History of Llandrindod Wells
 
Visitors coming across Llandrindod Wells for the first time are often surprised at the character of its architecture, its large buildings and wide streets; its whole aspect mirrors the gentility of the Spa but one that has managed to avoid the atmosphere of decayed grandeur that has overtaken some less fortunate ‘watering holes’.
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Gone are the days when it was considered essential to ‘take the waters’ and when those who did so, courageously disposed of many pints to accompaniment of music from an ensemble playing soothingly from the pavilion.

The springs gave birth to the town and while Llandrindod Wells itself cannot be said to have been in existence much longer than a hundred years, there are landmarks in its development that span two or three centuries.
 
Much of the area now named Llandrindod had its roots within the Parish of Cefnllys under the guardianship of the charming 13th century church still standing and in use on the other side of Shaky Bridge.

Originally the spot appeared in the taxation of 1291 as two names ‘Lando’ and ‘Lanvayloir’. In J.T. Evans’ ‘Church Plate of Radnorshire’ the word Lanvayloir is taken as being ‘Lanvayloan’ or ‘Llanfaelon’ the latter said to be the name of the ancient church, the foundations of which were discovered under part of the present Llandrindod.

There is a wealth of published information on the area and there is little doubt that the springs have been used, to quote Dr Wessel Linden, ‘from time immemorial’. The Romans were obviously familiar with them. There is reference to the Saline spring being used in 1694 and some authorities put this as early as 1670. Later, a Mrs. Jenkins re-discovered the Sulphur spring while visiting the Saline (salt) spring near the site of the Pump House Hotel in 1736 and succeeded in effecting several cures from it.
 
The dosage must have been assessed by trial and error and over indulgence could produce unnerving results. Years later Cook’s Typography of Wales, written somewhere around 1830 reminds its readers that the sulphurous water is a purgative of no mean order and ‘should on no account be taken in the afternoon’. It also provides the somewhat daunting information that ‘when thrown on hot iron it emits a blue flame and smells like brimstone’ pointing out that ‘silver leaves have been changed in less than six minutes to a fine gold colour’. It goes on to say that the water is best adapted for an artificial bath - no doubt the nineteenth century version of ‘instant tan’.
 
Mr. Cook’s comments on the Saline (salt) spring are not so drastic. Its waters are best drunk, the Typography tells us, during the period of March to November and ‘bleeding’ is generally recommended beforehand, while the Chalybeate (iron rich) spring is best taken ‘between the hours of six and seven before the sun is too high in the sky’.

For the discovery of a Saline spring in the Rock Park, the Wells are indebted to a Mr. Pilot, who dreamt of its existence and location and, upon investigation, found that his dream was true. At least one member of Mr. Pilot’s family can be traced today living in nearby Newtown.
 

Until the middle of the 18th century, the curative properties of the waters remained virtually unsung. By 1748 however one visitor had been sufficiently impressed to put pen to paper and the ‘Gentlemen’s Magazine’ of that year published part of his verse in praise of the Llandrindod springs. But the area was isolated, possessing rather less than a dozen scattered houses, no villages and until 1775, when a very bad road was made over the common to the place now known as Cross gates, no proper access.
 
Little was done towards encouraging the visitor until 1749, there arrived a Mr. Grosvenor who leased some of the existing houses and with the help of his brother-in-law, repaired and extended them. This far-sighted gentleman also built a large hotel with accommodation for several hundred guests. On the hill overlooking the lake, it had all the amenities necessary to fashionable society of the period, offering balls and assemblies, billiards, racing and the added facilities of shops of various descriptions – hairdressers, milliners, glovers and the like – which were part of the premises. Swans adorned the three pools, one of which is still in evidence today, in front of Llandrindod Hall Farm which stands on the site of one of the dining rooms of the original hotel. One cannot but applaud the foresight of this gentleman in such speculative development in the middle of nowhere.

That it was temporarily successful there is no doubt. Pryse’s Handbook, written about 1870 goes into some detail when dealing with the hotel, comparing its amenities with those of a market town and commenting that the ‘utmost regularity and systematic management prevailed in the interior of the house; so that the punctual attendance, elegant entertainment and a succession of varied amusements gave the place the winning charm of irresistible fascination’.
 

However Mr. Lewis, in the Topographical Dictionary of 1833, is more severe telling us that the place was a ‘rendezvous chiefly for fashionable gamesters and libertines’. He was not alone in that opinion. The eventual closing of the hotel sometime after 1787 may have been due to local displeasure. Whatever the cause, the lease was not renewed and by the turn of the century a woolen manufactory stood in the place of this isolated enterprise.

In the meantime, the Llandrindod springs were the subject of a work by Dr DiederickWessel Linden and there is no doubt that his publication in 1756 did much to bring these to general notice but few efforts were made towards realizing their potential until the latter half of the 19th century.
 
With the coming of the railway in 1865 changes began to take place. The common was enclosed in 1867 but such was the caution exercised by the public that at an auction held in August of that year only a few sites were sold. One, purchased for £40 by a gentleman from Liverpool was sold again for £10 before the buildings were erected on it – so unsafe did he feel his speculation to be. His caution proved to be misplaced. It would seem that by 1870, those who had invested began to anticipate good returns.

Forward looking landowners began to build and improve on a larger scale and more houses and shops were erected and the Llandrindod Wells Estate and Building Company was formed. In April 1880 Llandrindod became the meeting place of Radnorshire County Council. Guide books appeared as early as 1899 and the spa reached its peak as one of Britain’s most fashionable watering places, welcoming 80,000 visitors a year. Gentility was the keynote and the Visitors’ books read like the pages of ‘Who’s Who’. But the waters drew all strata of society and the Pump House Hotel – now Powys County Hall – had two tariffs to cater to first and second class visitors.
 
Llandrindod bristled with hotels and apartments, new treatment centres, a golf course, bowling and putting greens, two pavilions, a dozen places of worship and a 14 acre boating lake.

At one time known as Ffynnon-llwyn y Gog, ‘the well in the cuckoo’s grove’, after one of its springs, the town gets its present name from the Old Parish Church of the Trinity which stands above the lake. Its beginnings were in the 12th century, but the building underwent considerable restoration in 1895. The first Archbishop of Wales was elected here in April 1920.
 
The present population is approximately 5,000 but a return in 1817 numbered it as ‘180 persons’. The ‘History of Radnor’ tells us that of 13 successive years, two passed without a funeral, being proof of the beneficial effects of healthy air.

Even at the beginning of 1939 the town’s popularity still centred on the waters. With September of that year came the Second World War but an air of normality prevailed for some time. Afternoon tea dances carried on in The Pavilion but after a while the participants were predominantly in khaki and before long Llandrindod bulged at the seams with a different kind of visitor, its hotels full of young hopefuls in uniforms, and its houses full of evacuees from bomb-threatened cities.

After the war, the pattern changed. Llandrindod had other things to offer besides it medicinal springs, although few of the many thousands of visitors missed the opportunity of sampling one. The town, with its ample accommodation and timeless attractions of beautiful scenery, tranquility and good air, retained and adapted its amenities to become a popular inland resort and touring centre.

It is difficult to realize that the town is little more than a century old but evidence of its more distant past remains in and around it. Caebach Chapel built in 1715, the 13th century church at Cefnllys, under the great hill on which the Mortimers Castle once stood, the lead mine in the hills beyond the Old Parish Church which closed before the 18th century, the Roman fort at Castell Collen (constructed in 78AD) with its now grassed-over mounds after the excavations of 1954/56 and the Roman remains in the museum. These and many others serve as a reminder of the older communities that existed in the area and of its history onto which the ‘spa’ was grafted a mere hundred years or so ago.