RHAYADER (Rhaiadr-Gwy)  , a market town of Radnorshire, Wales, situated amid wild and beautiful scenery on the left bank of the Wye, about 12 m. above its confluence with the Elan . Pop . (190x) 1215 . Rhayader is a station on the Cambrian railway . A stone bridge over the Wye connects the town with the village and parish church of Cwmdauddwr . Rhayader has for some centuries been an important centre for Welsh mutton and wool, and its sheep fairs are largely attended by drovers and buyers from all parts . Near Rhayader are the large reservoirs constructed (1895) by the corporation of Birmingham in the Elan and Claerwen valleys . Rhayader, built close to the Falls of the Wye (whence its name), owes its early importance to the castle erected here by Prince Rhys ap Griffith of South Wales, c . 1178, in order to check the English advance up the Wye Valley . Seized by the invaders, castle and town were later retaken in 1231 by Prince Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, who burned the fortress and slew its garrison . Scarcely a trace of the castle exists, although its site near St Clement's church is locally known as Tower Hill . With the erection of Maesyfed into the shire of Radnor in 1536 Rhayader was named as assize-town for the newly formed county in conjunction with New Radnor; but in 1542, on account of a local riot, the town was deprived of this privilege in favour of Presteign .

Rhayader constituted one of the

group of boroughs comprising the Radnor parliamentary district until the Redistribution Act of 1885 .