The Sirhowy Valley ( ) is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It is named from the

Sirhowy River The Sirhowy River (Welsh language : ''Afon Sirhywi'') is a river in Wales and a tributary of the Ebbw River. Sources The Sirhowy River has its source on the slopes of Cefn Pyllau-duon above Tredegar. After flowing through Siôn-Sieffre's Res ...

() which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of

Tredegar Tredegar (pronounced , ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the ...

within the

unitary area A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

of Blaenau Gwent. The valley initially heads south-southeast between the ridges of Cefn Manmoel to the east and

Mynydd Bedwellte Mynydd Bedwellte is the name given to the broad ridge of high ground between the Rhymney Valley (Welsh: Cwm Rhymni) and the Sirhowy Valley in the Valleys region of South Wales. It straddles the boundary of the unitary areas of Caerphilly and Bl ...

to the west before turning to a more southerly direction. Its central section is one of the least populated of the Welsh coalfield valleys. The valley enters the unitary area of Caerphilly which contains the towns of

Blackwood Blackwood may refer to: Botany * African blackwood ('' Dalbergia melanoxylon''), a timber tree of Africa * African blackwood (''Erythrophleum africanum''), ('' Peltophorum africanum'') also Rhodesian blackwood, trees from Africa * Australian bla ...

() and Pontllanfraith. It then turns east and joins the valley of the Ebbw River, Ebbw Vale at Crosskeys.

History

The valley's industrial history began with ironworks before evolving to meet the demand for

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

and the expansion of

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 ...

. This process was led by companies such as the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company. Coal mines used to be located throughout the valley, including: Wyllie; Nine Mile Point and Oakdale. The Sirhowy passes the old Gelligroes Mill near

along its path. Prior to the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, the valley was served by the

Sirhowy Railway The Sirhowy Tramroad was a plateway built to convey the products of ironworks at Tredegar to Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales. It opened in 1805 between Tredegar and Nine Mile Point, a location west of Risca, from where the Monmouthshire Rail ...

. Stations could be found at many points including Nantybwch, Argoed,

, Pontllanfraith and Ynysddu.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Sirhowy Valley Websitewww.geograph.co.uk : photos of the Sirhowy Valley and surrounding area
Valleys of Blaenau Gwent Caerphilly Valleys of Caerphilly County Borough