WELSHPOOL (or Welchpool, so called because

See also:

• POOL

Pool, its old name, led to confusion with

See also:

• POOLE
• POOLE, MATTHEW (1624-1699)
• POOLE, PAUL FALCONER (1806-1879)
• POOLE, REGINALD STUART (1832-1895)

Poole, in

See also:

• DORSETSHIRE (DORSET)

Dorsetshire; Welsh Trallwm)  , a market town and municipal and contributary parliamentary borough of Montgomeryshire, N . Wales, in the upper Severn valley, on the Montgomeryshire canal and the Cambrian railway, 8 m . N. of Montgomery, and 182 m. from' London . Pop . (1901) 6121 . Its buildings and institutions include the old Gothic church of St Mary, the Powysland Museum, with local fossils and antiquities, and a library, vested (with its science and art school) in the corporation in 1887 . Powis Castle (about a mile S.W. of the town) is the seat of Earl Powis, and has been in the possession of the Herberts for many generations . The flannel manufacture has been transferred to Newtown, but Welshpool has tweeds and woollen shawls, besides a fair trade in agricultural produce, malting and tanning . The town returned a member to parliament from 1536 to 1728, was again enfranchised in 1832, and now (with Llanfyllin, Llanidloes, Montgomery, Machynlleth and Newtown) forms the Montgomery district of parliamentary boroughs . A charter was granted to the town by the lords of Powis, confirmed by James I . (1615), and enlarged by Charles II . The castle was begun, in or about 1 roq, by Cadwgan ab Bleddyn ab Cynfyn (Cynvyn), and finished by Gwenwynwyn; in 1196 it was besieged, undermined and taken by Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury .

Retaken by Gwenwynwyn in 1197, it was dismantled by

Llewelyn, prince of N . Wales, in 1233 . It then remained for several years in the hands of the lords of Powis . During theCivil War, the then lord Powis, a royalist, was imprisoned, and the castle was later demolished . Powis Castle, being of red sandstone, is usually called in Welsh Castell Coch (red castle) . In the park is Llyn du (black pool), whence Welshpool is said to be named .