The Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society was founded in 1994 to provide a forum for people with family history interests in the historical county of Montgomeryshire and its borders. By 2019 it has published its 410th booklet.
To find out more about our activities, simply have a browse round these pages.
Everybody is welcome to read the outward facing pages on this site, including Forum posts.
Members who are currently registered for the Forum may post as well as read messages. Other material that members can access from home is gradually being added to the site.
Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society organises a number of well attended talks, events and outings each year. A recent Summer Outing was to Dolanog and Pontrobert and featured sites associated with famous Welsh hymnwriter Ann Griffiths. We visited the Ann Griffiths Memorial Chapel, Dolanog and then the John Hughes Chapel, Pontrobert and were entertained and informed in equal measure by our hosts at both venues. This was preceded by a buffet at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel. In 2018 we held a joint event with the Llanfyllin Dolydd Workhouse, with talks on local families given by both organisations. A delicious meal was provided by the Dolydd, followed by a guided tour and a viewing of the community-made film about the workhouse and its history.
An important part of the Society's work is publishing full transcripts of the memorial inscriptions at every historical parish church and chapel in Montgomeryshire. In 2014 we published the memorial inscriptions for the parish church and chapels of Llanwddyn, thus completing the part of the Society’s work programme dealing with chapels and churches' burial grounds. The task of gathering and transcribing was carried out by a dedicated team of volunteers over a period of many years. They meticulously transcribed gravestones, a large percentage of which are badly eroded or invisible to the naked eye having disappeared under ground as nature takes over. The final stages of the MI programme have involved the modern cemeteries, e.g. the large municipal cemeteries at Newtown, Llanidloes, Machynlleth and Welshpool. We now hold a full transcript of every known memorial in the county.
Hold that Camera Straight! A typical scene of the team at work - View larger
The Society moved out of our old Library premises in Short Bridge Street, Newtown in July 2018. With the opening of the Trysorau Maldwyn / Maldwyn Treasures local history research room in autumn 2014, Newtown now has an extensive and accessible research room for genealogists which features the Society's publications. For this reason, and with the kind cooperation of the Library staff, we have now moved our library resources in to the main Newtown Library building. Our collection of pedigrees and other information can be seen on request, and our booklets are available for reference in the research room.
