**Saturday 11th October **
**An open day at Welshpool Town Hall and a lecture by Thomas Lloyd, Wales Herald Extraordinary **
The Powysland Club holds in its care an important collection of Hatchments relating to Montgomeryshire families who have played a leading part in the county’s history over the centuries. They are mounted for permanent display in the Court Room of Welshpool Town Hall.
A hatchment was a diamond-shaped panel of wood or canvas within a frame, painted with the heraldic arms of a recently deceased member of the gentry or aristocracy. Hatchments are believed to have been displayed on the funeral cortège and remained in the church after the interment.
Across the UK the earliest examples of hatchments date from the second quarter of the seventeenth century, but those in this collection appear to be of the nineteenth century.
In 1988 it was calculated that there were 135 hatchments in Wales, so evidently the Powysland Club holds 10% of the total number in the country. They constitute a unique part of Montgomeryshire’s cultural heritage and can be viewed on the [Powysland website](
https://powyslandclub.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=540e159188fb5cd5aceb76687&id=f704662d0c&e=3aafbff8f8)
At the Powysland Club’s opening lecture for the 2025-26 season on Saturday 11 October 2025 we are proud to introduce as our speaker **Thomas Lloyd, Wales Herald Extraordinary**, one of the country’s leading experts on heraldry and hatchments. His lecture will be entitled: Hatchments, Heraldry and the Arms of the Montgomeryshire Gentry. He will be speaking at 3pm in the town hall assembly room.
**Welshpool Town Hall will be open from 1pm for visitors to inspect the hatchments in the Court Room, along with other historic rooms in the Town Hall including the Council Chamber. The lecture will begin at 3pm in the Assembly Room, and admission is free.**
We anticipate considerable interest in this lecture. If you would like to attend please contact the Powysland Programme Secretary Dr Mary Oldham,
bW9taWxmb3JkIHwgaG90bWFpbCAhIGNvbQ== or 07713 111583
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