Bettws-y-Crwyn

Bettws-y-Crwyn (English: Chapel of the Fleeces) (Welsh: Betws-y-Crwyn) is a small, remote village and civil parish in south-west Shropshire, England. It is close to the England–Wales border and is one of a number of English villages to have a Welsh language placename.

Bettws-y-Crwyn

The remote mediaeval "Shepherd's Church" of St. Mary at Bettws-y-Crwyn
Bettws-y-Crwyn
Location within Shropshire
Population239 (2011 census)
OS grid referenceSO203812
Civil parish
  • Bettws-y-Crwyn
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townKNIGHTON
Postcode districtLD7
Dialling code01547
PoliceWest Mercia
FireShropshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament

The first part of the name of the village comes from the Middle English word bedhus, meaning "prayer house", which became betws in Welsh.[1] Betws-y-Crwyn translates roughly as "chapel of the fleeces". The parish name was formerly written simply as Bettws, and the suffix, probably a local name for the church, only appears in written records in the nineteenth century.[2]

The parish, including the hamlets of Anchor (which has a pub of the same name), Quabbs and Hall of the Forest had a total population of 212 at the 2001 census,[3] increasing to 239 at the 2011 census.[4]

It lies at 400 m (1,300 ft) above sea level, making it one of the highest settlements in Shropshire and England too. The village is about sixteen miles (26 km) west of the Shropshire town of Craven Arms, and only about nine miles (14 km) south-east of Newtown in Powys, Wales.

Bettws had a school which closed in 1951; its building is now the village hall, containing a First World War memorial board.[5]

The parish lies within the Clun electoral division of Shropshire Council.

Church
The church

The church of St. Mary dates from the late 13th or early 14th century, and was "restored" in 1860. There is a fine 15th or 16th century screen and roof, a 17th-century pulpit, and 19th century pews, with the names of farms within the parish painted on them.[6] The church contains a ceramic war memorial plaque to men who died serving in World War I. At one time a pair of medals belonging to local man Pryce Lloyd, who returned home to the parish from his wartime service (during which he was a prisoner of war) was displayed under the plaque.[5]

See also

References
  1. Welsh Place Names Dictionary
  2. Gelling and Foxall, The place-names of Shropshire, v.1, English Place-Name Society, 1990, p.47
  3. Bettws-y-Crwyn CP, Office for National Statistics
  4. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  5. Francis, Peter (2013). Shropshire War Memorials, Sites of Remembrance. YouCaxton Publications. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-909644-11-3.
  6. St Mary, Bettwys-y-crwyn, British Listed Buildings

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