Powys

Powys is mainly agricultural, and the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show is held in Builth Wells each year. Sheep are reared on the upland slopes; cattle are fattened on the lowland pastures, and the river valleys are used for farming and dairying. The farms have increased in size over the past 50 years and their productivity has increased. Forestry is important in western and southern Powys.

There is light industry around Welshpool, Newtown, and Ystradgynlais. Granite and limestone are quarried. At Llandinam there is one of the largest electricity-generating wind farms in Europe, with 103 wind turbines. The production of electrical goods, shoes, and leather goods, and light engineering have all been actively encouraged in recent years, partly as a way of reducing the steady depopulation of Powys by young people leaving to look for better job prospects elsewhere. Tourism is increasing in importance.

The territory of modern-day Powys was conquered by the Romans towards the end of the 1st century ad. Offa’s Dyke, an earthwork running for some 224 km (170 mi) north to south down the eastern edge of the county, was built in the 8th century to protect the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia from the Welsh. In the late 11th century William I initiated the invasion of Wales, and many fortresses were built by the Normans in an attempt to subdue and control the Welsh. However, the conflict continued for several hundred years, and the princes of Wales retained their independence until Edward I vanquished Llywelyn ab Gruffudd, who was killed in a skirmish near Builth Wells in 1282. At the beginning of the 15th century, the last of the Welsh princes, Owen Glendower (in Welsh, Owain Glyn Dŵr), struggled to free Wales from the English, and in 1404 held a parliament at Machynlleth. By the 1536 Act of Union between England and Wales, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, and Breconshire were granted county status.