| Bedwas | |
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Bedwas
Bedwas shown within Caerphilly |
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| Population | 8,512 |
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| OS grid reference | ST175895 |
| Principal area | Caerphilly |
| Ceremonial county | Gwent |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CAERPHILLY |
| Postcode district | CF83 |
| Dialling code | 029 |
| Police | Gwent |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | Caerphilly |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Caerphilly | |
Bedwas is a town two miles north-east of Caerphilly, south Wales, situated in the Caerphilly county borough, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.
Bedwas neighbours Trethomas and Machen, and forms a council ward in conjunction with those communities.
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Traditionally a farming community, [1] Bedwas was originally called Lower Bedwas. Maesycwmmer, a small village not far from Bedwas, was called Upper Bedwas. The two villages became known as what we know them today in the 19th century. Bedwas owes much of its own development to the development of the South Wales coalfield and the Welsh coal mining industry [2]. This is depicted in the early Census records. According to the 1811 census, Lower Bedwas consisted of 47 occupied houses and 65 families. 59 of these families were engaged in agriculture and 6 in trade, manufacture and handicraft. There were 254 residents in Lower Bedwas in 1811, 130 males and 124 females. By 1911, the population had risen to 3231 according to the census. In the late 19th century it was home to four coal pits and the construction of a large-scale colliery, Bedwas Navigation Colliery, had been completed by 1913. The colliery had an explosion in 1912.
Bedwas Navigation Colliery, along with other collieries, closed in the Miners' Strike of 1984-85, and did not reopen. Light industry replaced mining as the main local employer. Bedwas House Industrial Estate houses the home of the nationwide brand Peters Pies, local depot for Stagecoach Buses and formerly a warehouse for General Electric.
The Bridge Field is home to Bedwas RFC who are currently in the Welsh Premier league and also has an active comprehensive school side. There is also a longstanding Junior Football team BTM FC that has served the area for the past 30 years [3], the club runs girls & boys Mini teams and boys Junior teams and currently plays in the Newport & District Youth League but will next year be back in the Taff Ely & Rymney Valley League. Past players for BTM include former Cardiff City captain and Wales International Jason Perry, Nottingham Forest's Christian Edwards and Coventry City's David Pipe. The club was also an important part of the Bedwas and Trethomas Community Association which after over 10 years of fighting last year succeeded in getting a community hall built on the clubs site at Bryn Field, Bedwas which allows the club access to the excellent facilities the hall offers.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Barrwg who was a disciple of St David and had a hermitage on what is now Barry (Barrwg) Island. The church is affiliated to the Church in Wales. It has a saddle-back tower and dates back at least to the 12th Century, first appearing in historical records in 1102.
The current (2009) rector is the Rev Peter Crocker.
George Borrow passed through Bedwas in November 1854. He recorded it in his later book of his travels 'Wild Wales' as Pentref Bettws which he said meant village of the bead-house.
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