Pontnewydd

Pontnewydd
Pontnewydd  Pontnewydd shown within Torfaen
Population	6,132
OS grid reference	ST291963
Principal area	Torfaen
Ceremonial county	Gwent
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CWMBRAN
Postcode district	NP44
Dialling code	01633
Police	Gwent
Fire	South Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
EU Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Torfaen
List of places: UK • Wales • Torfaen

Pontnewydd (English translation: Newbridge) is a suburb of Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen, south-east Wales.

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 into many unofficial sub-districts; North Pontnewydd Estates, Five Locks Estate, Lowlands, Ty Newydd Estate, South Pontnewydd Estates and The Village.

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 set up of Cwmbran New Town in 1949, it housed the residents that worked in the booming post-war industry around the New Town in the early 1950s. Like Thornhill several decades later, it reincorporated its surroundings and is now seen as an economically improved area of Torfaen County.

West Pontnewydd is a residential area in the north-west of Cwmbran. Built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it hosts a pub - The Yew Tree, congregation centre, a row of commercial units and Birches Park.

The Canal The most knowledgeable area of Pontnewydd is the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. It splits the district roughly in half; arriving at the Five Locks Estate, cutting the Lowlands and South Pontnewydd area into two and then takes the route 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 & Pontnewydd Rugby Club.

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 is completely based upon light industry represented around the village in neighbouring industrial estates; Avondale Park, Forge Hammer & 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 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 2001 Census [1], the following information was collected:

• Population 6132 (Torfaen 90,949)
• 47.9% Male, 52.1% Female
• Age Structure
  • 21.9% aged between 0-15
  • 37.2% aged between 16-44
  • 19.0% aged 45-59/64
  • 21.9% of pensionable age