This picture of the Cambrian Woollen Mill in Newtown gives some idea of the large scale of the local woollen industry before it collapsed due to competition from the mills of northern England.
This was how the huge mill, bearing the name of "The Welsh Woollen Manufacturing Company Limited", looked in 1875.
This was the sort of illustration which was used on letterheads and in advertisements to impress potential customers.

The Cambrian Mills, located over the River Severn near the canal basin, were the largest in Newtown.
From around 1873 the woollen industry was doing quite well in the district, having gone through many bad times in earlier years. The success of Pryce Jones and his Royal Welsh Warehouse mail order business did a great deal to revive the local industry at this time. The Cambrian, like other local mills, had more problems in later years and was completely destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1912.

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