BETTWS, or Bettws-Cedewen, a village and a parish in Newtown district, Montgomery. The village is in Ucheldre township; and stands on the river Bechan, 2½ miles above its influx to the Severn, and 3½ N by E of Newtown r. station. The parish includes the townships of Ucheldre, Dolforwyn, Garthgellin, and Llanitheon; and its Post Town is Newtown, Montgomery. Acres, 5,305. Real property, £4,619. Pop., 730. Houses, 146. The property is divided among a few. The surface is undulating and upland; and part of it is pretty fertile. Gregynog was the seat of the Blayneys. A ruined ancient castle in Dolforwyn township is conjectured to have been built by the British in the time of the Romans; and the name of it, the latter part of which signifies "a maiden," is said to have suggested to Leland and Milton the tale of "the Maiden Sabrina." Some curiously wrought brazen and earthen vessels have been found near the castle. A vast hill-camp, called Pen-y-Gaer, is in the neighbourhood of the village. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St. Asaph. Value, £211.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church belonged to a Cistertian nunnery, founded in the 13th century; has a tower built, in 1531, by John of Meredith; and contains a monument to him. There are chapels for Baptists and Methodists, and charities £24.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))