Montgomery (Welsh:Trefaldwyn^ⓘ; translates asthe town of Baldwin) is a town andcommunity inPowys,Wales. It is the traditional county town of thehistoric county ofMontgomeryshire to which it gives its name, and it is within theWelsh Marches border area. The town centre lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of theEngland–Wales border.Montgomery Castle was started in 1223 and itsparish church in 1227. Other locations in the town includeThe Old Bell Museum, theOffa's Dyke Path, the Robber's Grave and the town wall.^[2] The largeIron Agehill fort ofFfridd Faldwyn is sited northwest of the town and west of the Castle.

Montgomery Welsh:Trefaldwyn
View of Montgomery withMontgomery Castle in the background
Montgomery Location withinPowys
Population	1,295 (2011 census)[1]
OS grid reference	SO221967
Principal area	Powys
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MONTGOMERY
Postcode district	SY15
Dialling code	01686
Police	Dyfed-Powys
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
UK Parliament	Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament	Montgomeryshire
List of places UK Wales Powys 52°33′47″N3°08′53″W / 52.563°N 3.148°W /52.563; -3.148 Community map Map of the community

In the 2011 census, thecommunity of Montgomery had a population of 1,295. The community includesHen Domen.

The town was established around aNorman stone castle on a crag on the western edge of theVale of Montgomery. Thecastle had been built in the early 13th century to control an importantford over the nearbyRiver Severn and replaced an earliermotte and bailey fortification atHen Domen, one mile away. An important supporter of KingWilliam I (the Conqueror),Roger de Montgomery, originally fromSainte-Foy-de-Montgommery in thePays d'Auge in Normandy, was given this part of theWelsh Marches by William and his name was given to the town surrounding the castle.^[3]

TheTreaty of Montgomery was signed 29 September 1267 in Montgomeryshire. By this treaty KingHenry III of England acknowledgedLlywelyn ap Gruffudd asPrince of Wales. Montgomery wassacked at the beginning of the 15th century by the Welsh PrinceOwain Glyndŵr. At that time, the castle and surrounding estates were held by theMortimer family (the hereditaryEarls of March) but they came into royal hands when the last Earl of March died in 1425. In 1485, KingRichard III was defeated at theBattle of Bosworth and theRoyal Estates, including Montgomery and its castle, passed into the hands of the new King,Henry VII, the firstTudor king, and a Welshman. The castle was then given to another powerful Welsh family, theHerberts. One of their descendants, religious poetGeorge Herbert was born in Montgomery in 1593.

During theCivil War, the castle was captured byParliamentary forces and subsequentlyslighted to remove its military threat.^[4][5]

As a county town, Montgomery prospered, and its buildings give the small town its current character.

In 1923 theMontgomeryshire County War Memorial was completed to commemorate fallen servicemen from Montgomeryshire. The memorial is on a hill about 1 km SW of the town.^[6]

Montgomery Town Council represents the community at the local level, with eight town councillors.^[7]

Until 2022 Montgomery was also an electoral ward forPowys County Council, electing one county councillor for the ward. Sitting councillor, Stephen Hayes, successfully defended his seat at theMay 2017 elections.^[8]

As a result of theReview of Electoral Arrangements - County of Powys proposals, Montgomery ward was combined with neighbouringForden, to create a Forden and Montgomery ward with a population of over 2,000. This came into effect at the 2022 elections.^[9]Green Party candidate, Jeremy Thorpe, won the seat at the2022 Powys Council election.^[10]

Theparish church was founded in the 1220s, with later additions including late 13th-centurychancel andtransepts and a 19th-century tower. The church is Grade Ilisted.^[11] Perhaps the most remarkable features of the church are the ornaterood screen,misericords and stalls which were transferred to the church fromChirbury Priory in Shropshire after theDissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. The southtransept shows evidence of Montgomery's close association with theHerbert family. The centrepiece is theElizabethan era tomb orchurch monument toRichard Herbert (died 1596) ofMontgomery Castle, father of poet andAnglican divineGeorge Herbert. This association is recalled in a memorial poem to a well-known local manJ. D. K. Lloyd, who wrote this poem after the style of George Herbert.

This O, enclosed around,smoothe, with no entrance found,yet soone with newest life to overflowSo has thy tombe, by Pilate sealed,to us that third day Life revealed,O grant that I, some morning bright,my earthly Shell, then broke,may wear, in White,Thy Yoke.

Richard's grandson, anotherRichard Herbert, 2nd Baron Herbert of Chirbury, the last Herbert to have lived atMontgomery Castle, was buried in the church in 1655.^[12]

In 1821 John Davies ofWrexham was sentenced todeath by hanging at Montgomery forhighway robbery. Throughout his trial, and after the sentence, Davies declared his innocence and prayed that God would not allow the grass to grow on his grave for a hundred years as a sign of his innocence. His grave remained bare for at least a century, giving birth to the legend of the Robber's grave. The grave (now grassed) can still be seen in thechurchyard.^[13] Besides the legendary Robber's Grave, the churchyard also contains thewar graves of two soldiers ofWorld War I and a soldier and twoairmen ofWorld War II.^[14]

The last remaining Georgian town hall inMontgomeryshire,Montgomery Town Hall forms a striking termination to Broad Street, although the centre of the building is offset from the line of the street. Built byWilliam Baker of Audlem, 1748–51, forHenry Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis, for whom Baker had also in 1745 provided designs for a new Town Hall atBishop's Castle. In 1828Thomas Penson, at the expense ofEdward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis, raised the roof level over the first floor. The clock tower was added in 1921. The predecessor of this building was probably a half-timbered structure, which the Speed map of 1610 shows was sited, lengthways, in the middle of Broad Street.^[15]

The former Montgomeryshire County Gaol that once stood at the end of Gaol Road was designed byThomas Penson, thecounty surveyor, and built of brick faced with stone, c 1830–32. The tall octagonal governor's house, with the chapel above, was at the centre of four radiating two- and three-storey wings. One of the yards was fitted with atreadmill. The gatehouse was built into the wall to face a new approach in 1866 byJ.W. Poundley; powerful ashlar triumphal arch with four giant semi-rusticated pilasters.

The gaol was closed in 1878 and all that now remains, apart from the gatehouse, is the Governor's House and the high wall of one cell block.^[16]

Formerly the National School of 1864. The school was built by the architect Thomas Nicholson on land donated byLord Powis and financed by the thenRector and the Hereford Diocesan Board of Education as well as many smaller gifts. Stone, many-gabled gothic with splay-footed buttresses, well designed and detailed. Master's house to left and gabled school building to right, and a wing beyond. The assembly hall was added in 1952 by Herbert Carr, the Montgomeryshire county architect.

The school is under the control ofPowys County Council and is an important feature of community life. It remains aChristian school in the diocese ofSt. Asaph.^[17]

The Old Bell Museum is a former 16th-century inn. It has been converted into a museum.

Montgomery Town play in theArdal Leagues North East division, Tier 3 of the Welsh football pyramid.

TheCambrian Coast Line passes the currently closedMontgomery railway station.

The town was used for many of the filming locations inDylan Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas In Wales' TV adaptation 1987. Notable locations are Broad Street, Church Bank and School Bank.

• BrothersGeorge Herbert (1593-1633), poet and Anglican divine,Sir Henry Herbert (1594-1673),Master of the Revels, andThomas Herbert (1597-1642?), naval officer and writer, were all born at Montgomery. Their eldest brotherEdward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Chirbury (1583-1648), poet, philosopher and diplomat, inherited and lived at Montgomery Castle until 1644.
• Geraint Goodwin (1903-1941), author, settled in Montgomery where he died.^[18]
• Julie Christie, actress, lived for a long time on the outskirts of the town. She is reported as saying in 2007 that the closest thing she had to home lay in the remembered magic of the few summers she had shared with her mother in Wales when she first returned from India. So she bought a basic farm near Montgomery, invited some friends to stay with her, which is how she has lived most of her life since.^[19]

• Hen Domen The Motte and Bailey castle ofRoger de Montgomery of 1070, to the north of Montgomery
• Lymore, Montgomery Park and former timber-framed house of the Herbert family

• Smith J., (1968)Herbert Correspondence, Board of Celtic Studies, University of Wales Press.
• Scourfield R and Haslam R, (2013)Buildings of Wales: Powys; Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire, 2nd edition, Yale University Press, p. 133-134.
• Ann and John Welton (2003),The Story of Montgomery Logaston Press, 2nd revised edition 2010

• Montgomery-Wales
• 'The Robber's Grave' story
• Montgomery Church in Wales primary school website
• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Montgomery and surrounding area