59-582: Pontnewydd is a suburb of Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen , south-east Wales . It should not be confused with Pontnewynydd in nearby Pontypool . An 18th century settlement within the historical parish of Llanfrechfa Upper, Pontnewydd became an important part of the Industrial Revolution in the Eastern Valley of South Wales. The canal, railway and river (Afon Llwyd) encouraged Victorian industries to flourish in this area which resulted in
118-704: A borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent term used in Scotland was a county of city . They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales , but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in Northern Ireland . In the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under
177-547: A canal to transport goods to the docks at Newport . In 1833, the Ordnance Survey map of Monmouthshire shows Cwmbran as a farm situated in the area now known as Upper Cwmbran, in the valley named Cwm Brân. Cwmbran now covers about 3,000 acres (12 km ) and has a population of around 50,000. Following some investigation by local residents Richard Davies and Mike Price, the Ancient Cwmbran & The Cistercian project
236-521: A 30 minute frequency between both services. Stagecoach South Wales operate the majority of services at Cwmbran, including routes from the valleys including Blaenavon, Abergavenny, Pontypool, Blackwood, Varteg, and Hereford, travelling through to the South to Cardiff and Newport. In early 2019, Stagecoach updated their fleet when they introduced newer model Gold Optare Solo buses for routes 1, 2, 5b/c, 6, 7 and 24. The X24 route to Newport Friars Walk and Blaenavon
295-517: A Welsh medium primary school, Ysgol Gymraeg Cwmbrân . ‘Crownbridge Special School’ is located in Cwmbran. Age range - 2–19 years old. Further education, vocational training and some higher education is provided at Torfaen Learning Zone of Coleg Gwent in Cwmbran centre. Cwmbran Stadium is a multipurpose Stadium with an athletics track and 3G Pitch, an eight court sports hall, fitness suite, swimming pool and an indoor bowling rink. Cwmbran Stadium
354-466: A Welsh rugby union international player. The 1999 World Indoor 400m Champion Jamie Baulch also used the stadium as a regular training track under a different coach. The stadium is also the home of Gwent Hockey Club (men's and ladies). The town has three athletics clubs: Cwmbran Harriers, Fairwater Runners and Griffithstown Harriers. The three main football teams in Cwmbran are Cwmbran Town , Cwmbran Celtic and Croesyceilog who all compete in
413-588: A gift of money and land to found the Cistercian abbey at Llantarnam . At the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII the abbey was closed and was bought by a succession of wealthy landowners. By the 18th century the abbey had passed into the ownership of the Blewitt family, who were to become key figures in the early industrialisation of Cwmbran. Brick making, lime kilns , iron ore mining, quarrying and coal mining were established during this period, along with
472-409: A population of 200,000 or more should become one-tier "new counties", with "new county boroughs" having a population of 60,000 – 200,000 being "most-purpose authorities", with the county council of the administrative county providing certain limited services. The report envisaged the creation of 47 two-tiered "new counties", 21 one-tiered "new counties" and 63 "new county boroughs". The recommendations of
531-615: A population of over 50,000 except in the case of existing counties corporate. This resulted in 61 county boroughs in England and two in Wales ( Cardiff and Swansea ). Several exceptions were allowed, mainly for historic towns, including Bath and Dudley , which would still remain below the 50,000 limit by the time of the 1901 census. Some of the smaller counties corporate— Berwick upon Tweed , Lichfield , Poole , Carmarthen and Haverfordwest —did not become county boroughs, although Canterbury , with
590-417: A population under 25,000, did. The county councils and county borough councils came into operation on 1 April 1889. Just seven months later, on 9 November 1889, the city of Oxford was the first borough which had not been made a county borough by the 1888 Act to be elevated to county borough status. Various other new county boroughs were constituted in the following decades, generally as more boroughs reached
649-424: A settlement from that. The Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company railway line from Newport to Blaenafon also ran through Pontnewydd from the 1850s until it was replaced by Cwmbran Drive (A4051) in 1988. The railway was such an important asset to the community that there were two stations just 300 metres away from each other; Upper Pontnewydd railway station (1852-1962) and Lower Pontnewydd railway station on
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#1732851685812708-538: A steady rise in population. Pontnewydd is both a community and an electoral ward of Torfaen County Borough Council . The electoral ward also includes Northville. the community had a population of 4,954 in 2011. and includes the Sebastopol area of Pontypool . Cwmbran was designated as a new town under the New Towns Act 1946 , with the aim of housing new workers to the growing post-war industries that landscaped
767-516: A tin-works on the side of the Afon Llwyd at Lower Pontnewydd. In 1804 a similar works was established higher up the river at Pontrhydyrun, by John Conway, eldest son of George Conway. The Pontnewydd Works declined with the death of Charles Conway in 1884. Pontrhydyrun manufactured tinplate until 1930. The Tynewydd Tinworks opened by Charles Roberts in 1875 alongside Upper Pontnewydd Station and other tinworks established by H.D.Griffiths, later taken over by
826-582: Is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales . Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire , Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield . Comprising the villages of Old Cwmbran , Pontnewydd , Upper Cwmbran , Henllys , Croesyceiliog , Llantarnam and Llanyrafon , its population had grown to 48,535 by 2011. This makes it
885-673: Is biscuit maker Burton's Foods , who employ 1000 people to make its Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels biscuits. As of 2005, the Cwmbran plant produces over 400 million Wagon Wheels a year. Safran Seats Great Britain (formerly Zodiac Aerospace ) is the current owner of a factory in Cwmbran which employs 1000 people for manufacturing aircraft seats. Constructed from 1959 to 1981, the pedestrianised Centre hosts supermarkets, high street retailers, banks, theatre, cinema, bowling alley, restaurants, creche, trampoline park, gym, police station, magistrates court, youth centre, pub, library, arts centre and office space. The 170+ shops can be accessed by
944-594: Is one of the oldest in Wales), parks, rugby football and social clubs, several churches and pubs, cenotaph (opened in 1925) and two community hubs (the original 20th-century village and the New Town 1950s neighbourhood west of Pontnewydd). For 200 years the area was dominated by heavy industry, revolving around the local coal, iron, brick and tin plate works. In 1802 George Conway and Edward Jenkins of Ynys-Pen-llwch in Glamorgan, built
1003-678: The House of Commons , despite the approval of the Local Government Board – the removal of Cambridge from Cambridgeshire would have reduced the income of Cambridgeshire County Council by over half. Upon recommendation of a commission chaired by the Earl of Onslow , the population threshold was raised to 75,000 in 1926, by the Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926 , which also made it much harder to expand boundaries. The threshold
1062-619: The Welsh Football League . Cwmbran Town and Celtic both play at Cwmbran Stadium . Also in Cwmbran was The Football Factory. Located near to the town centre, The Football Factory was an indoor sports complex consisting of two sports pitches. The building was destroyed by fire in February 2017. Separate grounds at Pontnewydd , Croesyceiliog and Glan-Yr-Afon Leisure Centre house the town's three rugby union teams, Cwmbran RFC , Croesyceiliog RFC and Girling RFC . Although many more of
1121-464: The administrative county it would otherwise come under. Some cities and towns were already independent counties corporate , and most were to become county boroughs. Originally ten county boroughs were proposed; Bristol , Hull , Newcastle upon Tyne and Nottingham , which were already counties, and Birmingham , Bradford , Leeds , Liverpool , Manchester , and Sheffield , which were not. The Local Government Act 1888 as eventually passed required
1180-468: The sixth largest urban area in Wales . Sitting as it does at the corner of the South Wales Coalfield , it has a hilly aspect to its western and northern edges, with the surrounding hills climbing to over 1,000 feet (300 m). The Afon Llwyd forms the major river valley, although the most significant water course is probably the remains of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal . To the east of Cwmbran
1239-455: The 50,000 minimum and then promoted Acts to constitute them county boroughs. The granting of county borough status was the subject of much disagreement between the large municipal boroughs and the county councils. The population limit provided county councils with a disincentive to allow mergers or boundary amendments to districts that would create authorities with large populations, as this would allow them to seek county borough status and remove
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#17328516858121298-598: The 63 service to Chepstow, the 24X route to Newport Friars Walk, the 6 service to Ty-Canol & Fairwater, the A3 service to Abergavenny via Pontypool, the 62 service to Coleg Gwent Ebbw Vale campus via Pontypool, and the 68 service to Usk College. Bruchsal in Baden-Württemberg , Germany County borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to
1357-775: The Avondale Company in 1894. By 1832 Llantarnam Abbey and its estate was owned by Reginald James Blewitt MP. He opened the Porthmawr Colliery in Upper Cwmbran, later known as the Mine Slope. The Adit followed in 1879. At its peak the colliery was employing over 1000 men before closing in 1927. In 1840, John Lawrence erected a blast furnace on the side of the Monmouthshire Canal. By 1865 the Nut and Bolt works of Weston and Grice, and
1416-516: The Commissions did not complete their work before being dissolved, a handful of new county boroughs were constituted between 1964 and 1968. Luton , Torbay , and Solihull gained county borough status. Additionally, the Teesside was formed from a merger of the existing county borough of Middlesbrough , and the municipal boroughs of Stockton-on-Tees , Redcar and Thornaby ; Warley was formed from
1475-778: The Cwmbran and District Amateur Radio Society, and Able Radio, who support adults with autism and learning disabilities. In July 2011, Cwmbran was the setting for Goldie Lookin Chain 's satirical "Fresh Prince of Cwmbran", a song based on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme praising the town. Cwmbran railway station is served by trains on the Welsh Marches Line , with through trains south to Newport and Cardiff . Northbound local trains serve Pontypool and Abergavenny , and longer distance services run to Hereford , Shrewsbury , Wrexham , Crewe , Holyhead and Manchester . The station
1534-483: The East Staffordshire district, and Teesside, which was split up between three non-metropolitan districts. County boroughs to be abolished prior to 1974 were: The county boroughs of Belfast and Derry were created by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 . In Northern Ireland , local government has not used county boroughs since 1973, but they remain in use for lieutenancy . For administrative purposes
1593-506: The Local Government Acts of 1888 (that created them) and 1972 (that abolished them from 1974). Only four districts with more than one county borough were formed: Wirral , Sandwell , Sefton and Kirklees . Elsewhere, county boroughs usually formed the core or all of a district named after the county borough – with the exceptions of Halifax, whose metropolitan district was named Calderdale , Burton upon Trent, which became part of
1652-462: The Scottish system (similar to a municipal borough in England and Wales), which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire. When county councils were first created in 1889, it was decided that to let them have authority over large towns or cities would be impractical, and so any large incorporated place would have the right to be a county borough, and thus independent from
1711-517: The ancient chapel of Llanderfel on Mynydd Maen , and then onwards to Twmbarlwm . In the 19th and 20th centuries, Cwmbran was the site of heavy industrial development. Coal and iron ore were extracted on Mynydd Maen, and moved by inclined planes and tramways into the Eastern Valley for use in factories such as the Patent Nut and Bolt Company (which became Guest Keen and Nettlefolds in 1900), various tin plate works and brickworks. This industry drove
1770-535: The bus station located in the Centre, a train station a few minutes walk north-east or with the 3000 free parking spaces located around the Centre's ring road. SME-businesses include the Cwmbran Brewery in Upper Cwmbran, which opened in 1996 as Cottage Spring Brewery. The town has two secondary education schools: Croesyceiliog School and Cwmbran High School . There are numerous primary and nursery schools including
1829-594: The commission extended to a review of the division of functions between different tiers of local government, and thus fell outside its terms of reference, and its report was not acted upon. The next attempt at reform was by the Local Government Act 1958, which established the Local Government Commission for England and the Local Government Commission for Wales to carry out reviews of existing local government structures and recommend reforms. Although
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1888-433: The county borough of Smethwick and the non-county boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis ; and West Hartlepool was merged with Hartlepool . Following these changes, there was a total of 79 county boroughs in England. The Commission also recommended the downgrading of Barnsley to be a non-county borough, but this was not carried out. The county boroughs of East Ham , West Ham and Croydon were abolished in 1965 with
1947-418: The creation of Greater London and went on to form parts of London boroughs . The remaining county boroughs were abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced with non-metropolitan districts and metropolitan districts , all beneath county councils in a two-tier structure. In Greater London and the metropolitan counties the lower tier districts retained a wider range of powers than in
2006-471: The creation of a boundary commission to bring coordination to local government reform. The policy in the paper also ruled out the creation of new county boroughs in Middlesex "owing to its special problems" . The Local Government Boundary Commission was appointed on 26 October 1945, under the chairmanship of Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve , delivering its report in 1947. The commission recommended that towns with
2065-713: The creation of the Monmouthshire Canal , the Newport and Pontypool Railway and the Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway . Very little of this industrial heritage remains today, though many of today's light industrial or retail estates were created on the sites. Following the New Towns Act 1946 , ministries and county councils were asked to nominate sites for housing. For Wales, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government proposed Church Village and Cwmbran. The Church Village proposal
2124-460: The functions of both boroughs and counties). Although unitary authorities are functionally equivalent to county boroughs, only in Wales is the title given official recognition by Act of Parliament. [REDACTED] The map depicts the county boroughs in England immediately prior to their abolition in 1974. County boroughs in Wales and Northern Ireland are not shown. This table shows those county boroughs that existed in England and Wales between
2183-466: The ironworks of William Roper had been established further along the canal. By 1902 the entire site was owned by Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds in what became known as Forge Hammer. The works closed in 1980. Since the New Town, Pontnewydd has lost all that heritage to light industry in Avondale, Springvale and Somerset Road. The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal was constructed in the 1790s and Pontnewydd grew as
2242-560: The land is less hilly, forming part of the Usk valley . The name of the town in Welsh means "valley ( cwm ) of the crow ( brân )", ). Cwmbran was the name of one of several villages located in the valley, which had grown up around the tinplate works of the Cwmbran Iron Company. As the new town of Cwmbran was formed in 1949, the area of the old village became known as Old Cwmbran. Cwmbran
2301-499: The non-metropolitan counties. This situation did not persist long. In 1986 the metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council were abolished, returning the metropolitan boroughs to a status equivalent to the former county boroughs, but sharing some powers (police and transport for example). In the 1990s, many of the nonmetropolitan former county boroughs were reformed again as unitary authorities – essentially
2360-532: The old county borough, in other cases much larger). Burton upon Trent became an unparished area in the East Staffordshire borough, and has now been divided into several parishes. In Wales, several principal areas are county boroughs: For all practical purposes, county boroughs are exactly the same as the other principal areas of Wales called " counties " (including " cities and counties ") as all these areas are run by unitary authorities (i.e.: have
2419-524: The original model existed until 2001. Under the Local Government Act 2001 (which replaced most existing local government legislation in Ireland), the term "County Borough" was abolished and replaced with "City" (and hence, "Corporation" with "City Council"). However Kilkenny , while a traditional city, was never a county borough. Under the Local Government Reform Act 2014 , the borough of Kilkenny
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2478-440: The provisions of the Local Government Act 2001 . The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain " principal areas " in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead had counties of cities . These were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time— Aberdeen , Dundee , Edinburgh , and Glasgow —were included in this category. There was an additional category of large burgh in
2537-693: The region is the South Wales Argus and the semi-national Western Mail . The digital edition of the latter is published as Wales Online . The town is served by a local news service, Cwmbran Life, while the BBC also serve the South East Wales region from their base in Cardiff. A number of online and amateur radio stations operate in Cwmbran. Vitalize Radio operates as the community radio station for Torfaen, originally established in 2014 as Torfonix. There are also
2596-589: The same as a county borough. As a result, by 2015, most former county boroughs were either metropolitan boroughs or unitary authorities with a status similar to the old county boroughs. In England, most of those former county boroughs that did not gain unitary authority status— Barrow-in-Furness , Burnley , Canterbury , Carlisle , Chester , Eastbourne , Gloucester , Great Yarmouth , Hastings , Ipswich , Lincoln , Northampton , Norwich , Oxford , Preston , and Worcester —have given their names to non-unitary local government districts (in some cases coterminous with
2655-517: The still-running Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway (1874-1958). At the 2011 census, the population for the ward was 6305 (Torfaen 91,075), and the community population was 4,954. At the 2001 census, the following information was collected for the ward: Cwmbran Cwmbran ( / k ʊ m ˈ b r ɑː n , k uː m -/ kuum- BRAHN , koom- ; Welsh : Cwmbrân [kʊmˈbraːn] , also in use as an alternative spelling in English)
2714-405: The tax base from the administrative county. County boroughs to be constituted in this era were a mixed bag, including some towns that would continue to expand such as Bournemouth and Southend-on-Sea . Other towns such as Burton upon Trent and Dewsbury were not to increase in population much past 50,000. 1913 saw the attempts of Luton and Cambridge to gain county borough status defeated in
2773-610: The town's residents support the rugby teams of the older, adjacent town of Pontypool , the city of Newport and the Newport Gwent Dragons regional team. Rugby league is represented in the town by Torfaen Tigers , who play in the fourth tier of the rugby league pyramid system, the Conference League South . They play their home matches at the Kings Head Ground , home of Cwmbran R.F.C. The main newspaper in
2832-628: The two county boroughs in Northern Ireland were replaced with two larger districts ( Belfast and Londonderry ). The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 created county boroughs in Ireland. Under the Act, four former counties corporate ( Cork , Dublin , Limerick and Waterford ) became county boroughs. Galway became a county borough in 1986. In the Republic of Ireland , the relevant legislation remained in force (although amended), and county boroughs on
2891-478: The valley. After the Second World War, Cwmbran's population was 12,000 - living in the original settlements surrounding what is now known as Old Cwmbran ; Upper Cwmbran, Pontnewydd, Pontrhydyrun, Forge Hammer, Croes-y-ceiliog, Oakfield, Llantarnam, Llanfrechfa and Henllys. The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is the main environmental feature to Pontnewydd. The area also hosts a golf course (opened in 1875 and
2950-466: Was appointed in May 1935 to "investigate whether the existing status of Merthyr Tydfil as a county borough should be continued, and if not, what other arrangements should be made" . The commission reported the following November, and recommended that Merthyr should revert to the status of a non-county borough, and that public assistance should be taken over by central government. In the event county borough status
3009-641: Was designed and created by Richard Davies and Torfaens Heritage Officer Claire Dovey-Evans. A £48,000 grant has been provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Torfaen Borough Council to explore some previously unrecorded sites of interest in Fairwater, Greenmeadow and Thornhill areas of Cwmbran. In a national Heritage Lottery Fund publication the project was described as exemplified community project. The Cistercian Way also passes through Llantarnam , Old Cwmbran, Greenmeadow and Thornhill before reaching
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#17328516858123068-540: Was founded in 1949 as a new town , to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield , but the area has a long history. There is evidence that Neolithic and Bronze Age people used the area, with the Iron Age Silures tribe also occupying the region before being subdued by the Roman legions based at nearby Usk and Caerleon . Around 1179, Hywel, Lord of Caerleon gave
3127-607: Was home to international athletics events in the 1970s and 1980s. British athletics coach Malcolm Arnold used to train some of his athletes at Cwmbran in the 80s and early 90s while he was the Welsh National Coach. Athletes who trained there regularly under Malcolm include former World 110m Hurdle Champion and World Record Holder, Colin Jackson ; Commonwealth 110m Hurdle medallist, Paul Gray; and Nigel Walker who had two sporting careers, first as an Olympic hurdler and then later as
3186-596: Was not opened until 1986, as one of the last acts of the Cwmbran New Town Development Board. Until then, Cwmbran had had no train service for 24 years. Historically Cwmbran was served by two lines and several local stations. The first line was built by the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company and opened in 1852. Much of its route is now under Cwmbran Drive, the A4051. The line that is still in use
3245-418: Was opened by the Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway in 1874. The town has a comprehensive local bus service from Cwmbran bus station . Newport Bus operate their 29 & 29A Services from Newport bus station at Friars Walk shopping centre to Cwmbran bus station via Caerleon, Ponthir, Llanfrecha and The Grange University Hospital, With a frequency of 1 bus per hour on both services which in turn has
3304-464: Was raised to 100,000 by the Local Government Act 1958 . The viability of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil came into question in the 1930s. Due to a decline in the heavy industries of the town, by 1932 more than half the male population was unemployed, resulting in very high municipal rates in order to make public assistance payments. At the same time the population of the borough was lower than when it had been created in 1908. A royal commission
3363-550: Was retained by the town, with the chairman of the Welsh Board of Health appointed as administrative adviser in 1936. After the Second World War the creation of new county boroughs in England and Wales was effectively suspended, pending a local government review. A government white paper published in 1945 stated that "it is expected that there will be a number of Bills for extending or creating county boroughs" and proposed
3422-406: Was upgraded to Stagecoach Gold in 2014. However this has come to an end with the new 'Stagecoach Corporate' livery taking over as the standard livery for Stagecoach South Wales . Stagecoach also operates routes 11 to Kemys Fawr & 21 to Blackwood (due to be extended to The Grange University Hospital) Phil Anslow Coaches are a local coach company who also run services in the town. They operate
3481-482: Was vetoed by the Ministry of Power as new housing there would have interfered with plans for the expansion of coal mining in the area; however, Cwmbran was passed in 1949. Cwmbran was a civil parish and, from 1974, a community in its own right, one of only five in the new district of Torfaen. In 1985, the Cwmbran community was abolished, replaced by Cwmbran Central, Fairwater , Llantarnam , Pontnewydd and Upper Cwmbran . The longest established employer in Cwmbran
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