Place:Cwmbran, Monmouthshire, Wales

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Cwmbran is a new town in Wales. Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it has formed part of the county borough of Torfaen since 1996. Cwmbran was established as a new town in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the southeastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield. Cwmbran means Crow Valley. In 2011, according to the UK census, it had a population of 48,535 and covers approximately 3,000 acres (12 km2), making it the sixth largest urban area in Wales.

In 1935 the Urban Districts of Llanfrechfa Upper and Llantarnam which had existed since 1894 were abolished and the area combined into the new Cwmbran Urban District, the predecessor of the new town formed in 1949. It comprised the villages of Pontnewydd, Llantarnam, Old Cwmbran, Upper Cwmbran, Croesyceiliog, and Llanyrafon.

History

Around 1179, Hywel, Lord of Caerleon gave a gift of money and land to found the Cistercian Abbey at Llantarnam. After 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 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.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Cwmbran was the site of heavy industrial development. Coal and iron ore was extracted on Mynydd Maen, and were 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 Ltd in 1900), various tin plate works and brickworks. This industry drove 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.

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