Bewdley is a community in the Township of Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario (township)

Hamilton Township is a rural township located in Northumberland County in central Ontario. It surrounds the Town of Cobourg.The township was named after Henry Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec from 1782-1785.-Communities:*Baltimore*Bewdley*Camborne...

, Northumberland County

Northumberland County, Ontario

Northumberland County is situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in central Ontario, Canada. It is located east of Durham County , west of Hastings, southeast of Kawartha Lakes and south of Peterborough County. The county seat is Cobourg...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The community was founded by William Bancks, whose ancestral home was Bewdley

Bewdley

Bewdley is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England, along the Severn Valley a few miles to the west of Kidderminster...

 in England. It is located on the western end of Rice Lake

Rice Lake (Ontario)

Rice Lake is a lake located in south-eastern Ontario, in Northumberland County, south of Peterborough and the Kawartha lakes and north of Cobourg. The lake is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway, which flows into the lake by the Otonabee and out via the Trent. The lake is 32 km long and...

 about 15 kilometres (9 mi) north of Port Hope

Port Hope, Ontario

Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, about east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County...

.

History

The area was used for habitation before this by native settlers. The first land grant was in 1794 to Nellie Grant, the daughter of a colonial administrator. The early local name for Bewdley was Black’s Landing, taken from a tavern in the area. Early on, there were sawmills which drove settlement in the area.

William Bancks came to the area in 1833 and tried to organize the creation of a gentlemen's colony and a sawmill. The town is known for its monument to Joseph M. Scriven

Joseph M. Scriven

Joseph Medlicott Scriven, was an Irish poet, best known as the writer of the poem which became the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".-Life:...

, who preached upon the village streets around the 1860s.

Recreation

The tourist and fishing industries have helped the Bewdley of today to be known as an enjoyable vacation spot on Rice Lake.