Carno is a village in

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

, which is also a parish in the historic county of

Montgomeryshire , HQ= Montgomery , Government= Montgomeryshire County Council (1889–1974)Montgomeryshire District Council (1974–1996) , Origin= , Status= , Start= , End= ...

, comprises the townships of Derlwyn, Llysyn, and Trowscoed. It is in the geographical centre of Wales.

Geography

The

Afon Carno The River Carno ( cy, Afon Carno) is a river in Powys, mid Wales, and a tributary of the River Severn. The river is named after the village of Carno, which is close to the source in the foothills of the Cambrian Mountains. From Carno it flows ...

rises near the watershed with the Afon Dyfi; and runs 9 miles south-eastward to the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

, 2¼ miles north of Llandinam. The village's name is supposedly derived from the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

word for cairn (carnedd), as there are many ancient cairns on the hills surrounding the village. The

A470 road The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigate ...

between

Llanbrynmair Llanbrynmair () is a village, community and electoral ward in Montgomeryshire, Powys, on the A470 road between Caersws and Machynlleth. Llanbrynmair, in area, is the second largest in Powys. In 2011, it had a population of 920. Description The c ...

and

Caersws Caersws ( cy, Caersŵs; ) is a village and community on the River Severn, in the Welsh county of Powys (Montgomeryshire) west of Newtown, and halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. It has a station on the Cambrian Line from Aberystwyth t ...

passes through the village. This part of the route follows the course of the Afon Carno through hilly country. An electoral ward which includes the nearby village of

had a population of 2316 in 2011.

History

A Roman Fort named ''Gaer Noddfa'' is located next to the churchyard on the bank of the

. The site encompasses a rectangular area by . A large mound occupies part of the fort; pottery found nearby indicate medieval usage but suggestions that it was a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

fortification like a

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

have been rejected. In 952,

Iago Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago ha ...

and

Ieuaf Idwal ab Idwal ( en , Idwal son of Idwal, died 988), usually known as Ieuaf ( cy, Junior) to distinguish him from his father Idwal Foel, was joint king of Gwynedd in northern Wales from 950 to 969. He possibly also ruled Kingdom of Powys, Powys fo ...

, the two exiled sons of

Idwal Foel Idwal Foel (Idwal the Bald; died c. 942) or Idwal ab Anarawd (Idwal son of Anarawd) was a 10th-century King of Gwynedd in Wales. A member of the House of Aberffraw, he inherited the throne from his father, Anarawd ap Rhodri. William of Malmesbury ...

King of Gwynedd Prior to the Conquest of Wales, completed in 1282, Wales consisted of a number of independent kingdoms, the most important being Gwynedd, Powys, Deheubarth (originally Ceredigion, Seisyllwg and Dyfed) and Morgannwg (Glywysing and Gwent). Bou ...

, invaded

Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed was also the name of the area's county council and the name remains in use f ...

. But they were defeated in a decisive battle near Carno by the sons of

Hywel Dda Hywel Dda, sometimes anglicised as Howel the Good, or Hywel ap Cadell (died 949/950) was a king of Deheubarth who eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubart ...

, King of

Deheubarth Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House o ...

. The victory secured the sovereignty of

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

. A Grade II* 16th century timber-framed house,

Plasau Duon Plasau Duon or Plasauduon is a timber-framed house, formerly in the parish of Carno, but now within the area of the community council of Caersws in the historic county of Montgomeryshire, and now in Powys, Wales. It is located on a site above ...

, is near the village. The Manor House Plas Llysyn was a property raided as an LSD factory as part of

Operation Julie Operation Julie was a UK police investigation into the production of LSD by two drug rings during the mid-1970s. The operation, involving 11 police forces over a -year period, resulted in the break-up of one of the largest LSD manufacturing opera ...

. Plas Llysyn was under surveillance and the well that supplied the house was destroyed to investigate the contents. £500,000,000 of LSD was manufactured in the cellars here, supplying 50% of the world's LSD at the time.

Transport

Rail

Carno station former geograph-3099883-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The original station was opened by the

Newtown and Machynlleth Railway The Newtown and Machynlleth Railway was a railway company in Wales. It built a line from a junction with the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway near Caersws to the market town of Machynlleth; the line opened in 1862. Newtown had become the hub of ...

in 1863. It was closed, along with a number of stations on the Cambrian Line, as part of the Ministry of Transport's instigated

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...

in the 1960s. In 2002 a campaign began to reopen a station near the village. In 2009 the

Welsh Assembly The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh ...

agreed to examine the proposal as part of the Cambrian Rail Study. In 2014, the Welsh Assembly confirmed Arriva Trains Wales and

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

broadly agreed with an independent report recommending the reopening of a station at Carno. However, a new station would need to be built as the original Victorian building (which was incorporated into the former Laura Ashley factory) is in private ownership.

Notable people

*The designer and entrepreneur

Laura Ashley Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s ...

(1925–1985) is buried in the churchyard. Bernard and Laura Ashley moved from

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

to Carno in 1961. The company's original factory was in the village, adjoining the station building; it closed in 2005. *The parents of

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...

gangster Morris Llewellyn Humphreys, (Bryan Humphreys and Ann Wigley), emigrated to the United States from the village in the late 19th century.

Dafydd Wigley Dafydd Wynne Wigley, Baron Wigley, (born David Wigley; 1 April 1943) is a Welsh politician. He served as Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament (MP) for Caernarfon from 1974 until 2001 and as Assembly Member for Caernarfon from 1999 until 2003. He w ...

is his third cousin.

References

External links

Photos of Carno and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk

Carno Station Action Group
{{Powys Communities in Powys Montgomeryshire Historic Montgomeryshire Parishes