Welsh Journals

GROWTH AND CHANGE IN LLANDRINDOD WELLS SINCE 1868 I. E. JONES The modern town of Llandrindod Wells is little more than a hundred years old, for although the strategic significance of the north-south trending basin of the Ithon was appreciated by both the Romans and Normans, who established an auxiliary fort and a castle at Castell Collen and Cefnllys respectively, neither fortification gave rise to any lasting settlement. The open moorland to the east of the lower Ithon, which had served as a site for Roman practice-camps, remained largely un- enclosed, and although a chalybeate spring and saline and sulphur wells, located in one of the dingles crossing the moor, attracted visitors in the eighteenth century, access by road was difficult and accommodation, except for the fine establishment built by William Grosvenor of Shrews- bury, left much to be desired. Coastal resorts became fashionable and the spa began to decay, but regained some of its lost popularity in the nine- teenth century as roads were improved and the medicinal properties of its waters better appreciated. These were not effectively exploited, however, until after the arrival of the railway and the enclosure of the local commons in the 1860s-two closely related events which enabled the previously remote and little known Radnorshire spa to share in the revived fashion for taking the waters. Record and often overcrowded seasons were reported year after year right up to 1912, when the London Standard1 prophesied an imposing future for the little town whose population had grown from some 300 persons in 1871 to 2,779 in 1911, and whose summer population was at least three times as great (Table 1). The number of visitors had begun to decline in 1913, however, and the process was accelerated by the First World War and the subsequent economic depression, with the town TABLE 1 POPULATION OF Llandkibtdod Wells 1891-1971 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1951 1961 1971 East Ward 661 1329 633 789 877 846 Westward — — 639 910 505 663 610 675 NorthWard 849 868 766 739 641 729 Cefnllys Urban Ph 784 1512 2049 3107 1904 2181 2128 2250 Llandrindod Urban Ph (South Ward) 136 315 730 1489 1021 1031 1123 1131 Llandrindod Wells U.D. 920 1827 2779 4596 2926 3212 3251 3381 Note Based on the Census which was normally held in April. The 1921 Census was delayed until June and the large increase was attributed mainly to the presence of summer visitors. The excess of births over deaths between 1911 and 1921 was 155 and would doubtless have been somewhat greater but for the War. The population of the Urban District was estimated as 3,600 in November 1920.