England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bettws Bledrws St Bledrws

The Parish

The parish of Bettws Bledrws lis in southern Cardiganshire roughly 3 miles northeast of the university & market town of Lampeter. Bettws Bledrws sits on the A485 road which links Lampeter with Tregaron. Bettws Bledrws is a tiny place, a real blink-and-miss-it hamlet consisting of the church and a few cottages lining the A485, the wider parish has scattered farms across the area but is dominated by Derry Ormond Park for which it was an estate village, the mansion and formal gardens may be gone but extensive parkland remains. Like most parishes in this area of Cardiganshire Bettws Bledrws was a pastoral farming community and little has changed. Early gazetteers hint at lead-ore deposits within the parish but these have never been exploited. Modern developments have come and gone with the railway branch line between Lampeter and Tregaron closed and largely dismantled. Bettws Bledrws is drained southwestwards by the Afon Dulas which meets the Teifi at Lampeter, the Teifi maintains the same heading until turning west to reach the Irish Sea at Cardigan. Bettws Bledrws is sited at around 130 metres above the sea with land rising away from Afon Dulas to hills reaching 242 metres on Iron-Age hill-fort topped Castell Allt Goch to the southwest. By the standards of this area Bettws Bledrws was a small parish only covering 1,600 acres and supporting a population of close to 200 parishioners. Like most of Wales Bettws Bledrws is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Bledrws' church sits on the southern side of the A485 set back some distance from the road and reached by pathway from that road. As can readily be seen this is not a medieval church and for most of the marriages listed it would not have been the venue having been built in two stages during the Georgian and Victorian reigns. The western tower is older being completed in 1831, the main body and the spire were finished in 1887. There are lancets throughout the design harking back to the Early English Gothic style of the 13th century as was newly re-fashionable during the 19th century. As the church holds a font believed to be 12th century it is an indication of the age of the lost medieval predecessor. The gated entrance is set back from the busy road allowing a car to park safely, once through the gates a lengthy tarred path leads to the church, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.