Glascwm

Glascwm is a community in the upper Edw valley in Radnorshire, Powys, Wales. The main settlement is concentrated in the two centrally located small villages of Frank's Bridge, located on the eastern slope of the valley, and Hundred House, located on the river terrace on the western side of the Edw. The remainder of the population lives in scattered farms and dwellings and in the four rural settlements of Cregrina, Glascwm, Bettws Diserth and Llansantffraed-in-Elwel. The surrounding area has extensive uninhabited uplands of moorland at Carneddau, Gilwern Hill, Gwaunceste Hill, Little Hill and Glascwm Hill. The A481 passes through the area. In 2005 Powys county council recorded a population of 479, increasing to 551 at the 2011 Census.

==History== A Clas community (352 A.D.) was established in Glascwm within the cantref (medieval Welsh land division) of Elfael, (one of a number of Welsh kingdoms occupying the region between the River Wye and River Severn), possibly as early as the 6th century. St David's biographer, Rhygyfarch, claimed that St David founded the monastery, but this cannot be proved, even though the dedication is to the saint. Nevertheless, this is believed to have been one of the main churches in pre-Conquest Radnorshire.