DisgrifiadLlanidloes is the first town on the bank of the River Severn, and is famed for its timber-framed buildings. The town developed around St. Idloes? Church (NPRN 400311), believed to have been founded by the seventh century saint to whom it is dedicated. Llanidloes first appears in the historical record four hundred years later, in the tax survey of 1263. In 1280 Edward I confirmed by charter the town's right to hold a weekly market and annual fair, and the following century, in 1344, a further charter granted the town the right to self-government, a status it maintained until 1974.
A number of successful industries have flourished in Llanidloes; for example wool trade during the sixteenth century (NPRN 41034 etc.), flannel during the seventeenth and eighteenth (NPRN 41002 & 41064), lead smelting in the nineteenth (NPRN 308686 & 85419). In 1864 the Llanidloes railway station opened, and served as the head quarters of the Mid-Wales Railway, with three companies based in the station. Despite its limited size, the civil buildings of Llanidloes included a Town Hall (NPRN 32053), Market Hall (NPRN 32039) and Court House (NPRN 408407).
During the late eighteenth century Llanidloes was the only place in the country making flannel, before being outrivaled by Newtown. When the textile industry collapsed in the nineteenth century, Llanidloes famously became the centre of the Chartist Revolt, as rioters demanded democratic freedoms and seized the town for five days. Industry in the region has continued to decline since that time, and in 1974 it lost its borough status.
Source: Lewis S., A Topographical History of Wales, 1833
RCAHMW Inventory Documents
K Steele, RCAHMW, 5 January 2009
