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 St Sannan's parish church, public house and a few houses. The register of St Sannan's Church dates from 1624, which qualifies Bedwellty as an ancient parish. Historically the parish lay in the county of Monmouthshire, the hundred of Wentloog, Tredegar County Court District, the rural deanery of Bedwellty, the archdeaconry of Monmouth and the diocese of Llandaff. Several towns based on the iron industry expanded within the parish boundary, including from west to east, Rhymney, Tredegar and Ebbw Vale, which gradually gained administrative independence from Bedwellty between the 1870s and 1890s. A Bedwellty Local Government District was established for the rest of the parish in 1891, becoming an urban district in 1894.

Bedwellty Urban District was abolished in 1974, being divided between the Rhymney Valley and Islwyn districts. A community 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, and Pengam.