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Welshpool 1966

Take a trip to Welshpool and view this market town as it was in 1966. See the old shops, the cars, even a bubble gum dispenser, and then raise your eyes to the towering Powis Castle.

Home movie 1966 4 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

Overview

Welshpool is a bustling market town situated about 4 miles from the border between Wales and England and here you see its streets and shops as they were in 1966. There is a rarely seen view of Powis Castle and a shot of the house that once belonged to Grace Evans, famous for her role in freeing Lord Nithsdale from the Tower of London after the Jacobite rising of 1715. The footage was shot by members of Newtown High School’s film club, founded by their classics teacher, Bill Putnam.

Grace Evans was ladysmaid to Lady Winifred Nithsdale who was one of the daughters of William Herbert, 3rd baron Powis. The house was either Grace’s birthplace or was given to her by Lord Nithsdale on her return to Welshpool in 1735 from France (which is where the Nithsdales had fled, with Grace, after the rescue from the Tower).