Newtown: History, Art and Markets

Newtown offers several clear starting points for a stay: local history, art and textiles, markets, and trails for walking and cycling. If you’re looking for a hotel in Newtown, you can tailor your choice to the activities that interest you most. This makes it easy to shape your stay around specific interests.

History, Art and Craft

The Newtown Heritage Trail includes the remains of a motte built in the 13th century and introduces John Roberts. Roberts was a Romani harpist, known as the country’s leading exponent of the Welsh triple harp. The trail brings together medieval local history and the biography of a musician. For your cultural itinerary, a historic site and Welsh harp music are therefore available as distinct themes.

The Robert Owen Museum celebrates the life and ideas of Robert Owen in the town where he was born and died. The museum is housed in an impressive half-timbered building opposite the Town Clock. Along with a biographical perspective, this offers a distinctive architectural landmark and a practical point of reference in the townscape.

Oriel Davies Gallery is a public art gallery in Newtown. It holds around ten exhibitions each year across three gallery spaces; alongside its exhibition programme, it offers workshops, courses, talks and events. Its programme is therefore not limited to exhibitions. The Newtown Textile Museum offers a different focus, showing the process from raw wool to flannel. While the gallery presents art through exhibitions and other programme formats, the Textile Museum focuses on the processing of a material.

Markets in Newtown

The Newtown Tuesday Market takes place every Tuesday from 7 am to 3 pm on Broad Street and High Street in Newtown, Powys. If you’re including this market in your plans, check the hours before you travel.

The Newtown Outdoor Market has traders selling, among other things, fruit and vegetables, fresh fish, meat from butchers, flowers and takeaway food. Its range therefore extends from food to flowers and takeaway options. Check which traders are currently there before your visit.

Walking, Cycling and the Montgomery Canal

Walking Newtown’s walks start and finish near the town centre. They follow public rights of way through community woodlands, nature reserves, riverside paths, canal towpaths and gentle hills in the beautiful countryside of Montgomeryshire. This gives your walking plans a variety of landscapes, from woods and nature reserves to riversides, canals and rolling hills.

A specifically designated section of the Montgomery Canal between Newtown and Welshpool can be used for walking and cycling. Check the condition of the towpath locally before planning your trip. On this section, you can choose between two activities: walking or cycling.

In the wider regional context, the Welsh section of the Montgomery Canal is internationally recognised as a Special Area of Conservation, particularly for its diversity of aquatic plants.

Discover more destinations: Newbridge On Wye, Rhayader, Staylittle, Pencelli, Abercrave, Abergwesyn, Sarn, Church Stoke.

For the overview of the wider region: Powys.