Llandinam () is a village and

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, t ...

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

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 ...

, central

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 ...

, between Newtown and

Llanidloes Llanidloes () is a town and community on the A470 and B4518 roads in Powys, within the historic county boundaries of Montgomeryshire ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn), Wales. The population in 2011 was 2,929, of whom 15% could speak Welsh. It is the thi ...

, located on the

A470 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 navigat ...

. As a community, Llandinam is made up of the village itself, small hamlets including Plas Dinam and Little London and several farms. The village itself has a population of around 576 with 56% born in Wales. Llandinam was the family home of David Davies who was responsible for much of the development of the South Wales Valleys and the export of coal in the 19th century. The house that David Davies built,

Broneirion Broneirion is a Victorian house and grounds on the hillside across the River Severn from the village of Llandinam. It was built by Welsh industrialist David Davies. It has been used as a training centre for Girl Guides since 1946 and has bee ...

, remains an elegant country

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

owned by

Girlguiding Cymru Girlguiding Cymru ( Welsh: ''Bysowch Barod Cymru'') is one of the nine regions of Girlguiding UK. It serves the approximate area of Wales, although the boundaries are not exact. In 2004, there were 6,964 youth participant groups. Until 1938 Wal ...

. The parents of Murray Humphreys, one of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

's most feared Prohibition gangsters, emigrated to the United States from the village in the late 1890s. The

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

from the main road over towards Broneirion was the first

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...

bridge constructed in the county, designed by

Thomas Penson Thomas Penson, or Thomas Penson the younger (c. 1790 – 1859) was the county surveyor of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire. An innovative architect and designer of a number of masonry arch bridges over the River Severn and elsewhere. He was th ...

and built by Davies 1846. It spans 90 feet (27.5 m). At the east end of the bridge there is a statue of David Davies.

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is locate ...

school was evacuated here for the duration of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Llandinam was voted the ''Best Kept Village in Wales'' in 1986. The local village school was threatened with closure in 2003 due to falling pupil numbers; thanks to a popular local campaign it was temporarily saved. It was previously served by

Llandinam railway station Llandinam railway station was a station serving Llandinam, Powys, on the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway (L&NR) line. The L&NR was authorised in August 1853; construction began in October 1855 and the line was opened between those points for goo ...

on the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

in the same name existed, which also covered the neighbouring community of Mochdre. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 1,405. It elected its first

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

County Councillor in May 2017. From the 2022 local election the Llandinam ward became 'Llandinam and Dolfor', following the merger with part of the neighbouring Kerry community. It continued to be represented by one county councillor. llandinam bridge

St Llonio's Church

St Llonio's Church is located immediately north of the village centre, on a spur jutting into the

Severn Valley The Severn Valley is a rural area of the West Midlands region of England, through which the River Severn runs and the Severn Valley Railway steam heritage line operates, starting at its northernmost point in Bridgnorth, Shropshire and runni ...

, and within a fortified

promontory fort A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to da ...

, the defensive bank forming, until recently, the northern boundary of the church. It was originally the mother church of those at

and

Llanwnnog Llanwnog is a village in Powys, Wales. It is located one-and-a half miles north of Caersws in the community of the same name, on the B4568 road. The Ordnance Survey spell the name with a single 'n'. The Welsh romantic poet John Ceiriog Hughes ...

, serving a monastery until the late 13th century. It is claimed that the church dates back to AD 520. It was initially a clas structure, with its western tower containing a pyramidal slate roof over a timber belfry, dating from the 13th century. It is recorded as ''Ecclesia de Landinam'' in the Norwich Taxation of 1254 with a value of £1 6s 8d. The majority of the church was rebuilt in the 19th century, coinciding with the restoration by

George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccle ...

. The church still retains some original features, however, most notably the northern wall of the chancel. The church has a wooden

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for e ...

, two old tomb recesses in the sanctuary, a damaged perpendicular

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a " sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mo ...

and a number of 17th-century carved

choir stalls A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tab ...

. The square western tower probably dates from the 13th century with its timber belfry designed in

Marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...

style. Rebuilding culminated in 1864-65 and left only the north wall of the chancel remaining from the previous design. During the restoration, new windows in square headed frames were inserted throughout the church and all the windows were replaced in

neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. In the centre of the burial ground, to the south-west of the church, is an ancient

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew (''Taxus br ...

tree claimed to be around 800 years old. South-west of the yew is a large oak tree. There is another large yew to the north-west of the churchyard several

Irish yew ''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family (botany), family Taxaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe (including Britain and Ireland), northwest Africa, northern Iran, and southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). '' ...

s on the west side. The churchyard contains the

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

of three Royal Welsh Fusiliers soldiers of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The church, which is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

lies in the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The pos ...

parish of Bro Arwystli. It has its own

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

page, which features photographs of some of its unique architectural features.

References

External links

Photos of Llandinam and surrounding area on geograph.orgVillage Website
{{authority control Historic Montgomeryshire Parishes Villages in Powys Populated places on the River Severn Former wards of Powys