Powys at Encyclopediaku

This article is about the county in Wales. For other uses, see Kingdom of Powys and Powys (surname).

County of Powys
Sir Powys


Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 1st 5,179 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Llandrindod Wells
ISO 3166-2	GB-POW
ONS code	00NN (ONS) W06000023 (GSS)
Demographics
Population: - (2011) - Density	Ranked 11th 133,000 Ranked 22nd 25 / km²
Ethnicity	99.3% White
Welsh language - Any skills	Ranked 7th 30.1%
Politics
Powys County Council Powys.gov.uk
Control	Independent
MPs	Roger Williams Glyn Davies
AMs	Karen Sinclair Mick Bates Kirsty Williams (Constituency) North Wales (Part) Mid and West Wales (Part) (Regional)
MEPs	Wales

Powys (/ˈpaʊ.ɪs/; Welsh: [ˈpowɪs]) is a principal area, local-government county and preserved county in Mid Wales.

Geography

See the list of places in Powys for all towns and villages in Powys.

Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.

It is bounded to the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham; to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by Shropshire and Herefordshire; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire and Neath Port Talbot.

Most of Powys is mountainous, with north-south transport being difficult.

The majority of the Powys population lives in villages and small towns. The largest towns are Newtown, Ystradgynlais, Brecon, and Welshpool with populations of 12,783, 9,004, 7,901 and 6,269 respectively (2001). Powys has the lowest population density of all the principal areas of Wales.

Just under a third of the residents have Welsh linguistic skills: Welsh speakers are concentrated mainly in the rural areas both in and around Machynlleth, Llanfyllin and Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant (where William Morgan first translated the whole Bible into Welsh in 1588) in Montgomeryshire (Welsh: Sir Drefaldwyn), and the industrial area of Ystradgynlais in the extreme south-west of Brecknockshire (Welsh: Sir Frycheiniog). Radnorshire (Welsh: Sir Faesyfed) was almost completely Anglicised by the end of the 18th century.

For a table of the current distribution of Welsh speakers see the website [1]

History

The county is named after the ancient Welsh/British Kingdom of Powys, which in the sixth century AD included the northern two thirds of the area as well as most of Shropshire and adjacent areas now in England, and came to an end when it was occupied by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of Gwynedd during the 1260s.

In December 2007 Powys was awarded Fairtrade County status by the Fairtrade Foundation.

Heraldry

The gold in the county coat of arms (see right) symbolises the wealth of the area. Black is for both mining and the Black Mountains. The fountain is a medieval heraldic charge displayed as a roundel barry wavy Argent and Azure. It represents water, and refers to both the water catchment area and the rivers and lakes. Thus the arms contain references to the hills and mountains, rivers and lakes, water supply and industry.

The crest continues the colouring of the arms. A tower has been used in preference to a mural crown, which alludes to the county's military history and remains. From the tower rises a red kite, a bird almost extinct elsewhere in Britain, but thriving here. The bird is "semy of black lozenges" for the former coal mining industry, while the golden fleece it carries is a reference to the importance of sheep rearing in Powys.

The county motto is: Powys - the paradise of Wales (Welsh: Powys Paradwys Cymru).

Government

Powys from 1974-1996.

Quality of life

Recent research suggests that Powys is the happiest place in the UK, however, even the researchers said the numbers were not statistically significant.