This article is about the administrative county of Wales. For the ancient kingdom, see Kingdom of Powys. Powys may also refer to the preserved county of Wales.

{| class="toccolours" style="border-collapse: collapse; float: right; clear: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="260" Powys principal area Geography Area
- Total
- % Water Ranked 1st
5,196 km²
? % Admin HQ Llandrindod Wells GB GB-POW ONS code 00NN Demographics Population:
- ()
- Density
  Ranked

Ranked
/ km² Ethnicity 99.3% White Welsh language
- Any skills Ranked 7th
30.1% Politics
Powys Council
http://www.powys.gov.uk/ Control MPs

• Martyn Jones
• Lembit Öpik
• Roger Williams

!AMs

• Karen Sinclair
• Mick Bates
• Kirsty Williams (Constituency)
• North Wales (Part)
• Mid and West Wales (Part)
  (Regional)

!MEPs

• Wales

Powys is a local government principal area and a preserved county in Wales.

Geography

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See the list of places in Powys for all towns and villages in Powys.

Powys covers the traditional counties of Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and most of Brecknockshire — an area of 5,196 km², making it the largest principal area in Wales by land area. It is bounded the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham (county borough); to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by England; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly (county borough), Blaenau Gwent and Monmouthshire.

Most of Powys is very mountainous with north-south transportation by car and rail being quite difficult.

History

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This area is named after the older Welsh Kingdom of Powys, which occupied the northern two thirds of the area, and came to an end when it was occupied by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of Gwynedd during the 1260s.

Administration

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The present day administrative county was created on April 1, 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and originally had Montgomery and Radnor and Brecknock as districts under it. On April 1, 1996, the districts were abolished and it became a unitary authority, with a minor border adjustment in the north-east (specifically the addition of the communities of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Llansilin and Llangedwyn from Glyndwr district in Clwyd).

Powys is administered by Powys county council and has 73 elected councillors.

Local elections take place ever 4 years.

The present lord lieutenant is The Honourable Mrs Legge-Bourke LVO.

Electoral divisions

The county is divided into 73 electoral wards, each returning one councillor.

There are 112 communities in the principal area. Nearly all communities have a local community council.

Places of interest

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• The Black Mountains
• Brecon Beacons
• Brecon Caer Roman Fort
• Several large cave systems -- Ogof Draenen, Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, Agen Allwedd, Ogof y Daren Cilau, Ogof Craig a Ffynnon
• Celtica exhibition, Machynlleth
• The Elan Valley, including the Elan Valley Reservoirs -- Claerwen Reservoir, Craig-goch Reservoir, Penygarreg Reservoir, Garreg-ddu Reservoir, Caban-coch Reservoir, Afon Claerwen
• The Lake Vyrnwy Sculpture Trail
• Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway
• Radnor Forest
• Tretower Castle
• The Welsh National Cycle Route
• The Wye Valley Walk from Chepstow to Rhayader
• Offa's Dyke Path

Museums and exhibitions

• Brecknock Museum, Brecon,
• Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth
• Llandrindod Wells Museum
• Llanidloes Museum
• Newtown Textile Museum
• Powysland Museum, Welshpool

External links

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• Powys county council (official site)
• Powys Heritage
• Powys Web Links
• Tourism in Powys

Powys | Principal areas of Wales | Preserved counties of Wales

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