Treasures from our collections

Railway signs from Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway part of Cambrian Railways

Bardic chair and crown from the 1882 Eisteddfod at Welshpool.

From the 16th century Montgomeryshire was the centre of the Welsh textile industry. By the 1870s there were several smaller and 9 major woollen factories with over around 815 hand looms in operation in Llanidloes.

Miner's watch holder, made from brass, used for carrying a watch underground in the mines. Used by a miner in Van Mines.

Penny Farthing circa 1880 ridden by a local Llanidloes woman.

The discovery of an ancient log boat in the river Ithon in 1929 inspired the founding of the Llandrindod Wells Museum, which shared the library building. The boat has been dated by dendrochronology (tree rings) to about 1200 AD.

The cartoonist ‘Jon’ (William John Philpin Jones) was born in Llandrindod Wells in 1913. While suffering from shell-shock in North Africa, he created his famous cartoon characters, ‘The Two Types’, a pair of old-school officers first appearing in the ‘Eighth Army News’ in July 1944. Jones was awarded the MBE.

Electrotype statue by the Brecon brothers, John Evan and Meredyth Thomas, which was shown in the Great Exhibition in 1851.