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Cwmbran

Coordinates: 51°39′11″N 3°01′16″W / 51.653°N 03.021°W / 51.653; -03.021
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Cwmbran
File:Leisure at Cwmbran.jpg
Glyndŵr Road, 2018
Population48,535 
OS grid referenceST295955
Community
Principal area
Preserved county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCWMBRAN
Postcode districtNP44
Dialling code01633
PoliceGwent
FireSouth Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Torfaen
51°39′11″N 3°01′16″W / 51.653°N 03.021°W / 51.653; -03.021

Cwmbran (/kʊmˈbrɑːn, kuːm-/ kuum-BRAHN, koom-; Welsh: Cwmbrân [kʊmˈbraːn])[a] is a town in the county borough of Torfaen, in the south of Wales. Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it was designated as a new town in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south-eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield.

Toponymy

The name of the town in Welsh means "valley (cwm) of the crow (brân)".[2] 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. The area of the old village became known as Old Cwmbran.

History

Cwmbran was founded in 1949 as a new town,[3] 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 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 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. The town now covers an area of about 3,000 acres (1,214 ha) and has a population of around 50,000.

Following investigations by local residents Richard Davies and Mike Price, the Ancient Cwmbran & The Cistercian project was designed and created by Davies and Claire Dovey-Evans, a Torfaens heritage officer. A £48,000 grant was provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Torfaen County 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, it was described as an "exemplified community project".[4]

The Cistercian Way also passes through Llantarnam, Old Cwmbran, Greenmeadow and Thornhill before reaching 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 were moved by inclined planes and tramways into the Eastern Valley for use in factories, such as the Patent Nut and Bolt Company,[b][5] 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; 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 former 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.[6]

Cwmbran was a civil parish and, from 1974, a community in its own right; it is one of only five in the new district of Torfaen. In 1985, the Cwmbran community was abolished; it was replaced by Cwmbran Central, Fairwater, Llantarnam, Pontnewydd and Upper Cwmbran.[7]

Geography

Comprising the villages of Old Cwmbran, Pontnewydd, Upper Cwmbran, Henllys, Croesyceiliog, Llantarnam and Llanyrafon, its population had grown to 48,535 by 2011.[8] This makes it the sixth largest urban area in Wales.

Sited 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 more than 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, the land is less hilly, forming part of the Usk Valley.

Economy

The longest established employer in Cwmbran is Burton's Foods, which employs about 1,000 people to make its Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels biscuits;[9] as of 2005, the plant produces more than 400 million of the latter every year.[10]

Safran Seats Great Britain (formerly Zodiac Aerospace)[11][12] is the current owner of a factory in Cwmbran which employs around 1,000 people for manufacturing aircraft seats.

Constructed from 1959 to 1981, the pedestrianised Cwmbran 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 the bus station, which is located in the centre, a railway station a few minutes' walk north-east or with the 3,000 free car parking spaces located around the ring road.

Small and medium enterprises include the Cwmbran Brewery in Upper Cwmbran, which opened in 1996 as Cottage Spring Brewery.[13]

Education

The town has two secondary schools: Croesyceiliog School and Cwmbran High School. There are numerous primary and nursery schools, including a Welsh medium primary school, Ysgol Gymraeg Cwmbrân.[14] Crownbridge Special School is located in the town; the ages of its pupils range from two to 19 years.

Further education, vocational training and some higher education is provided at Torfaen Learning Zone, of Coleg Gwent in the Cwmbran Centre.

Transport

Cwmbran railway station is served by trains on the Welsh Marches Line:[15]

Historically, the town 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 was opened by the Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway in 1874. Upon the last station's closure in 1965, the town was left without for 21 years.

Cwmbran bus station is the focal point of the town's bus services, which are operated primarily by Newport Bus and Stagecoach South Wales; key routes include:[16]

Amenities

Media

The main newspaper in 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 Cwmbran Life,[19] while the BBC provides the South East Wales region's news from their base in Cardiff.

A number of on-line and amateur radio stations operate in Cwmbran. Vitalize Radio operates as the community radio station for Torfaen, originally established in 2014 as Torfonix.[20] There are also the Cwmbran & District Amateur Radio Society and Able Radio, which support adults with autism and learning disabilities.

Sport

Cwmbran Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium with an athletics track, an eight-court sports hall, fitness suite, swimming pool and an indoor bowling rink; the grassed pitch is used by Cwmbran Town FC and Gwent Hockey Club.

Athletics

Cwmbran Stadium 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 1980s and early 1990s when he was the Welsh national coach. Athletes who trained there regularly under Arnold included former world 110m hurdle champion and world record holder, Colin Jackson; Commonwealth 110m hurdle medallist, Paul Gray; and Nigel Walker.[c] The 1999 world indoor 400m champion Jamie Baulch also used the stadium as a regular training track, but under a different coach.

The town has three athletics clubs: Cwmbran Harriers,[21] Fairwater Runners[22] and Griffithstown Harriers.[23]

Football

The three main football teams in Cwmbran are Cwmbran Town, Cwmbran Celtic and Croesyceilog, which all compete in the Football Association of Wales' leagues. Cwmbran Celtic's ground lies adjacent at the Motazone Arena.

The Football Factory was an indoor sports complex, consisting of two pitches; the building was destroyed by fire in February 2017.[24]

For the 2026–27 season, Cwmbran Celtic has replaced conventional shirt sponsorship with four independent music acts, with Super Furry Animals and Panic Shack appearing on the men's and women's home shirts, and Mogwai and Loose Articles on the away shirts. The kits, supplied by Tor Sports, were launched in August 2026 and the club donates 10% of the profit from each shirt sold to the Music Venue Trust, a charity supporting grass roots music venues.[25][26]

Rugby union

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 respectively. However, many more of 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.[citation needed]

Rugby league

Rugby league is represented in the town by Torfaen Tigers, which plays in the fourth tier of the pyramid system, the Conference League South at the Kings Head Ground, home of Cwmbran RFC.

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.[27]

Notable people

See also Category:People from Cwmbran

Twin town

Notes

  1. ↑ Cwmbrân is also in use as an alternative spelling in English.
  2. ↑ This became Guest Keen and Nettlefolds in 1900.
  3. ↑ Walker had two sporting careers: first as an Olympic hurdler and then later as a Welsh rugby union international player.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Welcome to Cwmbran Community Council". cwmbran.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2026.
  2. ↑ "Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru". Geiriadur.ac.uk.
  3. ↑ "Cwmbran Regeneration". Torfaen County Borough Council. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  4. ↑ "Uncovering history of a new town". BBC South East Wales. 3 September 2009.
  5. ↑ "History of Cwmbran Works 1800-1969". Archived from the original on 19 November 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "Why Cwmbran". Idoxplc.com. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "The Torfaen (Communities) Order 1985" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. 1 February 1985. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  8. ↑ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Cwmbran BUSD (W38000140)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "Burtons Foods Ltd, Cwmbran, Gwent". Macraesbluebook.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011.
  10. ↑ "Wagon Wheels". Archived from the original on 8 February 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  11. ↑ "EU clears merger of French aerospace suppliers Safran and Zodiac". Reuters.com. 21 December 2017.
  12. ↑ "Cwmbran airline seat firm Contour sold to Zodiac". BBC News. 13 December 2011.
  13. ↑ "Cwmbran Brewery". Qaffale.org.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  14. ↑ "Ysgol Gymraeg Cwmbrân (Primary School) © Roger Cornfoot". Geograph.org.uk.
  15. ↑ "Timetables". Transport for Wales. 17 May 2026. Retrieved 18 September 2026.
  16. ↑ "Cwmbran bus services". Bustimes.org. Retrieved 18 September 2026.
  17. ↑ "Video: Shoppers gather to see Prince Edward leave the Congress Theatre in Cwmbran". Cwmbran Life. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  18. ↑ "Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal reopened at Five Locks". South Wales Argus. 16 October 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  19. ↑ "Read news and features about Cwmbran". Cwmbran Life. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  20. ↑ "Inside the Torfonix studio - a radio station being set up in Cwmbran". Cwmbran Life. 30 November 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  21. ↑ "Cwmbran Harriers". Welsh Athletics. Retrieved 18 September 2026.
  22. ↑ "Fairwater Runners Cwmbran". Fairwater-runners-cwmbran.org.uk.
  23. ↑ "Griffithstown Harriers running club". Archived from the original on 22 August 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  24. ↑ "Fire at Cwmbran's Football Factory 'devastates' locals". BBC News. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  25. ↑ Jones, Amelia (2 August 2026). "Welsh football club's new shirts backed by four of UK's biggest independent bands". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
  26. ↑ "Cwmbran Celtic FC team up with Super Furry Animals, Mogwai, Panic Shack and Loose Articles for new kits". NME. 1 August 2026. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
  27. ↑ Sanders, Alison (29 July 2011). "GLC join our Buy Local campaign with rap in praise of Cwmbran". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  28. ↑ "Stadt Bruchsal – Partnerstädte". Bruchsal.de. Retrieved 27 February 2020.

Bibliography

  • The trains don't stop here anymore...a pictorial history of Cwmbran from the 1930s to the present day. Village Publishing. 1985. ISBN 0-946043-07-8.
  • Cwmbran & District Writers (2004). Cwmbran and other routes as the crow flies. Blorenge Books. ISBN 1-872730-34-5.
  • Riden, Philip (1988). Rebuilding a Valley. Cwmbran Development Corporation. ISBN 0-9510548-1-3.
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