Bettws () is a large modern

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

and coterminous

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

(parish) of the city of Newport,

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

Etymology

The name of the village comes from the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

word ''bedhus'', meaning "prayer house", which became ''betws'' in Welsh.Welsh Place Names Dictionary
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Infrastructure

The housing estate was built in the 1960s, and the large majority of houses are identical in plan and design. The roads in the estate are all named after rivers. 51.8% of housing is privately owned, and 42.6% is rented from either Newport City Council or local

housing association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budget surpl ...

s, such as Charter Housing. In 2009 Newport City Council transferred ownership of its social housing and most of the land it owned in the area to Newport City Homes, a housing association. The estate was built around the 17th-century

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of St David in Bettws, which is the likely origin of the name 'Bettws', a place of prayer or private chapel. St David's is a grade two

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and is currently in need of a £40,000 renovation. John Frost, who led Chartist protests in Newport for universal suffrage in the 1830s (the

Newport Rising The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rising in Wales, by Chartism, Chartists whose demands included democracy and the right to vote with a secret ballot. On Monday 4 November 1839, approximately 4,000 Chartist sympathisers, under ...

), is alleged to have married Mary Geach at the church. The ward is bounded by Malpas to the east, the city boundary with

Torfaen Torfaen (; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Newport, Wales, Newport to t ...

to the north,

Rogerstone Rogerstone (, meaning "Black house") is a large village and community (parish) in Newport, Wales. The area is governed by Newport City Council. The village falls within the ancient parish of Bassaleg and historic county of Monmouthshire. ...

to the west, and the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

and Allt-yr-yn to the south.

Sport and Leisure

In recent years it has benefited greatly from the introduction of sporting facilities such as new football pitches. Bettws RFC is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team playing in the WRU Division Five East. Sifil A.F.C. is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team located in Bettws playing in the Gwent County Football League, Division 1. Malpas Cricket Club is also situated on Bettws Lane in Bettws.

Elections

In the 2012 Police and Crime Commissioner election, held on 15 November 2012, a polling station at Malpas Cricket Club recorded no votes from the 8,737 voters. Bettws is an electoral ward to Newport City Council.

References

External links