Today the population of the local villages and countryside surrounding Rhayader is only a fraction of what it used to be a couple of hundred years ago, although friendly co-operation between neighbours is still an important characteristic and the village communities are still very strong with a variety of village hall and village show committees, social clubs and WIs. Of all the villages only Nantmel still retains its own school and while most have also lost their shops they have mostly retained their pubs! Common to all is a strong reliance on agriculture with the pattern of life revolving around events in the farming calendar such as lambing, shearing and hay making.
Throughout the surrounding area you will frequently notice the names of Hafod and Hendre. Their meaning was once commonplace as during the bitter winters in the uplands, shepherds and their flocks would move to lower sheltered pastures and dwellings named the Hendre. As summer approached they would return to the upland pastures and shelters called a Hafod.
Llanwrthwl lies on the River Wye south of Rhayader. To the north west is the RSPB nature reserve called Carngafallt, a heather clad hill with slopes clothed in beautiful ancient hanging oak woodlands and thorn scattered fridd. Gafallt was King Arthur’s dog, and legend says that he left his paw print in a stone somewhere on Carngafallt. It was also here that a second hoard of gold jewellery was found – a set of bronze age torques, now in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. In the churchyard next to the parish church of St Gwrthwl is a huge standing stone.
Nantmel means ‘Mael’s Valley’, Mael was a prince in the Dark Ages. It is a very large parish that includes the settlements of Nantmel Village itself, Doldowlod, Gaufron (Geufron), Gwystre, Nant-glas and the Ysfa. It covers nearly fourteen thousand acres and has a population approaching seven hundred. The highest point is the top of Camlo Hill, with an excellent panorama of the Carneddau, Mynydd Epynt and most of the Brecon Beacons to the south and to the north on a clear day it is claimed that Cader Idris can be seen.
Abbey Cwm Hir (Abaty’r Cwm Hir) - The Abbey in the Long Valley. Here, in 1143 the building of an Abbey commenced which had it been completed, would have been the largest in Wales and where the headless remains of Llewelyn ap Gruffydd (Llewelyn ap Gruffudd) the last of the Welsh Princes, are reputed to have been buried. The abbey ruins can still be seen and nearby the Hall at Abbeycwmhir has been splendidly restored, decorated and furnished and is a visitor attraction open by appointment and well worth a visit.
St Harmon, to the north of Rhayader, with its Church of St. Garmon, was for a short time served by the famous diarist, Reverend Francis Kilvert (1840-1879) whose writing about the ordinary people and the way they lived is recognized as a minor classic. The parish of St Harmon contains numerous ancient remains including tumuli and long barrows, the graves of Neolithic people, and the bronze age ridgeway, a road that ran from the Kerry Hills to Carmarthenshire.
Pantydwr is notable for its village hall being built to a design that provides excellent acoustics – as a venue for local choirs, musicians and others to compete in traditional Welsh Eisteddfoddau. The local village Eisteddfod that still takes place each year is a showcase for local talent and an event well worth attending. It had the highest station on the old Cambrian Railway.