The most remarkable part of the history of Llandrindod Wells is that the town was built in the middle of wild and barren common land in such a short time.

As you can see from the map portion shown here, and from the map pages on this part of our website, there were only a few isolated farmhouses and other buildings in the area in 1833.
But there were two linked developments which were later to make a huge difference. The enclosure of the large expanse of Llandrindod Common in 1862, mainly to the benefit of wealthy local landowners, was very important. With the opening of the railway just three years later, they and others were quick to see the possibility of making money from the development of the area after it had become so much easier to reach.

The first section of the Central Wales Line from Knighton to Llandrindod was opened in 1865, and the whole line from Shrewsbury to Swansea was completed in 1868. This made it easy for visitors to come to Llandrindod in large numbers from the industrial areas of northern England, from the Midlands, and from South Wales.
The combined effect of the parcelling up of what was rough common land, and the prospect of large numbers of visitors coming to 'take the waters' meant that the area was about to change dramatically.

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