Crosskeys
| |
|---|---|
 | |
  Crosskeys Location within Caerphilly | |
| Population | 3,265 (2011)) [1] |
| OS grid reference | ST225915 |
| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NEWPORT |
| Postcode district | NP11 |
| Dialling code | 01495 27 |
| Police | Gwent |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Crosskeys (Welsh : Pont-y-cymer) is a village, community and an electoral ward in Caerphilly county borough in Wales.
The village was originally named Pont-y-cymer and this remains the official Welsh name for the village. The name means bridge at the confluence of rivers, and suggests the area was known as a place to bridge the confluence of the Ebbw and the Sirhowy rivers, long before its urban development in the nineteenth century. [2]
The English name is taken from the Cross Keys Inn (now known as the Cross Keys Hotel), [3] The English name appears as Crosskeys on Ordnance Survey maps, and the railway station also uses this spelling. However, many local organisations use the two word spelling, as does Cross Keys RFC. [4]
Crosskeys is a South Wales Valleys community, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, once part of the coal mining community of the South Wales coalfield and originally developed as part of Risca from the 1830s to serve the local mines - first the Black Vein and later the New Risca pits, both of which had large explosions during the later part of the 19th century.
The village has a railway station on the Ebbw Vale Line. [5] [6]
The junction between the main Ebbw Vale and Tredegar roads is called Pennyless Corner as it was a meeting place for unemployed men during the great depression of the 1920s
It is now a quiet area complete with a residents' society. It has a large park in the lower part and listed buildings in neighbouring Pontywaun, which is normally considered as part of Crosskeys.
Local children attend Waunfawr Primary School which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2023. Many of the secondary school pupils attended nearby Cwmcarn High School, until it closed in 2018. It is also home to Coleg Gwent's Crosskeys Campus.
Additionally, it has a local rugby union team, Cross Keys RFC, and consequently many different age-banded teams such as youth and mini rugby.
Crosskeys is close to the Cwmcarn Forest Drive which has extensive mountain-biking trails. There is a large local park toward the lower part of the village. The park is home to the local cricket club, again with age-banded youth teams as well as the men's team. There is also a park and a multiple-sports facility.
Sirhowy Valley Country Park is also easily accessible from Crosskeys. It is a base for walking or cycling with access to Flatwoods Meadows Local Nature Reserve. There are also mountain bike trails, a traditional working hill farm that is open to school visits, and a small farm trail. Nearby Craig Coch is an ancient mixed woodland.
Abercarn is a town and community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales. It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.
Blaenau Gwent is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale and Tredegar. Its highest point is Coity Mountain at 1,896 feet (578 m).
Caerphilly County Borough is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It is governed by Caerphilly County Borough Council.
Risca is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough and the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in south-east Wales. Risca has a railway station, opened on the Ebbw Valley Railway in February 2008, after a gap of 46 years. It is split into two communities; Risca East and Risca West. It has a population of 11,700. The town is now part of the Cardiff Capital Region which has a combined population of 1,543,293. Cardiff the capital of Wales can be reached in under 28 minutes from the nearby railway station of Risca and Pontymister station which reopened in 2008 after a gap of nearly 60 years.
Tredegar is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the Industrial Revolution in Wales. The relevant wards collectively listed the town's population as 15,103 in the UK 2011 census.
Cwmcarn is a village situated in the Ebbw valley in south Wales, in the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It grew with 19th-century coal mining, but is now known for its extensive mature forestry and greenery, that attract thousands of visitors and mountain biking enthusiasts each year.
Newbridge is a town and community in the county borough of Caerphilly, south Wales. It lies within the historic boundaries of the county of Monmouthshire.
Blackwood is a town, community and an electoral ward on the Sirhowy River in the South Wales Valleys administered as part of Caerphilly County Borough. It is located within the historic county of Monmouthshire.
The Ebbw River is a river in South Wales which gives its name to the town of Ebbw Vale. The Ebbw River is joined by the Ebbw Fach River at Aberbeeg. The Ebbw Fach is itself fed by a left-bank tributary, the River Tyleri.
The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its currently (2018) navigable 35-mile (56 km) length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park, and its present rural character and tranquillity belies its original purpose as an industrial corridor for coal and iron, which were brought to the canal by a network of tramways and/or railroads, many of which were built and owned by the canal company.
The Ebbw Valley Railway is a branch line of the South Wales Main Line in South Wales. Transport for Wales Rail provides an hourly passenger service each way between Ebbw Vale Town and Cardiff Central, and an hourly service each way between Ebbw Vale Town and Newport.
Risca and Pontymister railway station is a station on the Ebbw Valley Railway in south-east Wales. It serves the village of Pontymister and the town of Risca. It is located roughly ½ mile south of the original Risca railway station.
Crosskeys railway station is a station serving the village of Crosskeys in the Caerphilly County Borough in Wales. It is on the Ebbw Valley Railway.
Pontllanfraith is a large village and community located in the Sirhowy Valley in Caerphilly County Borough, Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is situated adjacent to the town of Blackwood, with the Sirhowy River passing through both locations. The village includes the communities of the Penllwyn, Springfield and The Bryn. The population of the community at the 2011 census was 8,552.
Mynyddislwyn was a civil parish and urban district in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It was abolished in local government reorganisation in 1974. It is named for the Mountain in its centre MynyddIslwyn.
Risca railway station was a station on the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company Western Valley line, later the Great Western Railway. It was located at Station Place, just south of the junction where the line split left towards Nine Mile Point and right towards Ebbw Vale. It served the town of Risca.
Oakdale is a large village in Caerphilly county borough, Wales, 9½ miles north of Caerphilly itself, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. Situated in the Sirhowy valley, it is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Blackwood, with which it forms a conurbation. At the 2001 census Oakdale had a population of 4,478.
Cross Keys RFC is a rugby union club located in the Welsh village of Crosskeys. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union, and is a feeder club for the Dragons regional team.
Ynysddu is a small village and community in the Sirhowy valley of south-east Wales. It is part of the district of Caerphilly within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It lies between to Cwmfelinfach and Wyllie, 4.3 miles (6.9 km) north of the town of Risca and 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the market town of Blackwood. It is about 10 minutes by road from the M4 motorway and 20 minutes from the Second Severn Crossing. The population in 2008 was 2,905, increasing to 3,948 at the 2011 Census.
The Penar branch line and the Hall's branch line, was a standard gauge freight railway line running between Risca and the Oakdale Colliery in the South Wales coalfield. It finally closed when the colliery closed in 1989 but several sections of the trackbed, line and footbridges remain, around Crosskeys. Note that the official Network Rail Engineering Line Reference (ELR) for the Halls Road branch was HRD from Halls Road Junction to Penar Junction and from the latter to Oakdale Colliery was PEN, the Penar branch. The line west of Penar tunnel made a junction with the Vale of Neath Line (VON) at Penar Junction. In December 1967, due to rationalisation of the railway network, the Halls Rd branch was taken out of use for a period and the closed Vale of Neath line was brought back into use between Penar Jct and Bird-in-Hand West to join the former LMS Sirhowy line to Nine Mile Point via Tredegar Jct Lower and Wyllie. For that journey, a run around siding had to be established on the barren VON formation at Penar Junction for the locomotive to run around its train for forward journey to Oakdale or return journey to Newport. When the former LMS branch to the Sirhowy Valley from Nine Mile Point closed, Halls Rd section was reopened in May 1970 until closure of the Halls Rd and Penar branches following 1989.
