Kerry () is a village and geographically large

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Wales. The village lies on the

A489 road The A489, officially known as the Newtown to Machynlleth Trunk Road in Wales, is a trunk road in the United Kingdom running from Craven Arms, Shropshire to Machynlleth, Powys and crossing the Wales-England border. The road starts about one mi ...

southeast of Newtown and possesses two

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

— the Herbert Arms and the Kerry Lamb — a village hall, a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

and a hairdresser. Kerry also has a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

origins dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels, as well as a

baptist church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

. It gives its name to the

Kerry Hill William Kerry Hill (19 June 1943 – 26 August 2018) was a Singapore-based, Australian architect who specialised in hotel design in tropical Asia. His works were known for their features of steeply-pitched pavilion roofs, shaded walkways, an ...

breed of

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

Governance

The large, rural Kerry

contains the villages of Kerry, Glanmule, Dolfor and Sarn. It is divided into three wards (Kerry, Dolfor and Sarn) and for

Powys County Council Powys County Council () is the local authority for Powys, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council is based at County Hall in Llandrindod Wells. History The county of Powys was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act ...

the community is an

electoral division An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

/ward (called Kerry). It falls in the historic county of

History

The Battle of Kerry was fought nearby in 1228 between

Llywelyn Fawr Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (, – 11 April 1240), also known as Llywelyn the Great (, ; ), was a medieval Welsh ruler. He succeeded his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, as King of Gwynedd in 1195. By a combination of war and diplomacy, he dominate ...

and

Hubert de Burgh Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent ( , ; – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England (1215–1232) and Justiciar of Ireland (1232) during the reigns of King John and his son and successor King Henry I ...

. The area around the village was the Welsh

commote A commote (, sometimes spelt in older documents as , plural , less frequently )'' Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix ("together" ...

and Lordship of Ceri, part of the region of

Rhwng Gwy a Hafren was a region of medieval Wales, located in the Welsh Marches between Kingdom of Powys, Powys to the north and Brycheiniog to the south. It was bounded by the rivers River Wye, Wye () and River Severn, Severn (). It covered about the same territor ...

, and it was originally ruled by the Princes of

Maelienydd Maelienydd, sometimes spelt Maeliennydd, was a cantref and lordship in east central Wales covering the area from the River Teme to Radnor Forest and the area around Llandrindod Wells. The area, which is mainly upland, is now in Powys. During th ...

and their descendants. Kerry was the terminus of the Kerry Railway, later a branch of the

Cambrian Railways The Cambrian Railways owned of Railway track, track over a large area of mid Wales. The system was an amalgamation of a number of railways that were incorporated in 1864, 1865 and 1904. The Cambrian connected with two larger railways with c ...

, connecting it to

Abermule Abermule () is a village lying on the River Severn 6 km (4 miles) northeast of Newtown, Powys, Newtown in Powys, mid Wales. The A483 road, A483 Swansea to Chester trunk road, the Cambrian Line railway, connecting Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury, ...

that ceased operating in 1956. The

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

Kerry Tramway brought timber from the forests to the main line station.

Population

St. Michael's Church

St. Michael's Church of Kerry is located within the diocese of St. Asaph and was rededicated in 1176; an earlier church is likely to have occupied the site previously. The parish is very large in comparison to others, stretching as far as Mochdre, Dolfor and

Beguildy Beguildy () is a village and community in Powys, Wales. It lies in a remote tract of countryside, northwest of Knighton, on the B4355 road to Newtown, near the headwaters of the River Teme, at an elevation of . The village has a pub, the ...

. It boasts one of only three chained Bibles in Wales, possibly even in the United Kingdom, and is printed according to William Morgan's Welsh translation.

Dolforgan Hall

Dolforgan Hall and estate, was located just outside Kerry. From 1868 to 1883, it was the home of inventor and industrialist James Walton. In 1894, it was purchased by John William Willans, the chief engineer of the

Liverpool Overhead Railway The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee) was an overhead railway in Liverpool that operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number o ...

, and passed to his son, philanthropist

John Bancroft Willans John Bancroft Willans (1881 - 1957) was an English landowner, historian, photographer and philanthropist Early life Willans was born on 27 May 1881 in Liverpool, the only child of John William Willans - the chief engineer of the Liverpool Overh ...

Kerry Hill sheep

Kerry was noted for its local breed of sheep and the large sheep fairs that were held in the village. Kerry Hill sheep have a distinctive and unique coloration, with a white face bearing black markings around the mouth, ears, and eyes.

References

External links

Kerry Community Council websitePhotos of Kerry and surrounding area on geograph.org.ukKerry Baptist Church
{{authority control Villages in Powys Communities in Powys Commotes Dolforgan Estate