Unterwegs

Sights

Powis Castle

Built: 13th century.

Style: medieval.

History: unlike the castles of Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech and Montgomery, which were built by the English to subjugate the Welsh, the castle of Welshpool was built by the Welsh princes of Powys as a dynastic seat. The first mention of a castle dates back to 1111. It appears to have been a wooden structure built by Owain Cyfeiliog or his son, Gwenwynwyn. Gwenwynwyn’s son, Gruffydd, was granted permission by Edward I in 1282–1283 to retain his castle following the English conquest. In 1286, Gruffydd’s son, Owain ap Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, became the last hereditary Prince of Powys. In 1578, an illegitimate son of the last Baron Grey of Powis leased the estate to a distant relative, Sir Edward Herbert, who acquired the castle in 1587 and converted it into an Elizabethan country house. William Herbert, a supporter of Charles I, was granted the barony of Powis in 1629. Dispossessed during the English Civil War, he regained his estate upon the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. On the accession of James II in 1685, he became one of the new king’s principal ministers and followed James into exile in France, where he died in 1696. The castle remained in the Herbert family’s possession but was virtually in ruins by the end of the 18th century. It passed by marriage to the wealthy Clive family of the East Indies, who had the castle repaired and took the name Herbert. The last alterations to Powis Castle were undertaken in the early 20th century by George Frederick Bodley on behalf of George Charles Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis. On his death in 1952, he bequeathed the castle and gardens to the National Trust.

Current status: Powis Castle has been owned by the National Trust since 1952. However, the Earl of Powis and his family are still permitted to live in one wing of the castle under an agreement with the National Trust. The castle and its gardens attract around 200,000 visitors a year.

Distinguishing features: the gardens have survived the 18th-century fashion for English gardens and have retained their Italianate layout. The terraces were excavated between 1670 and 1705 under the direction of William Winde. Originally, the gardens comprised six terraces, which descended from the castle and culminated in a water garden. Winde had previously experimented with a similar terraced layout at Cliveden. The castle gardens are Grade I listed in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales; their listing describes them as the finest surviving Baroque gardens in Britain.

Listing: Grade I listed.

St Mary’s Church, Welshpool

Construction: 13th to 19th centuries.

History: Legend attributes the church’s foundation to St Cynfelin between the 5th and 6th centuries. The present church has 13th-century foundations, with a four-storey medieval tower, whilst the rest of the building reflects phases of reconstruction and restoration spanning from the 14th to the 19th century.

Features: it houses, notably, an organ by Henry ‘Father’ Willis, a late 16th-century funerary monument to Sir Edward Herbert, as well as an ornate communion table and pieces of antique furniture

Listing: Grade I listed.

Town Hall

Construction: 1874.

History: the first municipal building erected on this site was a guildhall dating back to at least 1629. The markets were moved there in 1761, and theologian John Wesley was refused entry by the bailiff when he attempted to preach there in 1769. In the 1860s, the town council deemed the building too small and it was demolished. The foundation stone of the present building was laid by Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis, on 15 September 1873. Designed by a local architect, Benjamin Lay, in the Neoclassical style, it was built of cut stone and completed in 1874. The building ceased to be the seat of local government following the creation of the enlarged Montgomeryshire District Council in 1974. It then became the meeting place for Welshpool Town Council. An extensive renovation programme, including the restoration of the clock, was completed in late 2012.

Characteristics: it features a quasi-symmetrical main façade comprising eight bays facing Broad Street. The central bay, which projects slightly, takes the form of a four-storey tower with a set of clock faces on the fourth storey, the whole surmounted by a pyramid-shaped roof fitted with a weather vane. The tower is 27 metres high. Inside, the main original rooms were the grain hall and the market hall, situated behind it, on the ground floor; on the first floor, there was a courtroom on the left and a council chamber on the right.

Listing: Grade II

Neuadd Maldwyn

Built: 1931.

History: Montgomeryshire County Council originally held its meetings in Montgomery, the county town. In the 1920s, its leaders decided to establish dedicated premises and chose a derelict site north of Severn Road in Welshpool. The new building, designed by Frank Gatley Briggs and Sir Arnold Thornely in the Neo-Georgian style, was constructed in red brick with stone cladding and completed in 1931. Following the 1974 local government reorganisation, the building became the headquarters of Montgomeryshire District Council and was subsequently downgraded in 1996 to serve as a regional office for Powys County Council. In 2018, Powys County Council decided that maintaining the building had become too costly and resolved to sell it to be converted into a care home. The new facility opened its doors in 2025.

Listing: Grade II listed.

Dingle Garden

In the hills of central Wales, 3 km from the market town of Welshpool, a small country lane leads to Dingle Nursery and its magnificent garden. The steep, south-facing slope descends towards two ponds, which are home to a wide variety of rare and unusual trees, ornamental shrubs and herbaceous plants. A partner of the Royal Horticultural Society, the garden, established in 1968, is the life’s work of Barbara and Roy Joseph. The garden was designed, planted and maintained by Barbie, supported by her husband, a nurseryman. Dingle is now run by her grandson Duncan and his wife Clare, with the support of the Joseph family and the nursery team. Dingle is also famous for its nursery, which offers a fine selection of perennials, shrubs and trees – both potted and bare-root – as well as rarer plants found in the garden.

Sights

Cardiff Castle

Built: 1091

Style: Norman fortified castle.

History: there were at least two Roman forts on the site. The first was probably built around 55 AD during the conquest of the Silures. The polygonal keep stands on a hill where the Roman castrum once stood. It still houses the cistern built around 1091 by Robert FitzHamon, Lord of Gloucester and conqueror of the Kingdom of Glamorgan. Following the failure of his attempt to wrest England from his brother Henry I, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy and eldest son of William the Conqueror, was imprisoned there from 1106 until his death in 1134. The castle, rebuilt in stone, was an important stronghold for the lords of the Clare and Despenser dynasties, the Earls of Warwick, Richard Plantagenet through his marriage to the Neville family, and the Herbert family, Earls of Pembroke. In the 18th century, the castle came into the possession of John Stuart (3rd Earl of Bute), a major landowner. His heirs developed quays for fishing, transforming Cardiff from a simple fishing village into a major port during the 19th century. At that time, a new castle was built, designed by William Burges, the Earl of Bute’s architect, in the emerging Victorian style. Years later, the castle was transferred to the city.

Listing: Grade I listed.

Millennium Stadium

Opened: 26 June 1999

Capacity: 74,000 spectators.

History: designed to replace the more than century-old Arms Park for the Rugby Union World Cup, the Millennium Stadium was opened in 1999. It cost £126 million to build, of which £46 million was funded by the National Lottery. The first match played there was a rugby union test match between the national teams of Wales and South Africa on 26 June 1999. Wales’s 29–19 victory was their first win against the South Africans. In 2015, the Welsh Rugby Union announced that the Millennium Stadium would be renamed Principality Stadium from 2016 for a period of ten years. Principality is a mutual bank that has sponsored the Welsh championship since 1969. However, it was referred to as the National Stadium of Wales for the 2016–2017 Champions League final, as UEFA rules prohibit the use of stadium names derived from sponsorship agreements.

Characteristics: with a total capacity reduced in 2019 to 73,931 seats (and 214 spaces for wheelchair users), the Principality Stadium is the third-largest stadium in the Six Nations Championship, behind the Stade de France and Twickenham. It is also the second-largest stadium in the world to feature a fully retractable roof. It is also the second-tallest building in Cardiff, after the BT Tower.

Llandaff Cathedral

Construction: from the 12th century.

Style: Gothic

History: this is Cardiff’s Anglican cathedral. The present building was constructed in the 12th century on the site of an older church. It was seriously damaged in 1400 during Owain Glyndwr’s rebellion, during the English Civil War and, finally, during the storm of 1703. As plans for reconstruction came to nothing, a new cathedral was built by John Prichard in the 1840s–1850s. In January 1941, during the Cardiff Blitz, the cathedral was once again severely damaged before being restored after the war. In February 2007, the organ was struck by lightning, and a new instrument was installed following a fundraising campaign that raised 1.5 million pounds.

Distinguishing features: it is famous for its men’s and boys’ choir and, more recently, its women’s choir. It is the final resting place of several notable figures, including Dubricius, a 6th-century evangelising saint; Meurig Tewdrig, King of Gwent; Teilo, a 6th-century priest; and numerous bishops from the 7th to the 19th centuries.

Listing: Grade I listed. A National Monument of Wales.

St David’s Cathedral

Construction: 19th century.

Style: Gothic

History: St David’s Cathedral is the Catholic cathedral and the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff. Following the arrival of 12,000 Catholics fleeing the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1840s, the need for a Catholic place of worship became apparent. The building was constructed in 1916 and became a cathedral and the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff. The cathedral was severely damaged by bombing in 1941, but following extensive restoration, it reopened in 1959.

Distinguishing features: The cathedral is famous for its choir. Founded in 1959 as the Boys’ Choir, it has expanded to include a junior girls’ choir and a senior girls’ choir. It now comprises around 65 boys and girls, choir students and professional lay clerics. All choristers are trained at the Choir School of St John’s College in Cardiff.

Listing: Grade II listed.

Town Hall

Built: 1906

Style: Edwardian.

History: built from limestone quarried on the Isle of Portland, this building became the fifth in the city to serve as the headquarters of Cardiff’s local authorities when it opened its doors in October 1906. Designed by the architects Lanchaster, Stewart and Rickards, its style draws inspiration from the English and French Renaissance.

Characteristics: the first landing of the Town Hall is adorned with marble statues depicting famous figures from Welsh history: Boudicca by J. Havard Thomas, Saint David by Sir William Goscombe, John Hywel Dda (Howell the Good) by F. W. Pomeray, Gerard of Wales by Henry Poole, Llywelyn II, the last reigning prince of Wales, by Henry Pegram, Dafydd ap Gwilym by W. W. Wagstaff, Owain Glyndwr by Alfred Turner, Henry VII by Ernest G. Gillick, Bishop William Morgan, the first translator of the Bible into Welsh, by T. J. Clapperton, William Williams Pantycelyn by L. S. Merrifield, and Sir Thomas Picton by T. Menburn Crook.

Listing: Grade I listed. National Monument of Wales.

Pierhead Building

Built: 19th century.

Opened: 1897

Style: Neo-Gothic.

History: built from 1894 onwards for the Bute Dock Company, which later became the Cardiff Railway Company, it served as the railway company’s dock offices in 1897 before being acquired by the Port of Cardiff in the 1940s to serve as its administrative headquarters. In 1998, it was leased to the Welsh Office with the aim of making it one of the buildings housing the National Assembly for Wales, which was to be established the following year. The lease was transferred to the Assembly in 2001, and since 2007 the building has been managed by the Assembly Commission, which became the Senedd Commission in 2020.

Distinguishing feature: the building’s clock tower, nicknamed ‘Baby Big Ben’ or ‘Welsh Big Ben’, serves as a museum of Welsh history.

Listing: Grade I listed

The Senedd (Parliament)

Construction: 2001 to 2006.

History and features: The Senedd is the seat of the Welsh Parliament. Situated in Cardiff Bay and in the immediate vicinity of the Pierhead building, construction began in 2001 and it was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006. The Senedd houses the Parliament’s chamber of deliberation, the Siambr (literally ‘the Chamber’), which covers 610 m², and three parliamentary committee rooms. The building, together with Pierhead and Tŷ Hywel, forms part of the Parliament complex. The Senedd is based on the concepts of sustainable architecture and techno-architecture.

Welsh National War Memorial

Established: 1928

History: this First World War memorial was erected in 1928 in Alexandra Gardens, within Cathays Park in Cardiff. The memorial also honours the memory of those who died in the Second World War.

Features: the memorial consists of a circular colonnade with, at its centre, a group of sculptures set upon a plinth. At the top of the plinth stands a statue of a winged Victory holding a sword, depicted in the likeness of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. At the base of the plinth are three sculptures of men holding up wreaths. Inscriptions in Welsh and English are carved on the monument.

Listing: Grade II listed.