ABSTRACT
The setting of these scenes lies in the story of the two families, Charles Lloyd's and his wife's, the Lloyds of Dolobran and the Lorts of Stackpole. The town of Welshpool, where the prison stood, is about eight miles from Dolobran. It lies in the county of Montgomery but is quite near the Shropshire border and about twenty miles from Shrewsbury. It was conscious of being on the Severn, which was navigable up to only a few miles away, and it was proud to be reckoned a centre of the ancient district of Powysland. With the great Powis Castle on its doorstep, the seat at that time of the Herbert family, later Earls of Powis, Welshpool felt it could hold its own whether with the adherents of Chirk Castle to the north or of Montgomery or Bishop's Castle to the south. Welshpool was not a large place, and its living standards, outside the highest levels of society, were unworthy of particular comment. Its gaol, Elizabeth knew, was primitive and unpleasant in the extreme.
