Bedwellty is a small village in

Caerphilly County Borough Caerphilly County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Caerffili) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It is governed by Caerphilly County Borough Council. Its main and largest town is Caerphilly. Other towns in the county borough are B ...

in south

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The village stands on a ridge of high ground between the

Rhymney Rhymney (; cy, Rhymni ) is a town and a community in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales. It is within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. With the villages of Pontlottyn, Fochriw, Abertysswg, Deri and New Tredegar, Rhymney ...

and

Sirhowy Sirhowy () is a village in the Sirhowy Valley () and the county of Blaenau Gwent. It is located north east of Tredegar, north west of Ebbw Vale, and north west of Newport. The A4048 runs near the village. Tourism The area is also known ...

valleys. The village comprises a parish church, public house and a few houses. The

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

of Bedwellty lay in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, wit ...

and covered a large area. Several industrial and mining towns grew up within the parish boundary, including

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr c ...

, and

Tredegar Tredegar (pronounced , ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the In ...

. These gradually gained administrative independence from Bedwellty between the 1870s and 1890s. A Bedwellty

Local Government District The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

was established for the rest of the parish in 1891, becoming an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...

in 1894. Bedwellty Urban District was abolished in 1974, being divided between the

Rhymney Valley The Rhymney Valley () is one of the South Wales valleys, with the Rhymney River forming the border between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Between 1974 and 1996 a Rhymney Valley local government district also existed (one ...

and

Islwyn The Borough of Islwyn was one of five local government districts of Gwent from 1974 to 1996. History The borough was formed in 1974 as a local government district of Gwent. It covered the whole area of three former districts and part of a four ...

districts. A

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

called Bedwellty was then created for the part of the former urban district which lay within Islwyn. The community of Bedwellty was abolished in 1982, being divided into the four communities of Argoed, Blackwood,

Cefn Fforest Cefn Fforest is a community and an electoral ward in Caerphilly County Borough, Wales. A wholly urbanized community, it forms the western fringes of the town of Blackwood. By area, it is the smallest of all of the communities of Wales. Educa ...

, and

Pengam Pengam is a former coal village and community in the Rhymney Valley, Caerphilly county borough, in Wales. It is also a community, containing itself and the nearby village of Fleur de Lys, and at the 2001 census it has a population of 3,842, ris ...

History

The original ancient parish was very large, including most of the upper Ebbw and

valleys. A number of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

communities grew up in the parish, and in the 19th century these became separate local government units. The church of St Sannan was built in a thirteenth century

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style. The church tower is fourteenth century and contains six bells. The church was restored in 1858 and repaired in 1882. The exterior is whitewashed. The Bedwellty Poor Law Union was established in 1849, covering the two parishes of Bedwellty and

Aberystruth Aberystruth was an ancient ecclesiastical parish in Wales, located beside the north-west corner of the county of Monmouthshire against the border with Breconshire and between the parishes of Bedwellty and Trevethin. It extended from Beaufort in ...

. A workhouse was built to serve the area at Georgetown in Tredegar, opening in 1852. On 19 June 1874,

and

local boards of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

and local government districts were formed, each including parts of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

. The remainder of the parish of Bedwellty became a local government district on 29 May 1891. When parish and district councils were established under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

, the Bedwellty Local Government District became Bedwellty Urban District. The 1894 act also directed that parishes could not straddle district boundaries, and so the parts of Bedwellty parish which were within the Ebbw Vale, Rhymney and Tredegar urban districts became separate civil parishes. Bedwellty urban district included the hamlets and villages of

Aberbargoed Aberbargoed is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough, County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales. Aberbargoed once contained the largest ever colliery waste tip in Europe, although this has now been reclaimed and turned into a country park. The town i ...

, Argoed, Blackwood, New Tredegar,

and Rock. In 1926, Bedwellty and

Mynyddislwyn Mynyddislwyn was a civil parish and urban district in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It was abolished in local government reorganisation in 1974. It is named for the Mountain in its centre MynyddIslwyn (Islwyn Mountain or Islwyn's Mountain, Isl ...

urban districts formed the West Monmouthshire Omnibus Board to ensure local control of bus services. In 1935, a

County Review Order The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their board ...

altered the boundaries between Bedwellty and Mynyddislwyn. Blaen-y-cwm flats, Aberbargoed (geograph 6173594)

Bedwellty Urban District Council established its headquarters at the corner of Commercial Road and Bedwellty Road in Aberbargoed. After the council's abolition the building was converted into flats and renamed Blaen-y-Cwm. The urban district was abolished by the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

in 1974. Its area was split: the wards of

, Cwmsyfiog, New Tredegar, and Phillipstown passed to the

district of

Mid Glamorgan , Government= Mid Glamorgan County Council , Status= Non-metropolitan county (1974–1996) Preserved county (1996–) , Start= 1974 , End= 1996 , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Mid ...

, where they became a single

called New Tredegar. The remainder of Bedwellty urban district, comprising the Argoed, Blackwood, Cefn Fforest, and Pengam wards, passed to the

borough of Gwent, where they became a single community called Bedwellty. The Aberbargoed area was later transferred from New Tredegar community to

Bargoed Bargoed ( cy, Bargod) is a town and community in the Rhymney Valley, Wales, one of the South Wales Valleys. It lies on the Rhymney River in the county borough of Caerphilly. It straddles the ancient boundary of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, wit ...

community. Bedwellty community was abolished in 1982, being divided between four new communities called Argoed, Blackwood, Cefn Fforest, and Pengam.Islwyn (Communities) Order 1982 S.I. 1982/233 Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw the Rhymney Valley and Islwyn districts united to become the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; cy, Caerffili, ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is north of Cardiff and northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies wi ...

, bringing the former area of Bedwellty Urban District back within one administrative area. The area of the former Bedwellty Urban District now corresponds to the

communities A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, to ...

of Argoed, Blackwood, Cefn Fforest, New Tredegar, Pengam, and parts of the communities of Bargoed and

Darran Valley Darran Valley ( cy, Cwm Darran) is a community in the County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales. The Darran Valley consists of the valley of the Bargod Rhymni and contains the villages of Deri, Pentwyn and Fochriw. These settlements grew around th ...

. The parliamentary constituency of

Bedwellty Bedwellty is a small village in Caerphilly County Borough in south Wales. The village stands on a ridge of high ground between the Rhymney and Sirhowy valleys. The village comprises a parish church, public house and a few houses. The ancient pa ...

was created in 1918 covering a much larger area. It continued to exist until 1983, when it was replaced by the constituency of

. The

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the Bedwellty and Islwyn constituencies from 1970 to 1995 was

Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...

, Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992, who took the title ''Baron Kinnock, of Bedwellty in the County of Gwent'' in 2005.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Bedwellty and surrounding area
Geography of Caerphilly County Borough History of Monmouthshire

History

See also

References

External links