Presteigne

Presteigne (/prɛsˈtiːn/; Welsh: Llanandras: the church of St. Andrew) is a town and community on the south bank of the River Lugg in Powys, Wales.

Nearby towns are Kington, Herefordshire to the south and Knighton to the north, and surrounding villages include Norton (within the community) and Stapleton.

The town probably began as a small settlement around a Minster church dedicated to St Andrew and at the time of the Domesday Book it formed part of the manor of Humet.

The development of a thriving cloth industry in the Tudor period brought short-lived prosperity, ended by three new epidemics of plague in three successive generations.

[3] By the end of the 19th century its newer and larger neighbour, Llandrindod Wells, had usurped the role of administrative centre, but Presteigne remained the venue for the Assizes until these were abolished in 1971.

[5] Presteigne attracted national attention in 2004 for an unsuccessful campaign by its Mayor, Councillor Peggy Fraser-Scott, to enforce a curfew on the town's youth.

Land owned by Capt Lewis RN, of Clatterbrune House, was used to hold first Italian and then German POW's during the Second World War and is now the home of Presteigne St. Andrews Football Club.

[10] Since the town is closest to the Wales and England border, local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central that broadcast from Birmingham.

Presteigne viewed from Stapleton Hill (August 2007)
The Shire Hall, Presteigne ; photographed by Percy Benzie Abery c. 1910s