Llanyrafon is a suburb of

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was ...

and a

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

in the county borough of

Torfaen Torfaen (; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Newport, Wales, Newport to t ...

in south east Wales. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

and the preserved county of Gwent.

Etymology

Sometimes written on old maps and documents as ''Lan-yr-avon'', ''Llan-yr-avon'', or ''Llanyravon'', the name literally translates as "Church by the River". However, ''Llan'' meaning "Church"' is usually followed by a saint's name, and the resulting name is usually associated with a parish church. Neither is true for ''Llanyrafon'', so the older meaning of ''Llan'' as "an enclosed piece of land" may apply. Llan means an enclosed parcel of land belonging to a church though a church may not necessarily have been present on the land as for instance in the case of Llandaff. In which the Daff part refers to the river Taff. Such could apply to llanyrafon.

Location

Llanyrafon lies to the east of the Afon Llwyd and Cwmbran town centre, west of the A4042 dual carriageway and south of

Croesyceiliog Croesyceiliog (; ) is a suburb and community of Cwmbran, Torfaen, Wales. Housing Croesyceiliog is primarily a residential district and contains a wide variety of housing from Victorian terraces and even older Welsh cottages to property built ...

History

Built in the late 1950s, Llanyrafon is mainly residential but does include a municipal golf course; 3-star Hotel (Commodore Hotel on Mill Lane - closed in 2011 and now demolished to make way for a new housing development); small shopping precinct known as ''Llanyrafon Lakeside Shops'' and the large Boating Lake Park & South Fields. The Boating Lake Park includes (as the name suggests) a large lake which is home to various wildfowl birds such as swans, mallards and moorhens. There is also a large adventure playground as well as various football and rugby pitches. In recent years, the addition of a skateboarding/roller blading park was made to this area. Most recently there has been a re-vamp of the Boating Lake with the addition of an island. The X24, a major bus service operated by Stagecoach South Wales, runs through Llanyrafon from

town centre to Newport. Phil Anslow also provides a regular service from Cwmbran town centre to Newport via Llanyrafon as well as service which links Llanyrafon to the town centre.

References

*Barber, Chris, 1999. EASTERN VALLEY The Story of Torfaen. Blorenge Books.

External links

BBC article on Llanyrafon Mill
* {{Torfaen Suburbs of Cwmbran Communities in Torfaen

Etymology

Location

History

See also

References

External links