Welshpool has not one, nor two, but three railway stations.
For a small town on the Welsh borders with a population of 5,900 people, that seems a little greedy!
My twenty-minute train ride from Shrewsbury has delivered me to Welshpool’s mainline station, which is a little bland, being no more than a platform, a shelter, and a ticket machine. But as I cross over the main A483, I soon spy Welshpool’s Old Station.
This ornate building once housed the headquarters of the Oswestry, Welshpool and Newtown Railway when it opened in 1860. Originally there were four platforms here, with another line extending north to Oswestry and Whitchurch, but like many other branch lines, that was lost during the Beeching cuts.
From my vantage point, things look a little out of kilter. That’s because, in order to build the A483 bypass in 1992, engineers had to move the railway line a few metres to the east, leaving the Old Station a little stranded!
It’s now a popular shopping centre and cafe, yet has kept many of the fixtures and fittings from its railway days. Where else can you see a platform sign above a rail of men’s jumpers?
The Welsh name for Welshpool is Y Trallwng, which means the marshy or sinking land. This may be because it nestles in the Severn Valley and, during the winter months, the surrounding fields sometimes sink under a sea of water for weeks on end.
But Welshpool hasn’t always had this English name. Before 1835, most called it Pool. Welsh was only added to distinguish it from Dorset’s coastal resort of Poole.
Opposite the Old Station are the remains of the old livestock pens where cattle and sheep were transferred from the main line to the narrow gauge Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway. I can still see some of the tracks embedded into the concrete in the ground.
This narrow gauge line connected Welshpool with the farming community of Llanfair Caereinion, nine miles away, and was first proposed in 1864. But fundraising problems meant that the line didn’t open for another thirty-nine years!
A trail now follows the line of this two-foot six-inch wide railway as it negotiated its way through the town’s streets. Level crossings were only used at major junctions. At other times, engine staff jumped off to flag pedestrians and traffic to stop.
A narrow bridge takes me across the Montgomery Canal at the same point where the Lledan Brook flows under the canal. So a natural brook flows under a manmade waterway, which once flowed under a railway line.
The thirty-three-mile canal, known locally as The Monty, once connected the Llangollen Canal near Ellesmere in Shropshire, with the Welsh town of Newtown fourteen miles further south from here. Sadly, large sections fell into disrepair, and it was abandoned in 1944, following several breaches.
But a band of volunteers are busy working to restore the canal to its former glory and the section through Welshpool makes for a lovely stroll and is teeming with wildlife. Otters have been spotted in the canal on the outskirts of town, and I spy a mute swan sitting on a nest.
From here the old line cuts across Pont Howell Park, where there’s a fantastic sculpture of a steam train. It represents The Countess, one of the original steam engines used on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.
The other steam engine was called The Earl, named after the Earl of Powis, who supported the railway and agreed for the line to cross some of his land.
Across the road, perched high above me, stands St Mary’s Church. Parts of it date back to 1250. William Morgan was the vicar here from 1575 to 1578, but he’s better known as the first person to translate the Bible into Welsh.
Apparently, not every church attendee in the 18th century went with good intentions. Records suggest there were complaints about ‘the very common sort of people’ who would stand in the church’s East Gallery and spit on the heads of worshippers below!
Adjacent to the churchyard is Grace Evan’s Cottage, an idyllic black and white timber-framed property. Grace was the maid-in-waiting to Lord Nithsdale’s wife, who was the daughter of the Earl of Powis. In 1716, the authorities arrested Lord Nithsdale for treason because he was an ardent supporter of James II.
However, he escaped execution thanks to his wife and Grace. When they visited him in the Tower of London, they dressed him up in women’s clothing, which enabled him to slip past the guards unchallenged. He fled to France, along with his wife, and then moved to Italy, where they lived the rest of their lives in exile. Lord Nithsdale rewarded Grace with this cottage for her help.
From here, the line’s town trail takes me through the Bron-y-Buckley housing estate. This didn’t exist when the line first opened, but after they built the estate in 1937, residents frequently had steam trains running just feet from their front doors.
A loud toot grabs my attention. Across the way, I spy several puffs of smoke billowing into the air. It’s The Earl steam engine, sitting under a water tower, while its crew top it up, ready to take the next tourist train to Llanfair Caereinion.
I’ve arrived at Welshpool’s third station, known as Raven Square. While it marks the end of the town trail, it’s the start of the eight-and-a-half-mile heritage line to Llanfair Caereinion.
The Earl, like its partner engine, The Countess, still plough the line today, as they have done, since they were built for the railway by a Mancunian foundry back in 1902.
Engineers built a narrow gauge line because it needed to negotiate Welshpool’s narrow streets and cope with the tight bends and steep climbs through the mid-Wales countryside.
The steepest section is the mile-long, 1-in-29 Golfa incline, which at the time was the steepest section used by any passenger train on the Cambrian Railways network.
From here, the main road drops back through town towards the Old Station. Despite it being one road, and less than a mile long, its name changes six times!
Raven Street becomes Mount Street, then the High Street, then Broad Street, before becoming Severn Street, and finally Severn Road!
It’s a bustling street of chain stores and independent shops, and the indoor market in the imposing Town Hall building bustles with local produce four days a week.
Broad Street is home to the town’s new Banking Hub, which is only the second to open in Wales. It was urgently needed when Welshpool became one of the first Welsh towns to lose all of its banks. Now, it boasts five, all operating from the Hub on a different day of the week.
Hidden down New Street, I stumble across a strange octagonal building called Welshpool Cockpit. Dating from the early 18th century, cockfighting took place here regularly until a law banning the activity in 1849. It’s the only cockpit in Wales still in its original location.
Nearby Park Lane gives me a great opportunity to slip away from the town to explore one of Welshpool’s finest houses. At the end of the lane, huge wrought-iron gates mark the boundary of Powis Castle Park.
It’s a long walk through the grounds to the red sandstone 13th-century castle perched high on the hill overlooking the Severn Valley.
Once home to the Earl of Powis, Powis Castle is unusual because it’s the only castle along the Welsh Borders built by a Welsh Prince. The English built all the others.
The Herberts bequeathed it to the National Trust in 1952, having been in the family since 1587. Much of the grandeur visitors see today emanates from the Edwardian period, when Powis entertained guests most weekends from high society, including the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1909.
Powis’s stunning south-facing Italianate garden terraces offer some of the best views of the Severn Valley. Originally developed in the 17th century, they’ve been tweaked and altered over the years.
One of the biggest changes has been to the yew trees. Originally, these would have been clipped and maintained into small, manageable formal shapes, but over the years they’ve since grown into enormous trees and hedges. Some are so big you can walk through them.
It takes two gardeners twelve weeks to trim the yew tumps. One of them spends ten weeks on a hydraulic cherry-picker trimming the tops because they’re so tall!
I can only imagine the view the gardener sees from the cherry-picker. They’re pretty amazing from the terraces. I can see the Breidden Hills and Long Mountain.
The clatter of bogeys on rail tracks drifts across the valley on the breeze, reminding me I have a train to catch. Welshpool’s modern railway station may not be exciting, but the town itself more than makes up for that.
Factfile
- Welshpool is home to the largest one-day sheep market in Europe.
- The station building at Raven Square was originally Eardisley station in Herefordshire.
- There are 8,500 square metres of formal hedging in the gardens at Powis Castle. The tallest yew tumps are over 14-metres high and nearly 300 years old.
- The 135-mile Glyndŵrs Way footpath starts in Welshpool. It’s named after Owain Glyndŵr, Prince of Wales, led a rebellion against Henry IV in 1400.
- The Royal Oak Hotel added Royal to its name in 1832, after Queen Victoria visited Powis Castle.
Getting There
Welshpool is 19 miles west of Shrewsbury on the A458, and lies on the Birmingham to Aberystwyth railway line. Bus services connect Welshpool with Oswestry, Newtown, Wrexham, and Machynlleth.
Want To Know More?
Welshpool Tourist information Centre
1 Vicarage Gardens, Church Street, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 7DD
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 4.30pm
Tel: 01938 552043
Email: touristcentre@welshpooltowncouncil.gov.uk