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Description
The Village of Carno
Image 1:
Church of St John the Baptist in the village of Carno. The parish church was totally rebuilt in 1863 and no external remains of the earlier church have survived. The church is situated alongside the main A470 trunk road through the village. In the churchyard is the grave of Laura Ashley, the famous textile designer (see below).
Laura Ashley (née Mountney), created a multinational business empire, which spread the name of Wales throughout the world. Laura was born in 1925 at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil (Glamorgan). After her family moved to London, she spent her childhood holidays with 'Grandma Wales' back in Merthyr Tydfil where she acquired a deep and lifelong affection for the essentials of the Welsh way of life. In 1953, Laura and her husband Bernard set up a textile-printing business. They moved to Mid-Wales in 1961 and proceeded to establish a major international enterprise, create the brilliantly successful 'Laura Ashley look', and revitalise the local economy. The main Laura Ashley fabrics factory stood on the site of the former Carno railway station. Tragically, Laura died aged 60 in 1985 as a result of a fall. Her funeral was attended by hundreds of mourners, and she was buried to the sound of the Dowlais Male Choir of which she had been vice-president. After her death, changing fashions eventually led to a steady decline in the fortunes of the Laura Ashley enterprise, and by the late 1990s the company was making a loss. Today, although the brand remains world-famous, Laura Ashley designs tend to struggle against cheaper mass-market alternatives. The factory on the Carno site finally closed in March 2005. You can study the changing fortunes of the Laura Ashley concern on the Fashion United website.
Image 2:
Photography by Julie Preston of Michigan, USA - December 1996
Laura Ashley's grave in the churchyard of St John the Baptist's Church. Photographer Julie Preston remarked, "I admired its simplicity".
Image 3:
Sheep grazing on the south-western slopes of the 386-metre (1255-foot) Allt Fawr. The view was taken from the A470 near Carno's parish church. The tree on the right shows that autumn is approaching.
Image 4:
An ancient milestone set into a wall alongside the main A470 road. The post indicates that Newtown is 11 miles away (to the east) and Machynlleth 17 miles away (to the west).
Image 5:
Ty-Brith, an 18th century residence alongside the main road through Carno. Now an hotel, the census shows that in 1881 it was the residence of 71-year-old Margaret Marsh, an important landowner in the parish.
Image 6:
Ty-Mawr, another fine 18th century residence alongside the main road in Carno. In 1881 it was the residence of Andrew Davies, a 66-year old farmer of 120 acres. Ty-Mawr is now a tea shop.
Image 7:
Peniel Methodist Chapel, built in 1903. The chapel is situated at the north-western end of the village of Carno.
Image 8:
The Aleppo Merchant Inn opposite the parish church in Carno. In 1881 the innkeeper was widow Ann Wilson, aged 77, who also farmed 70 acres.
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