Find your ancestors in Powys Marriages

Discover your ancestor’s marriage record from the historic counties of Breconshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire. You will find out your ancestor’s wedding date, parish, occupation and father’s name.

Each of the records includes a transcript of the original marriage record. The amount of information in each record can differ, but most will include a combination of the following:

• Name
• Birth year
• Bride’s name
• Bride’s age
• Bride’s parish
• Groom’s name
• Groom’s age
• Groom’s parish
• Marriage date
• Bride’s father’s name
• Groom’s father’s name
• Parish
• Place
• County and Country
• Page
• Records set

When available the image can give you even more valuable information about your ancestor’s wedding; such as:

• Bride and groom marital status (Bachelor, Spinster or Widow)
• Residence at time of marriage
• Bride and groom’s profession
• Bride and groom’s father’s profession
• Witnesses to the wedding
• Who performed the ceremony
• If the couple were married by Banns or licence

Discover More about Powys Marriages

In the transcripts and the images the ‘Age’ field at times will list the Bride and Groom’s age as Full instead of giving an exact age, it means that the Bride or Groom were at full marriage age of 21 years old or older. Many of the marriage record images show whether the couple were married by Banns of by licence. Marriage licences were created in the 14th century. Couples could obtain a marriage licence for a fee if they wished to waive the Bann period. Banns were announcements made in the church on three separate Sundays during the three months leading up to the wedding day. The announcements were made to give the congregation an opportunity to voice any objection to the marriage. Along with a marriage licence fee, the couples were obligated to sign a declaration stating that there were not lawful impediments to their marriage. There are different reasons why couples married by licence instead of by Bann; they may have wanted to get married quickly, they may have wanted to show that they could pay for a licence or the couple was getting married away from home.

Powys was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act of 1972. The new county includes the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire and parts of Brecknockshire, Denbighshire and Monmouthshire. The cathedral city of Newport is the largest in Powys. Other significant towns are Ystradgynlais, Brecon and Welshpool.

Patronymic Naming System

The Powys Marriages includes 642 records which use the patronymic naming system. This system started in Wales in the 15th century through to the mid-18th century. It is the practice of using the father’s first name as the child’s surname. Usually, ‘ab’ or ‘ap’ is added between the child’s first name and the father’s first name. For example, William Ap David is William son of David. The patronymic naming system can affect your genealogical research. We would recommend searching by your relative’s first name and birth year without the family’s surname. Then narrow your search from those results.