Cwmcarn is a village situated in the

Ebbw valley The Ebbw River (; cy, Afon Ebwy) is a river in South Wales which gives its name to the town of Ebbw Vale. The Ebbw River is joined by the Ebbw Fach River ( Welsh: Afon Ebwy Fach meaning 'little Ebbw river') at Aberbeeg. The Ebbw Fach is itself fe ...

in south

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, in the historic boundaries of

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, wit ...

. It grew with 19th-century

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, but is now known for its extensive mature forestry and greenery, that attract thousands of visitors and

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

enthusiasts each year.

Pre-industrial history

Significant settlement at Cwmcarn came with

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

migration of local tribes from the Gwent levels to the uplands of

Mynydd y Grug Mynydd y Grug is a hill lying just west of the village of Cwmfelinfach and about 4 km to the northeast of Caerphilly in Caerphilly county borough in South Wales. Its summit was formerly at a height of around 358 m, but since the top has bee ...

, Mynydd Machen and Mynydd Maen ( Twmbarlwm) and led to a later

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

(900–55 BC)

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

to be constructed by the

Silures The Silures ( , ) were a powerful and warlike tribe or tribal confederation of ancient Britain, occupying what is now south east Wales and perhaps some adjoining areas. They were bordered to the north by the Ordovices; to the east by the Dobun ...

on Twmbarlwm.

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

forces took control of most of what became the

province of

Britannia Superior Britannia Superior (Latin for "Upper Britain") was a province of Roman Britain created after the civil war between Septimius Severus and Claudius Albinus. Although Herodian credits Severus with dividing Roman Britain into the Northern territor ...

in 43 AD but then took a further 25 years to gain control of the present day South Wales valleys.

control remained established until full scale withdrawal in the 5th century AD when the Kingdoms of Gwent and

Glywysing Glywysing was, from the sub-Roman period to the Early Middle Ages, a petty kingdom in south-east Wales. Its people were descended from the Iron Age tribe of the Silures, and frequently in union with Gwent, merging to form Morgannwg. Name and ...

were established. Gwent was defined as the land between the

River Usk The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it ...

and the

River Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of the border between England and Wales ...

and Glywysing, the land between the

and the

River Tawe The River Tawe (; cy, Afon Tawe ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National ...

. Cwmcarn, located where the Carn and Ebbw river valleys meet, being situated within the Welsh Kingdom of

. The

Welsh placename The place-names of Wales derive in most cases from the Welsh language, but have also been influenced by linguistic contact with the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Anglo-Normans and modern English. Toponymy in Wales reveals significant features ...

of Cwmcarn came about in 942 when Llywarch ap Cadogan gave Villa Treficarn Pont ('estate near the bridge over the Carn') to a

Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of ...

named Wulfrith with King Cadell's guarantee, i.e. the place where the Carn meets the Ebbw (now Cwmcarn). Following the

Norman invasion of Wales The Norman invasion of Wales began shortly after the Norman conquest of England under William the Conqueror, who believed England to be his birthright. Initially (1067–1081), the invasion of Wales was not undertaken with the fervour and purpose ...

the separate townships of

Abercarn Abercarn is a small town and community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales. It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. History An estate at ...

, Cwmcarn and Newbridge were given a manorial title of Abercarne. The three townships were also within the boundaries of the ancient parish of

Mynyddislwyn Mynyddislwyn was a civil parish and urban district in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It was abolished in local government reorganisation in 1974. It is named for the Mountain in its centre MynyddIslwyn (Islwyn Mountain or Islwyn's Mountain, Isl ...

and remained therein up until comparatively recent times.

Economic activity

Coal mining

Cwmcarn lies at the south-eastern edge of the

South Wales coalfield The South Wales Coalfield ( cy, Maes glo De Cymru) extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, espe ...

. The

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

development in the Cwmcarn area started in 1836, when a single shallow, 180 ft downshaft, the Abercarn No.6., was sunk into the Rock (or Tillery) seam, for the nearby Prince of Wales Colliery at

operated by the Monmouthshire Iron and Coal Company. The second shaft was excavated by the Ebbw Vale Steel Iron & Coal Company to target the deeper No.4 Steam and Black Vein seams. The colliery was run as an individual unit until it was later acquired by Partridge Jones and John Paton and Company in 1935. It was closed by the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

in November 1968 and the site was cleared after becoming uneconomical to run. The Cwmcarn Forest Drive now runs over the shafts of the colliery and a relics of colliery buildings can still be seen on the slope above the old shaft. The present day lake that is stocked by the Cwmcarn Angling Association was originally down stream of the colliery's washery.

Manufacturing

A telecoms factory located between the

Ebbw River The Ebbw River (; cy, Afon Ebwy) is a river in South Wales which gives its name to the town of Ebbw Vale. The Ebbw River is joined by the Ebbw Fach River ( Welsh: Afon Ebwy Fach meaning 'little Ebbw river') at Aberbeeg. The Ebbw Fach is itself ...

and the A467 road was part of the British Post Office and

British Telecom BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, b ...

before being sold to STC plc, Northern Telecom (

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...

), and more recently

Solectron Solectron Corporation was an electronics manufacturing company for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It was the first electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry in 1977. Solectron's first customer designed and distributed an electr ...

. The factory closed during Spring 2007.

Cwmcarn Forest Drive

To the east of the village of Cwmcarn is the popular Cwmcarn Forest Drive, a popular 7 mile drive through hills and forests on the flanks of the mountain of Twmbarlwm which is operated by

Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales ( cy, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Coun ...

. The area is popular as a tourist site and a location for mountain biking, and has seen significant recent development as the world-class Y Mynydd Mojo DH Track mountain biking trail is attracting an increased volume of visitors. A new £2 million visitor centre has been opened. In the summer of 2018 the area suffered a spate of extensive fires which were deliberately set and "killed many of the newly-planted saplings on the hillsides." The area was also a victim of the spread of

phytophthora ramorum ''Phytophthora ramorum'' is the oomycete (a type of protist) plant pathogen known to cause the disease sudden oak death (SOD). The disease kills oak and other species of trees and has had devastating effects on the oak populations in California ...

, which had required the felling of "vast swathes" of larch trees in the area to prevent the disease spreading further. Natural Resources Wales project manager for Cwmcarn, Geminie Drinkwater, stated in September 2019 that alongside local activist Robert Southall and Friends of Cwmcarn Forest Drive, they are now "planting countless native trees, to repopulate Cwmcarn's ancient woodland" and are "looking to improve the forestry and restore it as a tourist hotspot" in conjunction with the local activist group.

References

External links

Mountain Biking in Cwmcarn - MBWales

Cwmcarn United RFC

New Life Christian Church
{{authority control Villages in Caerphilly County Borough