Cwmbran was founded in 1949 as a
new town, 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. Cwmbran now covers about and has a population of around 50,000. Following some investigation by local residents Richard Davies and Mike Price, the Ancient Cwmbran & The Cistercian project was designed and created by Richard Davies and Torfaens Heritage Officer Claire Dovey-Evans. A £48,000 grant has been provided by the
Heritage Lottery Fund and Torfaen 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 the project was described as exemplified community project. 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 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 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. 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 Church Village proposal 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. Cwmbran was a civil parish and, from 1974, a
community in its own right, one of only five in the new district of Torfaen. In 1985, the Cwmbran community was abolished, replaced by Cwmbran Central,
Fairwater,
Llantarnam,
Pontnewydd and
Upper Cwmbran. ==Economy==