Population 6,305 (2011) Community Pontnewydd Country Wales Area 236 ha Ceremonial county Gwent UK parliament constituency Torfaen | OS grid reference ST 291 963 Principal area Torfaen Sovereign state United Kingdom Dialling code 1633 Post town NP postcode area | |
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Pontnewydd (English translation: Newbridge) is a suburb of Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen, south-east Wales.
Contents
- Map of Pontnewydd UK
- The village as part of the new town
- Links with other Cwmbran Districts
- West Pontnewydd
- The Canal
- Environment
- Industry
- Transport
- Census data
- References
Map of Pontnewydd, UK
Beginning in the late 19th/early 20th century, as a small village in the locality of Llanfrechfa Upper, Pontnewydd has grown rapidly since the start of the Cwmbran New Town development in 1949. Locally, it is known as 'The Village'. Pontnewydd has its main commercial centre along Commercial Street, Richmond Road, New Street & Chapel Street.
Pontnewydd is split unofficially into a number of sub-districts: North Pontnewydd Estates, Five Locks Estate, Lowlands, Tŷ Newydd Estate, South Pontnewydd Estates and The Village.
Pontnewydd is both a community and an electoral ward of Torfaen County Borough Council. The electoral ward also includes Northville.
The village as part of the new town
Cwmbran was designated as a new town under the New Towns Act 1946. It is the largest new town in Wales. The town was intended primarily to provide homes near work for those employed in the area and also to provide social and commercial facilities as well as to preserve open spaces, aiming for a balanced and self-contained community. Cwmbran’s original population was 12,000 of whom most who lived in Pontnewydd and Old Cwmbran.
Links with other Cwmbran Districts
Northville is a large and enclosed housing estate that lies between Pontnewydd and Croesyceiliog. Being the first set of housing developments after the start of Cwmbran New Town in 1949, its residents in the early 1950s worked in the booming post-war industry around the New Town. Like Thornhill several decades later, it reincorporated its surroundings and is now seen as an economically improved area of Torfaen County.
West Pontnewydd
This is a residential area in the north-west of Cwmbran. Built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it hosts a pub, congregation centre, a row of commercial units and Birches Park.
The Canal
The most well-known and noticeable feature of the area is the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. It splits the district roughly in half: it enters the district at the Five Locks Estate, divides the Lowlands and South Pontnewydd areas into two and continues down through Forge Hammer, towards Old Cwmbran.
Environment
The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal runs through the village. Although not navigatable, it provides a route for cyclists and walkers. There are also many parks and recreation grounds surrounding Pontnewydd and the Lowlands area: Pontnewydd Park, Brookland Park, The Rec, Glen Park, Clarksfield and Pontnewydd Rugby Club. Pontnewydd United FC play their home games at Ponthydrun, they currently play in the Gwent County League.
Industry
Historically the area was dominated by heavy industry, revolving around the local coal and iron industries. Today the industrial landscape has completely changed, and consists entirely of light industry, represented around the village in neighbouring industrial estates: Avondale Park, Forge Hammer and Springvale.
Transport
The Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company railway line from Newport to Blaenafon ran through the village until it was removed in the early 1980s. Upper Pontnewydd railway station (closed to passengers in 1962) was situated on this line. Cwmbran Drive was then built in the late 1980s, along the bed of the disused railway that bisects the village.
Lower Pontnewydd railway station on the Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway was 300 metres North of the current site of Cwmbran railway station off Station Road, and closed to passengers in 1958.
Census data
At the 2011 Census, the population for the ward was 6305 (Torfaen 91,075), and the community population was 4,954.
At the 2001 Census, the following information was collected for the ward: