BEWDLEY, municipal borough, Worcestershire, England, lies near the Shropshire border on the sloping right bank of the Severn. The ancient Forest of Wyre, extending from south east Shropshire, borders the town on the west. Population (1931) 2,868. Bewdley (i.e., Beaulieu) was held by the king at the time of the Domesday survey. The manor, then called Bellus Locus or Beaulieu on account of its beautiful situation, was after wards granted to the Mortimers, in whose family it continued until merged in the Crown on the accession of Edward IV. In 125o a bridge, the only one between it and Worcester, was built across the river and helped the commerce of the town. Trade flowed along two routes ; the Severn giving connections, through a flourishing barge-traffic with Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Worcester, Gloucester and Bristol ; while the bridge was the crossing place of a famous west-to-east route from Ludlow, along which wool from the Welsh hills was taken to the east of England. Bewdley received its first charter from Edward IV. in 1472, and later ones in 1605, 1685 and 1708. A fair and weekly markets were granted in 1373 and confirmed at various times. At Bewdley the Worcester-Shrewsbury line of the G.W.R. is joined by lines east from Birmingham and west from Tenbury. A bridge by Tel ford (1797) crosses the river, while above the town an aqueduct carries the pipe from the Elan valley reservoirs in Radnorshire, to Birmingham. Bewdley serves in modern times as a market town and as a riverside pleasure resort for the Black Country. The borough is governed by a Mayor, four aldermen and 12 councillors. Area 2,105 acres. It is in the Bewdley parliamentary division of Worcestershire.