BETTWS PARISH
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Betws is a small village on the River Amman, some 15 miles north of Swansea, Wales; it is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Betws and Ammanford. The nearby mountain, at the western end of the Black Mountain, is named after the village, and has a large area of common land. The name 'Betws' is generally thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'bed-hus' - a house of prayer, or oratory, and means "chapel" in the Welsh language. Until the 19th century, when Ammanford developed extensively, Betws was the largest village in the area
Map of the Lordship of Gower, showing Betws (later detached), Kilvey (later added) and the Town and Franchise of Swansea. The language boundary - English in the south-east - is shown as a dotted line.Until the 13th century,Betws was part of Gower, which is now known as the county of Swansea but the old commote border of the rivers Amman and Loughor moved south and Betws has since the Acts of Union been part of Welsh-speaking Carmarthenshire. Until 1817, when a road was built along the Amman valley, Betws was only accessible by roads crossing the mountain from Neath and Swansea. This inaccessibility is commemorated in a local saying, which refers to the division between Betws a'r Byd (Betws and the world). There was a sign on the Amman bridge to this effect: Betws this way, the rest of the world that way. The people of Betws like to make the distinction between themselves and those over the river in Ammanford. The road bridge between Betws and Ammanford on Park Street was completed in 1892 and rebuilt in 1990 by T Richard Jones (Betws) Ltd. T. Richard Jones (Betws) Ltd. ('TRJ') is a major building contractor, originally based in the village but now located on the Ammanford side of the river. The land for Betws Park was gifted to Ammanford district Council by Lord Dynevor in 1903, but the council used it as a rubbish dump until the early 1930's. After this, it was properly developed by local volunteers as a park with tennis courts.On 23/06/2007 a new 'Memorial and Sensory Garden' was opened in the park.
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Sion [Zion] : Calvinistic Methodist Chapel Christenings 1812-1837
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