Llanbister () is a small village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

with a 2011 population of 382 in

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

mid Wales Mid Wales ( or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands"), or Central Wales, is a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd covered the unitary autho ...

, in the historic county of

Radnorshire Radnorshire () was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974, later becoming a Districts of Wales, district of Powys from 1974 to 1996. It covered a sparsely populat ...

. It is on the

river Ithon The River Ithon ( Welsh: Afon Ieithon) is a major left-bank tributary of the River Wye in Powys, mid Wales. It rises in the broad saddle between the western end of Kerry Hill and the hill of Glog to its west and flows initially southwards to L ...

, at the junction of the A483 road (which follows the river north towards Newtown and south towards

Llandrindod Wells Llandrindod Wells (; ; ; ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. It serves as the seat of Powys County Council, and is therefore the administrative centre of Powys. The town was Historic counties of Wales, historically in ...

) and the B4356. It is served by Llanbister Road railway station on the Heart of Wales Line, but the station is some 4 miles east of the village (and longer by road).

Facilities

The village is not directly served by a railway station: the nearest is Llanbister Road railway station which is about 5 miles east of the village. It is served by a bus service (the T4 operated by Stagecoach Wales) which connects

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

to Newtown via

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

Builth Wells Builth Wells (; ) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of the Wye Valley. In 20 ...

and Llandrindod Wells. Llanbister is situated on the A483 main road from Newtown to

, at its junction with the B4356 road. It also lies next to the

River Ithon The River Ithon ( Welsh: Afon Ieithon) is a major left-bank tributary of the River Wye in Powys, mid Wales. It rises in the broad saddle between the western end of Kerry Hill and the hill of Glog to its west and flows initially southwards to L ...

which flows southward just west of the village. In the past, there was a police station in Llanbister, on the north west outskirts of the village, but this has since been sold off as private housing. Other facilities include a primary school, Llanbister C P School, a children's play area and a 200-person capacity community hall built in 1996 which has a stage and a 6.25m × 4m dance floor. There used to be a Post Office in the centre of the village but it is no longer operating: it was proposed for closure in 2008. There is a Victorian pub and bed and breakfast hotel (The Lion Hotel) in the village and a caravan and camping site to the north west of the village, near the former police station. There is an area of common land to the east of the village, named Llanbister Common. In July 1991 an unlicensed free music festival was held there, which was not well received by the local population, so in summer 1992 manure was spread on the land to make a repeat less likely. There is evidence of possible medieval ridge and furrow cultivation on Llanbister Common. In 2018 the horror film

You Should Have Left ''You Should Have Left'' is a 2020 American psychological horror film written and directed by David Koepp, based on the 2017 book by Daniel Kehlmann. It stars Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried. Jason Blum served as a producer through his Blumhou ...

was partly filmed at a property near Llanbister, the

John Pawson John Ward Pawson , (born 1949, Halifax, England) is a British autodidact designer whose work is known for its minimalist aesthetic. Biography Pawson was born and brought up in Halifax, Yorkshire, the youngest of five children. Coming from a w ...

-designed Life House (Tŷ Bywyd) just east of the village.

Churches

The village has an Anglican church in the centre, St

Cynllo Saint Cynllo () is a Britons (Celtic people), British saint, who lived in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, generally described as a brother of Saint Teilo. Cynllo was known for "...the sanctity of his life and the austerity of his manners." ...

's Parish Church (part of the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales () 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 position is currently held b ...

), parts of which date from around AD 1300. It is listed with

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

as Grade II*. There is also a Methodist church on the southern outskirts.

Notable residents

* Eleanor Bufton (1842–1893), the actress, was born here.Joseph Knight
Bufton, Eleanor (1842–1893)
rev. J. Gilliland, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 25 Jan 2015

References

{{authority control Villages in Powys