Cwmfelinfach is a small village located in the Sirhowy valley of south-east Wales. It is part of the district of Caerphilly within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is located north of Wattsville, about 5 miles north of the nearest town Risca, and south of Blackwood. To the east the valley is bordered by the hills of Pen-y-Trwyn (1,028ft / 313 m). To the west is Mynydd y Grug (1,132ft / 345 m).
Cwmfelinfach can be translated from Welsh as "valley of the little mill".
History
The village was a small hamlet until the late 19th century; the majority of housing is therefore traditional terraced housing from the early 20th century. A map of 1885 shows the Melin (mill) and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel, Capel y Babell.[citation needed] The grave of William Thomas (Islwyn), a 19th-century poet in the Welsh language, can be found here.[1]
Islwyn Road, Cwmfelinfach - geograph.org.uk
Cwmfelinfach was home to a coal mining community during the early to mid 20th century. The colliery, known as "Nine Mile Point", opened in about 1905 and closed in 1964. Nine Mile Point Colliery was the site of the first ever sit-in of miners; during 1935 there was a "stay-down strike" involving 164 colliers. They were protesting over the use of "Scab" miners (men not members of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, unlike the rest of the "Points" workforce) and their ordeal only ended after the company promised that no non-Federation men would be employed at the colliery; the stay-down strike lasted for 177 hours. Miners from other collieries in the area, some taking similar action, supported their action.
Transport
A view of Bedwas and Caerphilly from a side path through Ynys Hywel Activity Centre, which diverts from the main NCN 47 just before Cwmfelinfach.
The village is served by regular buses operated by Stagecoach Group to Tredegar and Blackwood in the north, and Newport city centre in the south.
Cwmfelinfach is also part of the Celtic Trail cycle route (National Cycle Route 47) which connects West Wales from Fishguard through to Carmarthen, Llanelli, Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, and the Severn Bridge in the East.
Owain Smith was a well known gambler from Cwmfelinfach, born in 1890. He was tragically killed in an altercation by Dafydd "Dai" Gwillym from Ynysddu, in 1910. His family had strong ties with the local Nine Mile Point Colliery, originally known as the Coronation Colliery. He is buried at Babell Chapel in Cwmfelinfach, next to his son, Llewellyn Smith.
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.
Bargoed is a town and community in the Rhymney Valley, Wales, one of the South Wales Valleys. It lies on the Rhymney River in the county borough of Caerphilly. It straddles the ancient boundary of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, with Bargoed lying in Glamorgan and Aberbargoed in Monmouthshire. 'Greater Bargoed', as defined by the local authority Caerphilly County Borough Council, consists of the towns of Bargoed and Aberbargoed and the village of Gilfach. The combined population of these settlements is about 13,000. The town's rugby club Bargoed RFC holds the world record for the most consecutive league wins in a row and was World Rugby magazine's team of the year in 2005. The town’s football team AFC Bargoed also have a rich history and finished second in the TERV Premier League 2022
Caerphilly County Borough is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It is governed by Caerphilly County Borough Council.
South Wales is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards to include Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. In the western extent, from Swansea westwards, local people would probably recognise that they lived in both south Wales and west Wales. The Brecon Beacons National Park covers about a third of south Wales, containing Pen y Fan, the highest British mountain south of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia.
Risca is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough and the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in south-east Wales. Risca has a railway station, re-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. 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.
Bedwas is a town situated two miles north-east of Caerphilly, south Wales, situated in the Caerphilly county borough, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.
The South Wales Valleys are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run north–south, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys", they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the west to Monmouthshire in the east; to the edge of the pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain near the cities of Swansea, Cardiff, and Newport.
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.
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.
Wattsville is a small village in the Sirhowy Valley, eight miles north west of Newport, built in the 20th century for accommodation for mine workers.
Nelson is a village and community in the County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales. It sits five miles north of Caerphilly and ten miles north of Cardiff, at the lower end of the Taff Bargoed Valley, and lies adjacent to Treharris, Trelewis and Quakers Yard.
Nine Mile Point colliery was a coal mine at Cwmfelinfach in the South Wales Valleys, originally known as "Coronation Colliery", and constructed between 1902 and 1905. The deepest shaft was 1,176 feet deep. Seven men were killed on 13 August 1904 during the establishment of the mine.
William Thomas, bardic name Islwyn, was a Welsh language poet and Christian clergyman. His best known poems were both called Yr Ystorm ['The Storm'], and were written in response to the sudden death of his fiancée.
The Sirhowy Valley is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of Wales. It is named from the Sirhowy River which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of Tredegar within the county borough of Blaenau Gwent. The valley initially heads south-southeast between the ridges of Cefn Manmoel to the east and Mynydd Bedwellte to the west before turning to a more southerly direction. Its central section is one of the least populated of the Welsh coalfield valleys. The valley enters the county borough of Caerphilly which contains the towns of Blackwood and Pontllanfraith. It then turns east and joins the valley of the Ebbw River, Ebbw Vale at Crosskeys.
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.
Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley, one of the valleys of South Wales.
Stagecoach South Wales is a bus operator providing services in South East Wales. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group.
The Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company was a canal and railway company that operated a canal and a network of railways in the Western Valley and Eastern Valley of Newport, Monmouthshire. It started as the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation and opened canals from Newport to Pontypool and to Crumlin from 1796. Numerous tramroads connected nearby pits and ironworks with the canal.
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 Sirhowy Tramroad was a plateway built to convey the products of ironworks at Tredegar to Newport, South Wales. It opened in 1805 between Tredegar and Nine Mile Point, a location west of Risca, from where the Monmouthshire Canal Company operated a tramroad to Newport. The Sirhowy Tramroad was operated at first by horse traction, but early locomotives were used, and a passenger service was operated.
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