The City, Montgomeryshire

City
Montgomeryshire
Location
Grid reference:	SO210899
Location:	52°30’6"N, 3°9’50"W
Data
Post town:	Newtown
Postcode:	SY16
Dialling code:	01686
Local Government
Council:	Powys
Parliamentary constituency:	Montgomeryshire

City is a hamlet in Montgomeryshire a mile from the border with Shropshire. It is situated ¾ mile from the small village of Sarn which lies on the A489 road on the slopes up to the Clun Forest. The hamlet is situated in a small valley, at an elevation of between 690 ft to 750 ft above sea level.

City is just off the minor road that leads from Sarn up to the Kerry Ridgeway and further to Bishop's Castle, a market town 7½ miles distant, in Shropshire. The two nearer towns however are historic Montgomery — five miles away — and the larger Newtown, which is seven miles to the west.

At present, 11 dwellings comprise the core of the hamlet (though one is dilapidated) as well as three outlying isolated houses. There are a number of small, disused quarries in the area. Today the landscape is a mixture of woodland and pasture. The local economy is largely based on agriculture and forestry.

There is a Royal Mail post box with a daily collection Monday-Saturday, and the hamlet's postcode is SY16 4HH.

Bachaethlon

The farming settlement of Bachaethlon, looking towards the northwest.

A separate and historic settlement called Bachaethlon lies just to the north of City, on the other side of the Sarn-Bishop's Castle road. Bachaethlon lies on more level ground, at an elevation of 660 ft. It consists of six dwellings and many agricultural buildings. Other spellings include "Bahaithlon" and "Bahaillon".

Origin of the name

The hamlet has never held the status of a city and "City" is not a recognisable Welsh-language word, so its origin is unclear. It is possible that the name came from an Anglicisation of Saith Tŷ, which is Welsh for "Seven Houses".