Over the long years of Queen Victoria's reign the authorities' attitudes to crime and the punishments given out to criminals changed considerably.

In this period of many changes, there were great changes too in the way criminals were detected and dealt with. The Montgomeryshire County Constabulary was one of the first professional police forces to be set up in Wales. We can see in the daily journal of one of the first constables exactly what policing was like in early Victorian Llanidloes.

Some of these changes can be seen on the following pages. Choose from the menu below.