MONTGOMERY S'HIR E. 
fsf Montgomery (hire is in a date of cultivation, the reft 
being either covered with wood, or lyiug in a wade con¬ 
dition. Of the cultivated lands, about one-third has been 
mentioned as arable; the other two-thirds being ufually 
laid down with grafs. Hemp is likewife grown in confi- 
derable quantity in the eaftern divifion of the county; 
almoft every cottage having what is called a hemp-yard 
attached to it. Of the grafs-lands only a fmall portion, 
compared with their extent, are fufficiently fertile to be 
adapted for fattening cattle. The woodlands comprehend 
feveral very valuable and exteniive plantations. Mont- 
gomeryfliire, in fadt, is Hill by far the beft-wooded county 
in Wales, and was formerly regarded as a valuable depot 
of oak for the ufe of the navy. Within the lad fifty years, 
however, large quantities of that noble tree have been 
felled ; and lb little care taken to replace them, that the 
county has nearly loft all its importance in this refpedt. 
The wafte-lands here are chiefly appropriated to the graz¬ 
ing of oxen, ftteep, and horfes: liorfes of very different 
fizes and properties are reared in Montgomeryfliire. The 
hilly diftribts are remarkable for a race of fmall poneys, 
called merlyns, which, being left to range over the moun¬ 
tains, as well during winter as furnmer, till at leaft three 
years old, are in confequence a very hardy race: thefe 
are chiefly ufed as beafts of burthen, by the numerous 
packmen wdio traverfe the country to collect the manu- 
fadtured articles, or to fell others which the inhabitants 
may require': for this purpole they are extremely well 
fitted, cuftom having taught them to climb the rugged 
and (lippery alcents with a firm and Heady'ftep; and it is 
on that account much to be lamented, that the negledted 
date in which they are allowed to remain has materially 
deteriorated the breed. A larger kind of horfe, apparently 
a crofs between the merlyn and the Englifh breed, is like¬ 
wife a native of the hilly diftridts: the moft fizcable of 
thefe animals are admirably adapted for the team on the 
higher grounds, where heavier horfes would be mifap- 
plied; and the fmaller ones make good roadfters with a 
light weight. A third breed, of a very fuperior quality to 
either of thefe, is alfo reared in the more fertile vales here, 
which fome fay was introduced from Spain by Robert earl 
of Shrewftmry. Queen Elizabeth is further lfated to have 
greatly affifted in perpetuating this breed, by keeping a fa¬ 
mous ftud of horfes and brood-mares at Park in this county. 
The chief, or rather the only, manuJaftured production 
of Montgomerylhire, is flannel; for though hemp, as has 
been already faid, is grown here in confiderable quantity, 
it is feldoin made into any article of ufe, till it has pafled 
into the hands of the manufacturers of other diftridts. 
In former times, the only machinery employed in the 
manufacture of the flannel was the common weaving-ma¬ 
chine; all the procefs of carding the wool, and fpinning 
into thread, having been executed, in the moft literal 
lenfe of the term, by the tedious operation of the hand, 
by farmers and cottagers in their own houfes. Of late 
years, however, the powerful aid of more complicated 
apparatus has likewife been reforted to; and there are 
now upwards of forty carding, and feveral fpinning, ma¬ 
chines, driven by water, in different parts of the county. 
The moft exteniive manufactories for weaving are thole 
at Newtown, Berhiew, Welfhpool, and Dolydran; and 
one on the Dulas ftream, near Machynleth, at which, 
however, cloths are made as well as flannels. 
The roads in this county are, perhaps without excep¬ 
tion, the word within the limits of North Wales, efpe- 
cially in the valleys; but this deficiency does not arife 
fo much from any negleCt on the part of the proprietors 
to their formation or repair, as from the want of fuitable 
materials for the purpofe; there being no granite or other 
indurated rock here, as in the other counties, which could 
be employed to render them firm and compaCt. They are 
confequently moft commonly formed of the (hale and flate- 
ftones, of which it has been remarked that the mountains 
are chiefly compofed ; and thefe foft and friable fubftances 
toon become reduced, by the preflure and friftion they 
jiccefiarily luftain, to their primitive clay. Hence the roads, 
739 
even in furnmer, are often moift and (lippery; and in 
winter are fo deep and clammy, as to be nearly impaflable 
for carts of a heavy burthen. But, though the roads are 
thus unavoidably of a bad texture, the bridges are gene¬ 
rally excellent, and more numerous than thole of any 
other county in the principality; when confidered in refe¬ 
rence to the comparative extent of its cultivated lands. 
Many interefting remains of antiquity of various de- 
fcriptions have been difcovered or traced, at different pe¬ 
riods, within the limits of Montgomeryfliire. The Ro¬ 
man ftation, Mediolanum, is fixed by feveral able anti¬ 
quaries in the vicinity of Meifod, or Meivod, which, as 
noticed above, afterwards became the refidence of the 
Powifian monarchs. The ftatidn Maglona is likewife, 
with great” probability, placed at or in the vicinity of 
Machynleth, as many veftiges of walls, and the remains 
of two forts evidently Roman, are (till diftinfftly vifible 
there. Many Roman coins have alfo been dug up at this 
place; and two miles from it is a fpot yet retaining the 
appellation of Cefn Caer, or the “ back part of the city.” 
At Montgomery are the ruins of the celebrated caftle of 
that name; and dole to it is a Britifti and a Saxon en¬ 
campment, the former remarkable both for its ftrength 
and extent. (See Montgomery, p. 737.) On the weft 
fide of the road from this town to that of Newtown (lands 
the ancient fortrefs of Dolforwyn Caftle, faid by Dugdale 
to have been the work of Dafydd-ap-Llewelyn, a prince 
who reigned from the year 1140 to 1246; but referred by 
a Welfli writer, John Dafydd Rhys, to a much earlier 
date. Caer-Sws, or Caers-goofe Caftle, on the north bank 
of the Severn, is confidered by (ome to have been a Ro¬ 
man ftation, though not mentioned in any of the Itine¬ 
raries. Extenfive traces of buildings, ranged in ftreets 
interfering each other at right angles, have been dilco- 
vered in the fields adjacent to the village. Two encamp¬ 
ments are lituated at a little diftance, where fome in- 
feribed bricks have been dug up; and clofe to them ap¬ 
pear confiderable veftiges of a Roman road, running in 
a direction from Caer-Sws to Meifod. Several encamp¬ 
ments, both Roman and Britifti, are likewife difcovered 
in the neighbourhood of Llanfair and Welfhpool. Near 
the latter town was fituated the abbey of Yftrat-Marchell, 
founded in 1170, for monks of the Ciftercian order. A 
mile from hence is Powis-caftle, a venerable manfion, 
conftrufted of red fand-ftone, and (landing on the ridge 
of a lofty rock. This caftle makes a confiderable figure in 
the pages of hiftory, and is now the chief feat of the no¬ 
ble family of Clive, to which the adjoining village gives 
the title of earl. Many other relics of antiquity might be 
noticed ; but we (hall only further mention the Dyke of 
Offa, which runs nearly through the whole eaftern fide of 
the county, and which is juftiy ranked among the moft ex¬ 
traordinary efforts of human labour in Great Britain. 
Montgomeryfliire is divided into nine hundreds, com- 
prifing forty-nine pariflaes, one borough-town, Montgo¬ 
mery, and fix market-towns, viz. Welfhpool, Llanfyllin, 
Llanfair, Machynleth, Newtown, and Llanydloes. Four 
of thefe were formerly boroughs, and returned one mem¬ 
ber to the imperial parliament, as noticed under Mont¬ 
gomery, p.737. This county contains forty-feven pa- 
rillies, 8,725 houfes, and 53,700 inhabitants. The amount 
of money raifed for the maintenance of the poor in 1803 
was 22,988k at the rate of 5s. n|d. in the pound. The 
amount of affeffment under the property-tax in 1806 was 
313,619k and the average fcale of mortality fqr ten years 
appears to have been as i to 59 of the exifting popula¬ 
tion. It lies in the diocefes of St. Afaph, Bangor, and 
Hereford, in the province of Canterbury, and is included 
in the north-eaft circuit. 
This is one of the twelve Welfli counties enabled to 
fend a reprefentative to parliament by the ftatute of the 
27th of Henry VIII- from which time it has returned 
one member to parliament. The leading intereft in this 
county is difputed between the earl of Powis and fir 
Watkin Williams Wynne : the latter has prevailed in re¬ 
turning the member to the five laft parliaments; and the 
z prefent 
