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Abstract
(This paper was written as an introduction to the Folk Life Studies Annual Conference held at Gregynog in the former county of Montgomeryshire on 16–20 September 1993. The conference theme was ‘A Great Awakening? Rural Society, 1700–1900’. The intention of this paper is to provide an introduction to the county's history, and particularly to indicate some aspects of that history relevant to the theme of the conference; it is in no way intended as a comprehensive summary of the history of Montgomeryshire.)
To most people who are not familiar with Wales, it may be assumed that there are two ‘stock’ images that spring to mind when that little nation is mentioned. The first is of the rugged grandeur of Snowdonia where mountains that appear to reach the sky are reflected in still lakes that seem proportionately as deep. These mountains were for centuries the stronghold of the princes of Gwynedd, the last defenders of the notion of Wales as an independent nation.