Oakdale, Caerphilly
Oakdale | |
---|---|
Caerphilly | |
Preserved county | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Blackwood |
Postcode district | NP12 |
Dialling code | 01495 |
Police | Gwent |
Fire | South Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
Islwyn | |
Oakdale is a large village in
History
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 the demand.[1]
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 the site for the new
The revolutionary "model village" was the brainchild of the manager of the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, Mr A S Tallis. This village, in contrast to others in the area, was to be built away from the mine among green fields. The houses would be modern, with hot and cold running water, large cooking ranges, electric light, and - perhaps most revolutionary of all - bathrooms. Every house was to have a front and back garden, so that no front door would open directly on to the street as in other valley towns and villages.
These ideas were in themselves original enough. But the concentric design of the village that was conceived by Mr Tallis' brother-in-law, Mr F R Webb, was even more radical. It was laid down with a central road (Central Avenue) and transverse roads conforming to a horseshoe shape, with linking "spoke" roads, making any road in the village easily accessible from any other.
It has been described by John Newman as "by far the most ambitious attempt by any mining company in south Wales to provide planned housing for its workforce."[2]
The build commenced with housing, but later included schools, chapels, a hospital, a miners' institute and a cinema (the Picture House).
Opened in 1911, the colliery was owned by the Oakdale Navigation Collieries Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tredegar Iron Company. It employed a workforce of 2,235 at its peak in 1938.
In 1920 the village received a visit from
Oakdale colliery was linked to Markham and the Celynen North collieries 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
Modern Oakdale
Oakdale Business Park, a 400-acre (1.6 km2) site on the former location of Oakdale Colliery took 6 years and over £10 million to reclaim, creating one of the largest plateau in the South Wales Valleys of 100 acres (0.40 km2). It has attracted world-famous business names such as General Dynamics, which has based its UK Headquarters there.
Access to the area has been made considerably easier by the construction of the Sirhowy Enterprise Way, which includes the striking, cross-valley, Chartist Bridge.
With the rapidly expanding workforce has come the need for houses and the village has seen an explosion of building in the past few years, including a new Primary school, and the former primary school at Rhiw Syr Dafydd has become a Welsh medium school called Ysgol Gymraeg Cwm Derwen.
The Oakdale and Penmaen Partnership (TOPPS), set up in 2004, is a group of voluntary members made up from the local community. It brings together representatives from the local statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors to address local problems, allocate funding, discuss strategies and initiatives. They aim to encourage joint working, and community involvement and prevent 'silo working' (i.e. different agencies that share aims working in isolation) with the general aim of ensuring resources are better allocated at a local level. They also act as a middle ground between the local community and Caerphilly Council.
Demographics
According to the
Education
There are three schools operating in the village:
- Rhiw Syr Dafydd Primary School, which caters for children from 3 to 11. Pupils transfer to Islwyn High School
- Ysgol Gymraeg Cwm Derwen does the same, but in the Welsh language. Transfer to Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni.
- Oakdale Comprehensive School was an 11 to 16 co-educational comprehensive school of just over 800 pupils. Sixth-form provision was at Coleg Gwent in Crosskeys, and Ystrad Mynach College.
- Islwyn High School, which replaced Oakdale Comprehensive School in 2016.
Sport
There is a bowls club that regularly meets by the Oakdale Recreation Ground at a dedicated bowls green.
Oakdale Aikido Club has been in existence since 1973, training twice weekly at Oakdale Comprehensive School. There are also badminton, junior football, karate, Tang Soo Do (Korean karate) and netball clubs.
There was a nine-hole parkland golf course at Llwynon Lane, including an 18-bay driving range. However, both closed in 2018 and are being converted into new housing developments.
Notable residents
- Richey James Edwards, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire all attended Oakdale Comprehensive School, forming the influential rock band Manic Street Preachers.
- Former WBO, WBC, WBA, Ring Magazine world super middleweight champion, and Ring Light Heavyweight champion Matthew Watkins, singer Steve Strange and poet Patrick Joneswere also pupils at the school.
- Former pupils of Rhiw-Syr-Dafydd Infants school include Dame Patricia Morgan-Webb,[4] Opera star Dame Margaret Price, Former Wales rugby international John Jeffery, musician Glyn Hale, and Air Commodore David Davies.
- Samuel Meekosha VC, (aka Samuel Ingham) lived in the village until his death in 1950.
- (Lord) Bevin boy at Oakdale Colliery.
- Welsh-language poet, novelist and television and radio broadcaster T. Glynne Davies also worked as a Bevin boy at Oakdale.
- Former Welsh international rugby player Haydn Morgan was born in Oakdale.
- The members from the rock band Primitive Soul attended Rhiw Syr Dafydd Primary School in Oakdale. The members are Lead Guitarist Gabriel Jones, Guitarist and vocals Finley Maggs, Bassist Curtis Meader and Drummer Liam Bray. They also attend Islwyn High School.
See also
- Oakdale Hospital
- Oakdale colliery
- Oakdale Comprehensive School
- Oakdale RFC
References
- ISBN 0-9547320-0-6
- ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
- ^ http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/395/ Archived 2008-11-10 at the Wayback Machine Oakdale Workmen's Institute
- ^ Dame Patricia Morgan-Webb[permanent dead link]