Charles III
25-665: 51°39′14″N 3°11′35″W / 51.654°N 3.193°W / 51.654; -3.193 Pontllanfraith ( Welsh pronunciation: [ˌpɔntɬanˈvraiθ] ) is a large village and community located in the Sirhowy Valley in Caerphilly County Borough , Wales , within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire . It is situated adjacent to the town of Blackwood , with the Sirhowy River passing through both locations. The village includes
50-524: A number of teams, with the first fifteen playing their home matches at Islwyn Park. The club has been in existence for many years and the first entry on the captain's board relates to the season 1958–59. Ponllanfraith Diamonds Cycle Club founded by Roland Morgan in 1958, which spawned a number of successful cyclists until it disbanded in 1968. Pontllanfraith A.F.C. was a football club which operated from 1947 until 1992, when they merged with Fields Park Athletic A.F.C. to form Fields Park Pontllanfraith . The club
75-756: A workforce of 2,235, when production reached one million tons per year. Oakdale was linked to Markham colliery and the Celynen North colliery in Newbridge in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making it the largest colliery in Gwent . The pit closed in 1989 and the tips have now been landscaped and converted into platforms for industrial development. The former site of Oakdale Colliery now sites Islwyn High School , which opened in 2016 to former students from Oakdale Comprehensive School , Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School and Cwmcarn Comprehensive School . Of
100-664: Is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest tier of local government in Wales . Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England but, unlike English parishes, communities cover the whole of Wales. There are 878 communities in Wales. Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes . These were abolished by section 20 (6) of the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced by communities by section 27 of
125-579: Is now a public house, was originally part of the Tredegar Estate , and is believed to be the original home of the family of the pirate Henry Morgan . In 1912, at the 17th-century mill in Gelligroes amateur wireless operator Artie Moore picked up a distress signal from the RMS Titanic using wireless receiving equipment. Pontllanfraith was home to a Welsh coal mining community during
150-987: The Court of Appeal overturned the decision, and an appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected. Pontllanfraith is home to two Grade II* listed structures ; Gelligroes Mill and Penllwyn Manor. Both were listed on 25 May 1962. There are also a number of Grade II listed structures in Pontllanfraith: Community (Wales) Heir Apparent William, Prince of Wales First Minister ( list ) Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS ( L ) Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MS ( L ) Counsel General-designate – Elisabeth Jones Chief Whip and Trefnydd – Jane Hutt MS (L) Permanent Secretary Sixth Senedd Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones MS ( PC ) Leader of
175-526: The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 . Oakdale Colliery Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley , one of the valleys of South Wales . In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking for new opportunities to fill
200-760: The Tripartite System , it became Pontllanfraith Grammar School, and in 1959 it became Pontllanfraith Grammar Technical School (incorporating Pontllanfraith Technical School). In 1975, it became known as Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School, after incorporating Ynysddu Secondary Modern School (which existed from 1948 to 1975). Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School closed in 2016. As part of the Welsh Government 's 21st Century Schools Programme, Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School and Oakdale Comprehensive School were merged together to form Islwyn High School. Due to construction being incomplete, pupils remained on
225-479: The Crown . In Wales, all town councils are community councils. There are now three communities with city status: Bangor , St Asaph and St Davids . The chair of a town council or city council will usually have the title mayor (Welsh: maer ). However, not every community has a council. In communities with populations too small to sustain a full community council, community meetings may be established. The communities in
250-667: The Opposition Andrew RT Davies MS ( C ) Shadow Cabinet ( current ) Prime Minister Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP ( L ) Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP (L) Principal councils ( leader list ) Corporate Joint Committees Local twinning see also: Regional terms and Regional economy United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections (1979–2020) Local elections Police and crime commissioner elections Referendums A community ( Welsh : cymuned )
275-692: The Pontllanfraith and Oakdale sites until 2017 before moving to the new building located on the former site of Oakdale Colliery . On 28 September 2017 the then First Minister Carwyn Jones officially opened Islwyn High School. Pontllanfraith has several primary schools: Bryn Primary School, Penllwyn Primary School and Pontllanfraith Primary School. Pontllanfraith is a Caerphilly County Borough Council ward, comprising three seats. The current councillors are Mike Adams, Patricia Cook and Colin Gordon. Caerphilly County Borough Council previously had offices at
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#1732790872726300-415: The building named Pontllanfraith House, although they have now been demolished. The land has since been sold to a property developer and construction of a new housing estate has begun. This was regarded as a controversial move, both prior to and following the demolition of Pontllanfraith House, with councilors raising concerns about affordable housing for the existing population. Pontllanfraith Low Level
325-688: The communities of the Penllwyn, Springfield and The Bryn. The population of the community at the 2011 census was 8,552. The name of the village is a combination of pont "bridge" + llyn "lake" + fraith "speckled", "the bridge of the speckled lake". Although a masculine noun in Modern Welsh, llyn "lake" was feminine in the medieval language of the south, hence the mutated feminine form fraith , rather than unmutated masculine brith as would be found today. The word fraith probably refers to speckled sunlight on
350-706: The community boundaries within their area every fifteen years. The councils propose changes to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales , which prepares a report and makes recommendations to the Welsh Government . If the Welsh Government accepts the recommendations, then it implements them using a statutory instrument . For example, in 2016 four new communities were created in the City and County of Cardiff . The legislation surrounding community councils in Wales has been amended significantly in
375-533: The demand. Among these were a group known as the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, made up of wealthy industrialists from the Maclaren, Markham , Pochin, Whitworth and Wyllie families. They decided to create a group of collieries in the Sirhowy Valley , which explorations had told them contained rich seams of " black gold." One of these was at the small rural hamlet of Rhiw Syr Dafydd. Work began clearing
400-506: The early to mid 20th century, providing homes for men working in a number of local pits such as Wyllie , Penallta , and Oakdale . In 1874 and 1875, Gelligroes Colliery was established, striking the Mynyddislwyn Red Ash vein, although the pits were later abandoned in 1875 due to water problems. In 1914, Lloyd's Navigation Steam Coal Co. Ltd. restarted work at the colliery, but World War I caused it to stop again. The colliery
425-438: The former being situated in Pontllanfraith. Pontllanfraith Medical Centre is located on the same site and is contracted to provide core services such as immunisations, child health surveillance and limited minor surgery procedures alongside a number of additional services. Pontllanfraith Pharmacy, an independent NHS Community Pharmacy , is situated adjacent to Pontllanfraith Medical Centre. Pontllanfraith Rugby Football Club run
450-487: The same Act. The principal areas of Wales are divided entirely into communities. Unlike in England, where unparished areas exist, no part of Wales is outside a community, even in urban areas . Most, but not all, communities are administered by community councils , which are equivalent to English parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally and may have city status granted by
475-653: The site for the new colliery at Ty Mellyn, Oakdale , with the sinking of the pit in 1907. Waterloo shaft followed in 1911. The shafts, North (upcast), and South, were 626 and 650 yards deep respectively, and were the largest diameter shafts in South Wales at the time. Opened in 1911, the colliery was owned by the Oakdale Navigation Collieries Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tredegar Iron Company. At its peak in 1938 it employed
500-512: The station was later closed on 15 June 1964. Pontllanfraith is served by the following bus routes: The 26 and 151 services are run by Stagecoach Gold , and the 901 is a rail linc service. Pontllanfraith is under the jurisdiction of the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board . Blackwood Medical Group, an approved training practice, runs two centres – Avicenna Medical Centre and Oakdale Medical Centre, with
525-551: The urban areas of the cities of Cardiff , Swansea and Newport do not have community councils. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census , there were 869 communities in Wales. 84 percent, or more than 730, have a council. They vary in size from Rhayader with an area of 13,945 hectares (34,460 acres) to Cefn Fforest with an area of 64 hectares (160 acres). They ranged in population from Barry with 45,053 recorded inhabitants to Baglan Bay with no permanent residents. The twenty-two principal area councils are required to review
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#1732790872726550-519: The water of a pool in the Sirhowy River. The modern name acquired the change from llyn "lake" to llan "church", a common element in Welsh toponymy , somewhere around the eighteenth century and led to the belief that there was a saint called Braith, whose mutated form Fraith was similar to Ffraid , Welsh for Saint Brigid . The Penllwyn Manor, an old stone building which
575-670: Was a passenger station on the Taff Vale Extension of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway . Originally named Tredegar Junction, opened in 1857, it was renamed to Pontllanfraith in 1905, and then to Pontllanfraith Low Level in 1950. The various junctions around the station gave it access to both the Rhymney Railway and the Rumney Railway . The railway closed to most freight traffic on 9 June 1958, and
600-756: Was abandoned for a second time in 1915. The colliery was used for a final time in 1917 after being acquired by the Tredegar Iron & Coal Co. Ltd., but was abandoned again in 1918. Following the 2011 census, Caerphilly County Borough Council published a profile for each ward. This profile covered population, age structure, economic activity and inactivity, ethnic groups, national identity, marital status, hours worked, car/van ownership, lone parents, health and provision of unpaid care, qualifications, household spaces and accommodation types, household tenure, industry of employment, household composition, occupation groups and knowledge of Welsh. Notable findings include: In 1926, Pontllanfraith Secondary School opened. In 1944, under
625-426: Was dissolved in 2005. Pontllanfraith Leisure Centre is situated on the same site as the former comprehensive school. Although still operational, Caerphilly County Borough Council has expressed intentions of closing it to invest the £125,000 annual running cost elsewhere. In 2019, a High Court bid to overturn the council's planned closure succeeded under the principle of "public sector equality duty". However, in 2020,
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