County Buildings, Llandrindod Wells

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Link to Welsh translationLink to French translationCounty Buildings, Llandrindod Wells

This building was opened in 1909 as the headquarters of Radnorshire County Council. Men came here in the First World War to seek exemption from military service or to be court-martialled. The building was later a police station and magistrates’ court.

As you stand outside the building, look up to appreciate the Dutch-style gables and the stone insets with the council’s initials. The final letter in “County Buildings” above the entrance appears to have been squeezed in, as if the stonemason had begun with “County Building”!

During the First World War, the military authorities held courts martial here when locally billeted members of the Royal Army Medical Corps were accused of offences. At a trial in August 1915, Acting Corporal Frank Watson explained that he had gone absent without permission to be with his dying father at home on the Wirral.

The town’s military tribunal sat at County Buildings to hear applications for exemption from conscription to the armed forces. In August 1916, after a two-month break, the tribunal heard 30 to 40 cases in one evening. Most applicants were men aged almost 40 who held responsible business positions or had dependent families. On another occasion, a young Methodist minister was summoned to explain why he had not enlisted. The tribunal was chaired by businessman Tom Norton, owner of the Automobile Palace.

In December 1915 County Buildings was the collection point for mittens, which Radnorshire residents were urged to donate for soldiers in the trenches. The county had been given the target of collecting 500 pairs.

The county council moved to the former Gwalia Hotel in 1950, after which County Buildings became the town’s police station. The magistrates court continued at County Buildings until 2012, when it moved to a new building in Noyadd Park which was designed as a joint home for the police, fire service, courts and tribunals.

Postcode: LD1 6BG    View Location Map

To continue the Llandrindod Wells in WW1 tour, cross the road. Take the railway footbridge, then Station Crescent to the main road. Turn left. The next QR codes are outside the Quaker house, across the road just before the rear wall of Aldi
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