Kerry, Powys

Coordinates: 52°30′04″N 3°15′29″W / 52.5012°N 3.25803°W / 52.5012; -3.25803

Kerry (Welsh: Ceri) is a village and geographically large community in Powys, Wales.

The village lies on the A489 road 2.8 miles (4.5 km) southeast of Newtown and possesses two pubs — the Herbert Arms and the Kerry Lamb — a village hall, a bowling green, a post office, a primary school and a hairdresser (formerly the Kerry Vale Butcher's shop).

Kerry also has a parish church of Norman origins dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels, as well as a baptist church.

The village has a population of about 800. It is the home of Phil Mills, WRC rally driver and co-driver.

It gives its name to the Kerry Hill breed of sheep.

Governance

The large, rural Kerry community contains the villages of Kerry, Glanmule, Dolfor and Sarn. It is divided into three wards (Kerry, Dolfor and Sarn) and for Powys County Council the community is an electoral division/ward (called Kerry). It falls in the historic county of Montgomeryshire.

Powys

Powys (/ˈpoʊ.ɪs/ or /ˈpaʊ.ɪs/;Welsh: [ˈpowɪs]) is a principal area, local-government county and preserved county in Mid Wales. It is named after the successor Kingdom of Powys, which formed after the Romans withdrew from Britain.

Geography

Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km² (2,000 sq miles), making it the largest county in Wales by land area.

It is bounded to the north by Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham; to the west by Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire; to the east by Shropshire and Herefordshire; and to the south by Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire and Neath Port Talbot.

Most of Powys is mountainous, with north-south transport being difficult.

The majority of the Powys population lives in villages and small towns. The largest towns are Newtown, Ystradgynlais, Brecon, and Welshpool with populations of 12,783, 9,004, 7,901 and 6,269 respectively (2001). Powys has the lowest population density of all the principal areas of Wales.

Powys (surname)

Powys is a Welsh surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Of the five people above, the first four are descended from the same family that was clearly found in Ludlow, Shropshire in the sixteenth century. There is evidence, but not strong, from the seventeenth century that the Ludlow Powyses came from Cockshot, also in Shropshire, see the unpublished 1662/3 Visitation of Shropshire in the College of Arms. The Cockshot Powyses (and Powis and Powes, etc.) are to be found in public records from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, see charters in Shropshire Record Office. There are other families of Powis who also are probably descended from this Cockshot outpost. While it is attractive to see all these Powys/Powis/Powes as descended from Wales, there is as yet no clear evidence to support this.