Glascwm Community Council – About Us.

There are currently 735 Town and Community Councils in Wales representing the tier of government closest to the people. Each Council is made up of elected members, or in some cases co-opted members. Until 1974 Wales was divided into Civil Parishes. These were abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 and Wales was then divided entirely into communities. In Wales there are approximately 8000 community and town councillors.

Glascwm Community Council covers a central part of Radnorshire. Within its boundary are the villages and hamlets of Hundred House, Glascwm, Cregrina, Franksbridge, Llansantffraed-in-Elwel and Bettws Disserth. The Community Council is comprised of 8 elected and co-opted Councillors who carry out their duties on an entirely voluntary basis. Meetings are usually held once a month on the third Wednesday in Hundred House Hall and begin at 8pm. All members of the community are welcome to attend.

Glascwm village is a parish of Radnorshire 7 ½ miles south west of New Radnor and 9 miles east of Builth Wells. St David’s church, rebuilt during the 13th Century is situated within the village. It is said to have been founded by the saint himself as a centre of Celtic Christianity in the 6th Century. The church hosts a “magic portable bell” which belonged to St David and was called Bangu. The story told by Giraldus Cambrensis states that a woman secretly sent this bell to her husband to secure his release from prison in Rhayader castle but the keepers of the castle refused to set him free and forcibly seized and kept the bell “and in the same night by divine vengeance the whole town except thee wall the bell was hung on was consumed by fire.

The church also has a memorial to two German airmen killed on the 25/26th April 1942 when their Junkers Ju 88 was shot down by a fighter from Shropshire. The plane came down on Gwaenceste Hill where the two aircrew perished although some crew did bail out but were rounded up by police and locals. The remains of the German aircrew were brought down to a barn at Llanhalo farm and then a military funeral was held for them in Glascwm church within a few days. At a later date they were interred at the German war cemetery at Cannock Chase.

Glascwm did lie on an important Drovers route through central Wales and at one time hosted no less than 4 Drovers Arms. 200m west of the church lies the remains of Tygwyn Mill which was constructed in the early 18Th Century but fell into ruin in the 19th Century. Some walls are still visible and a large mill pond survives largely intact. The Yatt is a 17th Century gentry house and has its own Baptist burial ground which was used for burials until 1876 for the Lewis and Beavan families who live there.

The Old School building was completed in December 1900 and was opened on the 10th June 1901 with 15 children attending. It remained open until 30th November 1945, housing evacuees from Birmingham in the same year, then in 1947 it reopened as a Youth Hostel and remained so for the next 50 years. There is also a village hall in the centre of Glascwm which was opened in 1938/39 and this too was used to house evacuees during world war two.