Forden ( cy, Ffordun) is a village near Welshpool in Powys, Wales, formerly in the historic county of

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...

. It forms part of the community (and community council) of Forden, Leighton and Trelystan with the neighbouring settlements of

Trelystan Trelystan is a remote parish and Townships in Montgomeryshire, township on the border of the historic county of Montgomeryshire with Shropshire. Trelystan now forms part of the community of Forden, Leighton and Trelystan in Powys. Trelystan was a c ...

Leighton Leighton may refer to: Places In Australia: * Leighton, Western Australia, a beachside locality In the United Kingdom: *Leighton, Cambridgeshire *Leighton, Cheshire *Leighton, North Yorkshire **Leighton Reservoir * Leighton, Shropshire *Leighto ...

and Kingswood. Looking down on the parish is the Long Mountain, which stretches north eastwards from Forden through the border between Montgomeryshire and Shropshire, England.

History

Traces of a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

and of a Roman camp called locally "the Gaer" are near the River Severn, in a township of the parish called Thornbury.'Forden', in Samuel Lewis, ''A Topographical Dictionary of Wales'' (1833) In 1868, the ''National Gazetteer'' said of the parish The parish church of

St Michael and All Angels ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

, about half a mile to the west of the road from Welshpool to Montgomery, was enlarged in 1830. For some three hundred years the church was the burial-place of the family of Devereux, whose estate at

Nantcribba Nantcribba is a township in the parish of Forden in the historic county of Montgomeryshire and now in Powys It is also the site of Nantcribba Castle which was built by the Corbett, Barons of Caus, of Caus Castle in Shropshire. To the south of th ...

was within the parish. The marble

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

, oval in shape, was presented in 1794 by Richard Edmunds. Between 1861 and 1965 the village was served by

Forden railway station Forden railway station was a station in Forden, Powys, Wales. The station was opened on 10 June 1861 by the Oswestry and Newtown Railway on the section of line between Welshpool and Newtown. The station originally had a single platform on the ...

on the Cambrian Coast Line.

Governance

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

of Forden was created by the Local Government Act 1894 and survived until 1974. All significant local government services are now provided by the Powys County Council unitary authority. There is also a Forden with Leighton and Trelystan community council, which has a mostly consultative role. Until 2022 Forden was the name of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

, coterminous with the Forden with Leighton and Trelystan community. The ward was represented on Powys County Council by one county councillor, who was an Independent since 1995, with the exception of 2004-2008 when a Liberal Democrat candidate was adopted. Generally a single candidate stood, with no election necessary. Following a boundary review, in 2022 the Forden and Montgomery wards merged to become 'Forden and Montgomery'.

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

candidate, Jeremy Thorp, won the seat at the 2022 Powys Council election.The councillor is not to be confused with Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe. For the purposes of the

Senedd The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

, Forden is part of the Montgomeryshire constituency and the Mid and West Wales electoral region. The parish forms part of the

parliamentary constituency and in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Forden station (remains) geograph-3523193-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Sport

The village is represented by Forden United who play at the community centre.

References

{{authority control Historic Montgomeryshire Parishes Villages in Powys Former wards of Powys