s The
Treaty of Montgomery was signed on 29 September 1267, in the town of Montgomery, which had recently been established as an English incursion on the Welsh side of the border, to control a strategic border crossing. The surrounding region (on the Welsh side of the border) otherwise comprised the mediaeval principality of
Powys Wenwynwyn, the southern of the two states into which the
Kingdom of Powys had been divided a century before. Attacks by
Gwynedd on Powys Wenwynwyn led the latter to seek the assistance of the English. Ultimately this led them to convert their territory into a
marcher lordship, via
surrender and regrant, as a way to strengthen their position; the ruling princes of Powys Wenwynwyn became the
Lords of Powys, feudally bound to the English king, and able to fully rely on English backing, but otherwise independent. The prince took an English-style surname - Owen de-la Pole - after his capital city, Pool (now
Welshpool). With the introduction of the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 the marcher lordships were converted into English counties. The Lordship of Powys – the former Powys Wenwynwyn – became Montgomeryshire; the county town being Montgomery, the strongest centre of English authority in the region, rather than centre of Welsh authority, Welshpool. Montgomeryshire was thus ultimately formed from the
cantrefi of Powys Wenwynwyn: •
Y Fyrnwy (
commotes of
Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr,
Mechain Is Coed and Llanerch Hudol) • Llyswynaf (commotes of
Caereinion and
Mechain Uwch Coed) •
Ystlyg (commotes of
Deuddwr,
Ystrad Marchell and
Y Gorddwr Isaf) •
Cedewain (commotes of
Cynan,
Cyfeiliog and
Mawddwy) •
Arwystli (commotes of Arwystli Is Coed and Arwystli Uwch Coed) In addition, for practical reasons, Montgomeryshire gained the commote of
Ceri, which had formed a northwards spur of the less organised region
Between Wye and Severn; most of the rest of the latter region became
Radnorshire. Montgomeryshire was bordered, to the north, by
Denbighshire, to the east and south east by
Shropshire, to the south by
Radnorshire, to the south west by
Cardiganshire, and to the west and north west by
Merionethshire. When, in subsequent centuries, the concept of
Wales was once again officially distinguished from
England, all of these counties were deemed
Welsh, except for Shropshire. Montgomeryshire was the birthplace of Welsh Catholic martyr
Saint Richard Gwyn (in 1537). The Welsh name for the county of Montgomery was , leading to the shorter Welsh name .
Local government , Severn Street, Welshpool: Built 1931 as headquarters of Montgomeryshire County Council Elected county councils were established in
1889 under the
Local Government Act 1888 to take over the local government functions previously exercised by the
quarter sessions. Although the county was named after
Montgomery, by 1889 the quarter sessions were instead held at both
Newtown and
Welshpool, and the new county council chose to continue meeting in both towns in its early years. Montgomeryshire County Council held its first formal meeting on 1 April 1889 at the Public Rooms (also known as the Flannel Exchange) in Newtown. In 1931 the county council opened a new headquarters building in Welshpool, called the Montgomeryshire County Offices or
Neuadd Maldwyn. The county council remained based at Neuadd Maldwyn until its abolition in 1974. Until 1974, Montgomeryshire was divided into
civil parishes for the purpose of local government; these in large part equated to
ecclesiastical parishes (see the table below), most of which still exist as part of the Church in Wales. 1a chapelry to
Alberbury in Shropshire 2a chapelry to
Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in Denbighshire Local government reforms in 1974 combined the administrative areas of Montgomeryshire,
Radnorshire and
Brecknockshire together to form a new administrative county called
Powys. A new district of Montgomeryshire was established as a lower-tier district authority within Powys, with the district's area matching the former administrative county. The district council took over Neuadd Maldwyn in Welshpool to serve as its headquarters, and also retained the former offices of the abolished
Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn Urban District Council at Newtown Hall Park as an area office. Further local government reform in 1996 abolished district councils in Wales, making Powys a
unitary authority. From 1996 until 2018
Powys County Council had a Montgomeryshire
area committee covering the former Montgomeryshire district plus three communities formerly in the
Glyndŵr district of
Clwyd (historically
Denbighshire) which were transferred to Powys in 1996. The three area committees for the former counties were abolished in 2018. == District ==