Bedwellty was the original seat of the parish which extended as far north as Tredegar, Rhymney and parts of Ebbw Vale.
Most births,marriages and deaths in this area would have been recorded in the Bedwellty parish register.
New Inn, Bedwellty - 1920s
New Inn, Bedwellty - 2003Two views of the same location with an 80 year time span.
Remarkably, little seems to have changed apart from some structural alterations to the end property, the removal of the over-hanging tree and the appearance of the ubiquitous double yellow lines!
Bedwellty lends its name to the historic agricultural show established in 1873.
Click HERE for a short history.
The famous iron gravestone at St.Sannan's Church, Bedwellty.
The memorial, dedicated to Mary Rowlands of the " Village of Merthyr ", dates from the 1770s and demonstrates the amazing rust resistant properties of the iron produced at that time.
As part of the recent church renovations the tablet has being relocated and now occupies a prominent position, mounted vertically on the South Wall of the Church.
Extract from Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire 1901
BEDWELLTY
including
ARGOED, BARGOED, BLACKWOOD, PENGAM and ROCK
BEDWELLTY is a very large parish and head of a petty sessional division and union, 181 miles from London, 16 north-west from Newport, 15 north-west from Pontypool, and 8 south from Tredegar, in the Western division of the county hundred of Wentloog, Tredegar county court district, rural deanery of Bedwellty, archdeaconry of Monmouth and diocese of Llandaff.
There are stations here called Bedwellty Pits and Holly Bush, both on the Sirhowy branch of the London and North Western railway.
The church of St. Sannan is an ancient stone building, in the Early English style, standing on the top of a hill, midway between Argoed and Bargoed railway stations, and consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells: an organ was presented in 1900 by Evan Thomas esq. of Builth, in memory of his wife, Rachel Thomas (Ella): the church was restored in 1858, and in 1882 was thoroughly repaired, and has 300 sittings: the churchyard was also enlarged, and is now 5 acres in extent. The register dates from the year 1624. A cemetery has been formed.
The parish contains manv iron works and collieries. Lord Tredegar, who is lord of the manor, Miss Williams, the Ebbw Vale Co. Limited, the trustees of the late Lady Llanover, the trustees of the late Colonel John Yerbury Moggridge R.E., Edward Lewis esq., John Davies James esq. J.P., D.L. of Blackwood, and the Tredegar Iron Company are the principal landowners.
The soil is clay; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barley. The area is 16,056 acres of land an d 188 of water; rateable value, £42,309 ; the population in 1891, was 38,953, of which 4,728 are in the ecclesiastical parish of St. Sannan.
The following villages and places are within the parish of Bedwellty:
Argoed, Bargoed, Blackwood, Briery Hill, Ebbw Vale, George Town, New Town, Pengam, Pontygof, Rock, Rhymney, Tredegar, New Tredegar and Victoria.
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