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A foundation of the district was the farming of hill and valley with hardy native cattle and sheep. Mining, once important, has declined. Now, forestry with mixed species of conifer has clothed some of the hills; farming faces ever-new economic challenges as government influences its structure, and tourism has achieved notable significance. Services and shops employ many.
Just by the town is the most downstream road crossing of the Dyfi - replacing earlier structures, this stone bridge was built in 1805, its cost shared between the two counties of Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire that it joined. It is awkward for modern traffic and now somewhat patched with iron reinforcements; the Dyfi when in high spate is a stirring sight as it crowds the arches. In 1863, as a result of co-ordinated private enterprise, the standard gauge railway arrived, linking Machynlleth to the national network and, as a distributor of products of the industrial age, radically changing the availability of goods and produce and thus modifying local employment. |
 Dyfi Bridge
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Station