Victorian Rhayader - Abbey Cwmhir in 1833

Rhayader
Victorian Maps

	Abbey Cwmhir in 1833
	This image is taken from an Ordnance Survey map first surveyed in 1833. It gives us an excellent picture of the landscape of the long valley or "Cwm hir" where the village is situated, at the very beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. The way the map is shaded lets us see the shape of the narrow valley and the steep hills to either side.

Abbey Cwmhir was settled by by Cistercian monks who built the abbey there in 1143. The ruins of the buildings can be seen today and are marked on this map of 1833.
The monasteries were abolished and the lands of the monks became a private estate with Abbey Hall at it's centre. For many years this estate was the home of the Fowler family who established the Great and Little Parks which are marked here.

The monks probably had a mill here in their day, and a corn mill is clearly marked on the map in 1833. Water power was harnessed to drive all sorts of machinery in the countryside. In this case it drove mill wheels for grinding the grain of local farmers into flour.

The map of 1833 shows the area to be sparsely populated. Look how few houses and farms there are on the map. (See the Abbey Cwmhir population graph to see how many people there were in the parish.)

Compare with Abbey Cwmhir in 1903...

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