Llanymynech
Coordinates: 52°46′53″N 3°05′25″W / 52.781339°N 3.090279°W
| Llanymynech | |
 Llanymynech viewed from nearby Llanymynech Hill |
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 Llanymynech
Llanymynech shown within Powys |
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| Population | 887 (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SJ266209 |
| Principal area | Powys |
| Unitary authority | Shropshire |
| Ceremonial county | Powys |
| Ceremonial county | Shropshire |
| West Midlands | |
| Country | Wales |
| England | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LLANYMYNECH |
| Postcode district | SY22 |
| Dialling code | 01691 |
| Police | Dyfed-Powys |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| West Midlands | |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| West Midlands | |
| UK Parliament | Montgomeryshire |
| North Shropshire | |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Powys | |
Llanymynech is a village straddling the border between Montgomeryshire/Powys, Wales and Shropshire, England about 9 miles (14 km) north of the Welsh town of Welshpool. The name is Welsh for "Church of the Monks".
The border runs for the most part down the centre of the village's main street, with the eastern half of the village in England and the western half in Wales. The border also passed right through the now closed Lion pub, which had two bars in Shropshire and one in Montgomeryshire. At one time Welsh counties were referred to as "wet" or "dry" depending on whether you could drink in pubs on Sundays. When Montgomeryshire was dry it was legal to drink on Sundays in the two English bars of the Lion but not the Welsh bar. Two of the remaining open pubs in the village are entirely in England and the third is entirely in Wales.
Just to the north of the village is Pant (the civil parish of Llanymynech and Pant covers the English part of Llanymynech and the whole of Pant). Further north is the English market town of Oswestry.
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[edit] Features
Llanymynech Ogof (Llanymynech Cave) is a former copper mine with origins perhaps in the Bronze Age. Two hill forts are associated with the workings. The mines were exploited by the Romans as they conquered Roman Britain: over the years, a great many Roman artifacts have been found in the mine including a hoard of thirty first and second century silver coins of Roman currency found in 1965 by some schoolboys, now conserved at the National Museum of Wales. The short lives of miners are commemorated in burials in and around the mine.[1] The hill is now the site of Llanymynech Golf Club perched atop the cliffs, whose 18-hole course is unique in the UK for being in 2 different countries - England and Wales.
The village is home to one of only three remaining Hoffmann kilns in the British Isles, and the only one with a chimney. The kiln at Llanymynech was used for lime burning. The area around the kiln is designated as Llanymynech Heritage Area
The former limestone quarry which fed the kiln is now the Shropshire Wildlife Trust's Llanymynech Rocks Nature Reserve and its cliff-face is popular with rock climbers.
The Offa's Dyke Path passes through the village.
[edit] Transport
Due to the local lime stone and mineral deposits, Llanymynech became a transport hub.
First to arrive was a branch of the Ellesmere Canal, where it joined the Eastern section of the Montgomeryshire Canal at Carreghofa. Today the canal is known as the Montgomery Canal, and the section through Llanymynech is isolated, with an 800 metres (2,600 ft) section being navigable to boats. To the north to Pant the canal is dry; to the south the canal is isolated by lowered bridges. A campaign is in hand, to restore the canal to through traffic.
The main line of the Oswestry and Newtown Railway (O&NR) arrived from the south in 1860, a later constituent part of the forming of the Cambrian Railways. In 1863, the Cambrian completed the construction of the Llanfyllin branch, a railway constructed to enable distribution of minerals in competition with the canal. Stipulated in the authorising Act of Parliament to avoid flat crossing of the existing canal and Tanat Valley Light Railway, bridges had to be constructed to enable operations.
The later Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (Potts), which ran to Shrewsbury Abbey, originally ran under the O&NR and the canal to enable the Nantmawr branch for similar mineral extraction purposes. However, after it ran into financial difficulties, the CR took over the Nantmawr branch, agreeing to rebuild the southern end of the Potts so that it now junctioned through Llanymynech.
After failing to junction with the GWR and the LNWR at Shrewsbury, the S&NR suffered from low traffic and continual financial difficulties, havig now also lost its main revenue stream from the Nantmawr branch. Taken over by the GWR in the Railways Act 1921, it was closed again to passengers on 6 November 1933, but remained open as a military freight route until 1960.
The CR mainline from Whitchurch to Welshpool (Buttington Junction), via Ellesmere, Whittington, Oswestry and Llanymynech, closed on 18 January 1965 in favour of the more viable Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway route. This also resulted in the closure of the Llanfyllin branch. The Nantmawr branch remained in operation until the 1998, with the track from Oswestry still in place today.
Although railways presently do not exist at Llanymynech, both the Cambrian Heritage Railways and the enthusiast revived TVLR plan to reconnect Llanymynech with their heritage railway schemes.
[edit] Notable people
- Ivor Spencer-Thomas, Inventor who pioneered new farming practices during 1930s depression.
- Richard Roberts, Inventor famous for the automation of the spinning jenny.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Llanymynech |
- Llanymynech Community Website
- Photos of Llanymynech and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
- Shropshire County Council: Llanymynech Heritage Area
