The Romans seem not to have occupied Wales in the sense that they occupied the border from Chester to Caerleon. Their stations in Wales were mainly military, though there were doubt less peaceful relations with the natives. In Montgomeryshire there are Roman camps in the notable lowland basins of the lower Vyrnwy (Clawdd Coch), of Montgomery (Caer Flos) and of Caersws, while there was probably a station at Machynlleth, or at any rate at Pennal, just in Merionethshire. Roads from Chester (Deva) and Viroconium met at Caer Flos (the Forden Gaer, excavated in 1927 and following years) and continued to Caersws (excavated in 1912). The large British camp on the Breidden hills (Craig Breidden) is claimed to be the scene of the defeat of the British leader, Caractacus, in A.D. 51.
The post-Roman centuries saw the coming of the Celtic Saints with their civilizing influence, and the foundation of numerous villages (Llan) dedicated to the local saint. The next landmark of importance was the building of Offa's Dyke (8th century ), a long line of demarcation between the dominions of the Welsh princes and those of the invading Saxons (see Cyril Fox, "Offa's Dyke : A Field Survey," Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1926, etc.). Within the county it stretches from Carreghova to Castlewright, with the exception of three miles under the Breidden hills, where the Severn serves as dividing line. By the time of Domesday the English had crossed Offa's Dyke and established their valley vil lages in the plains of the Severn as far as the river, but the whole border strip remained a battle-ground for centuries, and, until the time of Elizabeth, probably had little population outside the castle towns and moated farms.
From the Welsh side we learn little until the death of Rhodri Mawr in 877, when out of the united Wales were carved three divisions, with Powys as the central part, including what later became Montgomeryshire. Powys castle (see WELSHPOOL) was founded in '108. The Normans, pushing up the valley ways from England, built an outer and inner line of castles in the Marches.
The two ways (see above) from Minsterley and Craven arms— the latter "Road of the Castles" past Stokesay and Bishop's castle being thronged with historic memories—meet in the basin of the Camlad, where Caer Flos, the Roman camp, was in a sense revived by the Norman castle at Montgomery (q.v. ), built by Roger de Montgomery in 1074.
Another civilizing force came with the monasteries and other religious foundations of the middle ages, and under the guidance of the monks and that of the numerous Flemish families intro duced in the 14th century Powysland became one of the leading wool-producing and manufacturing regions of Wales. The woollen
goods were taken to the markets at Shrewsbury and Ludlow. By Tudor times something like order had been established in the Marches, and trade brought fame to the Welsh woollen fabrics The county of Montgomery, based on fundamental physical, linguistic and historic facts, was formed in 1535. English customs and ideas, e.g., the half-timbered houses, spread up the valleys dur ing the late 16th and succeeding centuries. The style eventually reached the western end of the county at Tyn-o-hir above the Dyfi estuary but did not spread into Cardiganshire. At the same time English speech, used at the markets, spread into the valleys replacing the Celtic tongue.