Bethlehem is a tiny farming village in the county ofCarmarthenshire, Wales, lying in theTywi Valley northeast ofLlandeilo and southwest ofLlangadog but on the opposite side of the river from the busyLondon toHaverfordwest road, theA40.
The centre of the village is approximately in front of the six houses opposite thevillage hall, with other houses, thePrimary School, and a formerPost Office scattered up and down the hill. TheNonconformist chapel after which the village was named is on a side road that follows the western edge of theBrecon Beacons.
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Bethlehem is overlooked byCarn Goch, a significantIron Agehillfort with great heaps of stones remaining from the original ramparts. Bethlehem is around six miles (10 km) fromDinefwr castle, capital of the pre-NormanDeheubarth kingdom and around six miles (10 km) from the important and majesticCarreg Cennen castle that arose later.
The alternative Rock bandStrangelove lived in a house just outside the village of Bethlehem through much of 1996 and wrote all of their third and final album there. SingerPatrick Duff composed a number of the songs, which spurned top forty chart success, while sitting on the stones on top of Carn Goch. He also became great friends with Bethlehem's post master at that time.
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William Morgan translated theBible into theWelsh language in 1588, and translated theAramaic name forChrist's birthplace into the name we are familiar with. The village chapel was given the same name. Previously known asDyffryn Ceidrich (valley of Ceidrich), the village came to be known by the name of the chapel, probably during the greatWelsh Methodist revival inWales of the 19th century.
Every year, the village hosts a traditionalChristmas market.[1] A major attraction is to post Christmas cards from the village to get a Bethlehem postmark,[2] a practice that first gained national attention in about 1965.
51°54′45″N3°54′48″W / 51.91246°N 3.91321°W /51.91246; -3.91321
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