.”

Harral, vol.1, p 24-28, 38-57.


People:
Image creators: Image from Thomas Harral, Picturesque Views of the Severn, 1824.
Image courtesy of: Shropshire Records and Research


Continue browsing this section

1532-0A Journey down the Severn from Thomas Harral’s Picturesque Views of the River (1824) 562-0Introduction: the Severn Waterway 517-0Poetry and Visions of the River Severn 514-0The Severn and its Origins in Wales 516-0Newtown to Montgomery 518-0Powis Castle to Welshpool 519-0Welshpool to Shrewsbury 520-0Shrewsbury 521-0The English Bridge, Shrewsbury 522-0The Welsh Bridge, Shrewsbury 524-0Atcham Bridge, Shropshire 525-0The Wrekin 526-0Buildwas Bridge and the Severn Earthquake of 1773 529-0Coalbrookdale and the Ironbridge 530-0Madeley, Broseley and Lilleshall 535-0Bridgnorth 536-0Bridgnorth’s Economy 537-0Bridgnorth Castle 538-0Quatford and the nearby Landscape 539-0Bewdley 540-0The Wyre Forest 542-0Stourport 543-0Stourport Bridge 545-0Worcester 546-0Worcester to Upton-on-Severn 547-0Tewkesbury 550-0Gloucester 551-0Gloucester’s Economy and the Severn Trade