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Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen was part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn Range mountains. The town is situated west of Llangollen and south of Ruthin. At the 2011 Census, Corwen (community and ward) had a population of 2,325, decreasing slightly from the 2001 population of 2,398, The community, with an area of , includes Corwen and the surrounding villages of Carrog, Clawdd Poncen and Glyndyfrdwy. The Office for National Statistics identifies Corwen Built-up area with a 2011 population of 477 and an area of .
A statue of Glyndŵr by the sculptor Simon van de Put was installed in The Square in Corwen in 1995, and in 2007 it was replaced with a larger equestrian statue by Colin Spofforth. It commemorates the day he was proclaimed the last true Prince of Wales in 1400.
The town grew as a centre for cattle droving. Attractions in Corwen include the motte-and-bailey of a Norman castle, the thirteenth-century Church of St Mael and St Sulien and the Rug Chapel built in 1637 by William Salesbury.
Corwen Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1909. The club closed at the onset of World War II. “Corwen Golf Club”, “Golf’s Missing Links”.
Bus services in Corwen were primarily provided by GHA Coaches with routes available to Wrexham via Llangollen on services 5 and T3, Barmouth via Bala and Dolgellau on service T3 (now operated by Lloyds Coaches), and to Ruthin on service X5 (now operated by Arriva Buses Wales), with through services continuing to Denbigh. Llew Jones operate a twice daily, weekday service to Llanrwst with one journey extended to/from Bala.
Corwen is the last sizeable settlement on the A5 road from London to Holyhead until Betws-y-Coed is reached. Because of this it still contains a number of hotels which were used in the past as coaching inns for the mail coach and . Although the A5 is no longer the most important road to Holyhead, having been superseded by the coastal route of the A55, there is still significant traffic travelling through the town centre's narrow main street.
Corwen had its own electoral ward to Denbighshire County Council, until the 2022 local elections. The ward elected one county councillor. Plaid Cymru councillor, Huw "Chick" Jones, died in office in 2020, leading to a by-election in March 2021 which was won by Plaid Cymru's Alan Hughes.
In 2022 the ward was merged with the neighbouring Llandrillo ward, to be named Edeirnion, electing two councillors. Hughes was one of the successful candidates at the 2022 Denbighshire County Council election.
In 1938, Elena Puw Morgan, then living in Annedd Wen, Corwen, became the first woman to win the Literary Medal for her novel Y Graith (The Scar) at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff.
Novelist John Cowper Powys (1872-1963) lived in Corwen with his common-law wife Phyllis Playter from 1935 until 1955, when they moved to Blaenau Ffestiniog.Morine Krissdottir, Descent of Memory: The Life of John Cowper Powys. New York & London: Overlook, 2007. He wrote two major novels both set in this region of Wales, while living in Corwen, Owen Glendower (1940) and Porius (1951), amongst other works of both fiction and non-fiction. In 1940 he began a novel set in contemporary Corwen Descent of Memory, p.350. but gave it up, to start his "Romance of Corwen", , in January 1942, the action of which takes place in 499 AD. Descent of Memory, p.351.
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