Cwmavon, Torfaen

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Cwmavon
Side view of Forge Row Cottages, Cwmavon.jpg
Forge Row Cottages
Torfaen UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Cwmavon
Location within Torfaen
OS grid reference SO 27039 06557
Community
Principal area
Ceremonial county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town PONTYPOOL
Postcode district NP4
Dialling code 01495
Police Gwent
Fire South Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Torfaen
51°45′11″N3°03′30″W / 51.752942°N 3.058364°W / 51.752942; -3.058364 Coordinates: 51°45′11″N3°03′30″W / 51.752942°N 3.058364°W / 51.752942; -3.058364

Cwmavon (Welsh spelling: Cwmafon; translation: "river valley") is a hamlet about 2 miles south of Blaenavon and 4 miles north of Pontypool. The hamlet is part of the community of Abersychan in the county borough of Torfaen in south east Wales, and is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire.

Contents

Cwmavon is in the south of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape (a World Heritage Site), the Blaenavon Landscape of Outstanding Historic Interest, and in the Cwmavon Conservation Area.

Geography

The scattered settlement lies in the steep wooded valley of the Afon Llwyd. The agricultural landscape, with irregular field patterns, scattered farmsteads, woodlands, sheep folds, limestone quarries and kilns is typical of the medieval and post-medieval mixed agriculture in the wider region. [1]

The Afon Llwyd is at the eastern edge of the South Wales coalfield, so no coal mining took place in Cwmavon. However, the western side of the valley, in areas such as Varteg and Garndiffaith, included coal mines and ironworks. [2]

Industrialisation

In 1793 the Blaenavon Railroad (a horse drawn tramroad) was completed to link Blaenavon Ironworks with the Monmouthshire Canal. [3] The engineer for both the tramroad and canal was Thomas Dadford, Jr for the Monmouthshire Canal Company. [4] The connection between the canal and tramroad at Pontnewynydd was completed in 1875 and the canal opened in February 1876 for shipping of goods from the ironworks to the port of Newport. [5] [6] [7] A branch was built to connect the nearby Varteg Ironworks (founded in 1802) to the railroad at Cwmavon. [8] [9]

In 1806 a forge was built near the Afon Lwyd to serve the ironworks. [9] At about the same time a row of twelve cottages (Forge Row, Cwmavon) were built for the workers of the forge. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] The forge closed later but was revived in 1823, and Cwmavon House was built (sometime between 1825 and 1835) about 40m north of Forge Row for Mr Partridge, owner the forge. [16] The forge closed in 1840 and many of the workers moved away. [16] [17]

In 1845 the Monmouthshire Canal Company obtained an Act of Parliament to improve the Blaenavon Railroad and connect it to a new railway to Newport under the control of a new company, the Newport and Pontypool Railway. In 1848, after slow progress on building, the railway company was taken over by the canal company to form the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company. [18] The section from Newport to Pontypool was opened in June 1852, but the northern connection to Blaenavon could not be completed until part of the old canal had been drained. [19] The completed line opened in 1854. [20]

In 1860 Varteg Collery opened and an incline linked the colliery to Cwmavon railway station. [21]

Sometime in the 3rd quarter of the 19th century, a file factory opened on the site of the Cwmavon Forge and a house was built nearby. [22]

Cwmavon Reservoir was built in the late 19th century by the Pontypool Gas and Water Company to supply water to Abersychan, and also supplies the village. [23] [24] [25] The reservoir is fed by a spring at its northern end. [26] In 1906 two bodies were discovered in the reservoir in two separate incidents. [27] [28]

In 1900 a new brewery for Westlake's of Blaenavon was built in Cwmavon. [29] The site was chosen as the geology of the Afon Lwyd changes nearby to limestone with springs feeding the river, ensuring a good supply of clean water. [30] The design of the five-storey building, by George Adlam & Sons, was acclaimed at the time by the Brewers Journal saying "the plant will be of the most modern description, both scientifically and practically." [29] With its polychromatic tower it was one of Adlam's more flamboyant designs. [31] The site also includes a substantial two storey house with five bays for the manager. [32] By 1907 the brewery had a chain of public houses and in 1911 took over the Castle Brewery in Pontypool. [33]

Transport

The A4043 road passes through Cwmavon. An hourly bus service (operated by Phil Anslow Coaches) runs Monday to Saturday in daytime between Blaenavon, Pontypool and Cwmbran. [34] There are stops at the reservoir, bridge, and community centre. [35]

The National Cycle Network route 492 passes to the west of Cwmavon. [36] The traffic-free route (part of the Torfaen Leisure Route) is open to walkers, and also horse-riders (Pontypool to Garn Lakes, Blaenavon only). [37]

Amenities

The village population is very low, but there is a public house close to the village. The other of Cwmavon's pubs, The Westlakes, named after the former brewery of the same name that is nearby. The Westlakes pub was closed 6 years ago and now the nearest one is The Rising Sun in Abersychan or The Crown in the Varteg. The new Cwmavon Village Hall was built nearly 6 years ago.

Recognition and conservation

In 1973 the 12 cottages at Forge Row (by now converted into 6 cottages) were designated as Grade II* listed buildings. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] The cottages were restored in 1989 by the British Historic Buildings Trust and the National Trust. [5]

The Cwmavon Conservation Area was designated in 1994 by Torfaen Borough Council. [38] The Blaenavon Landscape of Outstanding Historic Interest was one of the landscapes included when the register was first published in 1998. [39] The Blaenavon Industrial Landscape was added to the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 2000. [40]

Recreation

A three-hour circular walk around Cwmavon highlights the industrial and agricultural heritage of area. [25] The Eastern Valley Heritage Ride (34 miles by bicycle) affords views of Cwmavon from the western side of the valley. [41] . The Chartism Trail is 12 mile car tour around Torfaen with stopping points and optional walks, and downloadable MP3 files with commentaries. One of the stops is Forge Row in Cwmavon. [42]

Related Research Articles

Abersychan Town in Wales

Abersychan is a town and community north of Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales, and lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent.

Torfaen County borough in Wales

Torfaen is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south-west and north-west respectively. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire, and between 1974 and 1996 was a district of Gwent, until it was reconstituted as a principal area in 1996.

Pontypool Human settlement in Wales

Pontypool is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970.

Blaenavon Human settlement in Wales

Blaenavon is a town and community in Torfaen county borough, Wales, high on a hillside on the source of the Afon Lwyd. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. The population is 6,055.

Blaenavon Industrial Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Site in Wales

Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, in and around Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales, was inscribed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. The Blaenavon Ironworks, now a museum, was a major centre of iron production using locally mined or quarried iron ore, coal and limestone. Raw materials and products were transported via horse-drawn tramroads, canals and steam railways. The Landscape includes protected or listed monuments of the industrial processes, transport infrastructure, workers' housing and other aspects of early industrialisation in South Wales.

Fairwater, Torfaen Human settlement in Wales

Fairwater is a community and suburb of Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen, in south east Wales, and was built by the Cwmbran Development Corporation between 1963 and 1966.

Pontnewynydd is a predominantly working class suburb of Pontypool, Torfaen, in Wales. It should not be confused with Pontnewydd in nearby Cwmbran.

Pontypool Park School in Pontypool, Torfaen

Pontypool Park is a 150-acre (0.61 km2) park in Pontypool, Torfaen, Wales. The park was formerly the grounds of Pontypool House and was laid out in the closing years of the 17th century for John Hanbury, an ironmaster, who is closely associated with Japanware. The grounds were purchased by the local authority in 1920, while the estate house was leased, and later sold, to the Sisters of the Holy Ghost to become St. Alban's RC High School. The former stables now house the Torfaen Museum. The grounds contain a number of structures including a double ice house, the Folly Tower and the Shell Grotto. The park is entered through the Pontymoile Gates. The gates, the grotto and the stables are all Grade II* listed structures, while the former hall and the ice house are listed Grade II.

Forge Side was the site of an ironworks started in 1836. The development was soon abandoned, but resumed in 1859. A settlement of houses was built for the workers.

Afon Lwyd River in south-east Wales

The Afon Lwyd or Afon Llwyd is a 13-mile (21 km) long river in south-east Wales which flows from its source northwest of Blaenavon, through Abersychan, Pontnewynydd, Pontypool, Llanfrechfa and Cwmbran before flowing, at Caerleon, into the River Usk, which subsequently flows into the Bristol Channel to the south of Newport.

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.

Blaenavon Ironworks Former ironworks transformed into a museum

Blaenavon Ironworks is a former industrial site which is now a museum in Blaenavon, Wales. The ironworks was of crucial importance in the development of the ability to use cheap, low quality, high sulphur iron ores worldwide. It was the site of the experiments by Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and his cousin Percy Gilchrist that led to "the basic steel process" or "Gilchrist–Thomas process".

Grade II* listed buildings in Torfaen

In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical, or cultural significance; Grade II* structures are those considered to be "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". Listing was begun by a provision in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. Once listed, strict limitations are imposed on the modifications allowed to a building's structure or fittings. In Wales, the authority for listing under the Planning Act 1990 rests with Cadw.

The Blaenavon Railroad was a horse drawn tramroad built to link Blaenavon Ironworks with the Monmouthshire Canal in south east Wales.

Thomas Hill of Dennis, also known as Thomas Hill or latterly Thomas Hill I, to distinguish him from his son, was an ironmaster, and the leading partner in the establishment of Blaenavon Ironworks in south east Wales.

Forge Row, Cwmavon

Forge Row is a terrace of seven, originally twelve, cottages build around 1804 for workers at a nearby forge in Cwmavon, Torfaen, south east Wales. The cottages have been sympathetically restored. The terrace is regarded as a fine example of early housing for industrial workers in South Wales, and all the cottages are Grade II* listed buildings. The cottages lie to the east of the Afon Llwyd river.

Caerleon Tramroad

Caerleon Tramroad was an early horse-drawn tramway built in 1794 or 1795 by Nicholas Blannin to link the forge he rented in Caerleon with the Monmouthshire Canal at Clomendy, which is now part of Cwmbran.

Snatchwood Halt railway station served Snatchwood between Pontypool and Abersychan in Torfaen, South Wales, UK. The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1912 on the line it had purchased from the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company in 1880. The Halt lay between Pontypool Crane Street to the south and Abersychan to the north. The Halt lay adjacent to the current A4043 road, between the road and the nearby Afon Lwyd.

References

  1. ↑ "HLCA 018 Cwmavon Industrial Transport Corridor". The Historic Landscape Character Areas (HLCAs). Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust (GGAT) . Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Our Area". Abersychan and Garndiffaith Local History Group. 10 January 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Rattenbury, Gordon (1977). "The Cwm Ffrwd Rail Road". Gwent Local History (42): 12. Retrieved 26 March 2018– via Welsh Journals Online at the National Library of Wales.
  4. ↑ Barber 1999, pp. 194–5.
  5. 1 2 Barber, Chris (1999). Eastern Valley - The Story of Torfaen (1st ed.). Abergavenny: Blorenge Books. pp. 193–4. ISBN   1-872730-23-X. OCLC   43459623.
  6. ↑ Wakelin, Peter (2011) [2006]. Blaenavon Ironworks and World Heritage Landscape. Design by Ceri Staziker, Photography by Paul Highman (2nd ed.). Cardiff: Cadw. p. 8. ISBN   978-1-85760-293-7. OCLC   858824245.
  7. ↑ Malaws, B.A. (21 April 1999). "Blaenavon Tramroad". Coflein. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW). NPRN 91617. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Barber 1999, p. 195.
  9. 1 2 "Varteg Ironworks". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  10. 1 2 "1 Forge Row, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 28 July 1997 [Listed 1973]. Cadw Building ID 3133. Retrieved 11 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  11. 1 2 "2 Forge Row, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 28 July 1997 [Listed 1973]. Cadw Building ID 18586. Retrieved 11 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  12. 1 2 "3 Forge Row, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 5 September 1973 [Listed 1973]. Cadw Building ID 18587. Retrieved 11 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  13. 1 2 "4 Forge Row, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 28 July 1997 [Listed 1973]. Cadw Building ID 18588. Retrieved 7 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  14. 1 2 "5 Forge Row, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 28 July 1997 [Listed 1973]. Cadw Building ID 18589. Retrieved 11 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  15. 1 2 "6 Forge Row, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 28 July 1997 [Listed 1973]. Cadw Building ID 18590. Retrieved 7 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  16. 1 2 "Cwmavon House, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 28 July 1997 [Listed 1997]. Cadw Building ID: 18584. Retrieved 11 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  17. ↑ Barber 1999, p. 179.
  18. ↑ Barber 1999, p. 201.
  19. ↑ Barber 1999, p. 202.
  20. ↑ Cwmavon Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (PDF) (Report). Torfaen County Borough Council. April 2011. p. 35. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "Vipond's Varteg". Welsh Coal Mines. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  22. ↑ Hayman, R. (30 January 2003). "Forge House, Cwmavon". Coflein. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW). NPRN 270067. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  23. ↑ "Abersychan". Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire,1901. London: Kelly's Directories. 1901. Retrieved 7 April 2016– via ancestry.com.
  24. ↑ Hayman, R. (22 January 2003). "Cwmavon Reservoir". Coflein. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW). NPRN 270002. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  25. 1 2 "Cwmavon Heritage Trail" (PDF). Torfaen Walks. Torfaen County Borough Council. 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  26. ↑ Gascoine, W. (June 2011). "The hydrology of the limestone outcrop north of the Coalfield". In Ford, Trevor D. (ed.). Limestones and Caves of Wales (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 42. ISBN   978-0-521-16913-4. OCLC   839354270 . Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  27. ↑ "Body in a Reservoir". Evening News and Evening Mail. Cardiff: Walter Alfred Pearce. 26 April 1906. Retrieved 14 April 2016– via Welsh Newspapers Online.
  28. ↑ "The Cwmavon Suicide". Evening News and Evening Mail. Cardiff: Walter Alfred Pearce. 1 May 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016– via Welsh Newspapers Online.
  29. 1 2 "Former Westlake's Brewery, Abersychan". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 28 July 1997 [Listed 1997]. Cadw Building ID: 18596. Retrieved 12 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
  30. ↑ Barber 1999, p. 16.
  31. ↑ Pearson, Lynn (1999). British Breweries: An Architectural History. London and Rio Grande: Hambledon Press. pp. 69, 113. ISBN   1-85285-191-0. OCLC   42295763 . Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  32. ↑ Newman, John; Lynch, Frances; Manning, William; Hughes, Stephen (2000). "Abersychan: Cwmavon". Gwent/Monmouthshire. Pevsner Architectural Guides (The Buildings of Wales). London: Penguin Books. p. 111. ISBN   0-14-071053-1. OCLC   45327986.
  33. ↑ Barber 1999, p. 280.
  34. ↑ "30 Blaenavon - Pontypool - Cwmbran" (PDF). Pontypool: Phil Anslow & Sons Coaches. 22 September 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  35. ↑ "30 - Blaenavon - Cwmbran via Pontypool". Bus stops and routes across Great Britain. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  36. ↑ Cycle Route North Torfaen (PDF) (Map). 1:50,000. Torfaen County Borough. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  37. ↑ "Torfaen Leisure Route". Torfaen Walks. Torfaen County Borough Council. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  38. ↑ "No. 49925". The London Gazette . 12 November 1984. p. 15277.
  39. ↑ Nomination of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape for inclusion in the World Heritage List (PDF). Torfaen County Borough Council. 1999. p. 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  40. ↑ Wakelin 2011, inside cover.
  41. ↑ Thomas, Alwyn (June 2006). "Ride 21 Eastern Valley Heritage Ride". Bike Rides Around West Gwent and the Borderlands. Abergavenny: Odyn Books. pp. 226–235. ISBN   9780955319204 . Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  42. ↑ "Chartism" (PDF). Torfaen trails and tales. Torfaen County Borough Council. February 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
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