08/10/2026
We have posted this image before of the panoramic water colour painting of Newtown we have on display in the museum. But why did Edward Salter chose to paint his picture from a location on the slopes of what is now Treowen?
One reason is obvious: it offers a brilliant view of the whole of our town which is as true now as it was in Salter’s day. Salter, painting in 1878, was looking down on a manufacturing town, as is evident from the tall chimney stacks billowing smoke from the steam powered flannel mills.
The town had received a new lease of life thanks to the efforts of one of its inhabitants, Pryce Jones, who had risen from a humble apprentice boy to an internationally renowned entrepreneur. And there’s the clue, which helps to answer the question. Look carefully at the buildings in each corner of the foreground. On the left, is the cathedral-like edifice of Pryce Jones’s Severn Valley Flannel Mill. On the right is his newly built Royal Welsh Warehouse. And linking the two is a steam locomotive arriving at the station.
Of course, it was the railway which was the key to Pryce Jones’s worldwide success as a pioneer of mail order. Interestingly, another painting of Salter’s is held at the National Library of Wales. It’s a painting of Plas Dolerw, which became the home of Pryce Jones in 1875, the year in which Salter completed the Plas Dolerw painting. It shows the house and the parkland, with a mounted figure approaching along the drive. We believe that these two works are linked. They were probably both painted as a result of Pryce commissioning the artist. The 1875 painting to celebrate his arrival as a country squire; the 1878 painting to mark his arrival as Newtown’s most successful businessman.
You can find out much more about Newtown’s place in the history of mail order shopping in our new exhibition ‘Pryce Jones and the birth of Mail Order’, until 31 October. Also check out our website - https://newtowntextilemuseum.co.uk/the-collection/
for lots more stories on Edward Salter, Pryce Jones and Newtown’s fascinating textile history.
