Llanbister is a small village and community with a 2011 population of 382 in Powys,

mid Wales Mid Wales ( cy, Canolbarth Cymru or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands") or Central Wales refers to a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd ...

, in the historic county of

Radnorshire , HQ = Presteigne , Government = Radnorshire County Council (1889–1974) Radnorshire District Council (1974–1996) , Origin = , Status = historic county, administrative county , Start ...

Facilities

The village is not directly served by a railway station: the nearest is Llanbister Road railway station which is about 5 miles east of the village. It is served by a bus service (the T4 operated by Stagecoach Wales) which connects Cardiff to Newtown via

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

, Brecon,

Builth Wells Builth Wells (; cy, Llanfair-ym-Muallt) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of ...

and Llandrindod Wells. Llanbister is situated on the A483 main road from Newtown to Llandrindod Wells, at its junction with the B4356 road. It also lies next to the

River Ithon A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

which flows southward just west of the village. In the past, there was a police station in Llanbister, on the north west outskirts of the village, but this has since been sold off as private housing. Other facilities include a primary school, Llanbister C P School, a children's play area and a 200-person capacity community hall built in 1996 which has a stage and a 6.25m x 4m dance floor. There used to be a Post Office in the centre of the village but it is no longer operating: it was proposed for closure in 2008. The Lion Hotel, Llanbister - geograph

There is a Victorian pub and bed and breakfast hotel (The Lion Hotel) in the village and a caravan and camping site to the north west of the village, near the former police station. There is an area of common land to the east of the village, named Llanbister Common. In July 1991 an unlicensed free music festival was held there, which was not well received by the local population, so in summer 1992 manure was spread on the land to make a repeat less likely. There is evidence of possible medieval ridge and furrow cultivation on Llanbister Common. In 2018 the horror film

You Should Have Left ''You Should Have Left'' is a 2020 American psychological horror film written and directed by David Koepp, based on the 2017 book of the same name by Daniel Kehlmann. It stars Kevin Bacon, and Amanda Seyfried. Jason Blum served as a producer thr ...

was partly filmed at a property near Llanbister, the

John Pawson John Ward Pawson , (born 1949, Halifax, England) is a British architect whose work is known for its minimalist aesthetic. Architectural Registration Board (ARB) of UK asked Dezeen magazine not to refer him as architect although this was critic ...

-designed Life House (Tŷ Bywyd) just east of the village.

Churches

The village has an Anglican church in the centre, St

Cynllo Saint Cynllo () is a British saint, who lived in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, generally described as a brother of Saint Teilo. Cynllo was known for "...the sanctity of his life and the austerity of his manners." Life Cynllo is various ...

's Parish Church (part of the Church in Wales), parts of which date from around AD 1300, as well as a Methodist church on the southern outskirts.

Notable residents

Eleanor Bufton Eleanor Bufton (2 June 1842 – 9 April 1893) was a Welsh actress of the Victorian era. She began acting in her teens and spent most of her career in London, playing in Shakespeare, Victorian burlesque, and a range of drama and comedy roles. ...

, the actress, was born here in 1842.Joseph Knight, ‘Bufton , Eleanor (1842–1893)’, rev. J. Gilliland, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 25 Jan 2015
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References

{{authority control Villages in Powys