Risca
Risca
| |
---|---|
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | NEWPORT |
Postcode district | NP11 |
Dialling code | 01633 |
Police | Gwent |
Fire | South Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
UK Parliament | |
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Risca (Welsh: Rhisga) is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough and the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in south-east Wales. Risca has a railway station, opened on the Ebbw Valley Railway in February 2008, after a gap of 46 years. It is split into two communities; Risca East and Risca West. It has a population of 11,700. The town is now part of the Cardiff Capital Region which has a combined population of 1,543,293. Cardiff the capital of Wales can be reached in under 28 minutes from the nearby railway station of Risca and Pontymister station which reopened in 2008 after a gap of nearly 60 years.
The town lies at the south-eastern edge of the South Wales Coalfield and the town has been shaped by mining, together with other heavy industries, for many centuries.[3]
Risca is home to Ty-Sign, which is a large housing estate built in the early 1960s as a satellite village for the then new
History
There is evidence of human habitation in the Risca area going back thousands of years, such as the Silures hillfort on nearby Twmbarlwm, however the area was rural and sparsely populated until the nineteenth century. As local industries expanded and transport links improved with the building of the canal and railways, the population rapidly increased.
Several arguments have been put forward for the derivation of the name Risca/Rhisga including that it comes from the Welsh yr is cae meaning "the lower field" or yr hesg cae meaning "field or rushes" or rhisgl meaning oak bark.[4]
The earliest known official use of the name Risca for the place was in 1476 when two men from Risca were charged at the Newport Assizes although there are also ecclesiastical documents which go as far back as 1146 which include a man called Kadmore de Risca.[4]
From 1540, Risca is found regularly in land transactions involving the Tredegar estates and in 1747 John Wesley recorded a visit in his diary.[4]
Rapid population increase started around 1820 with the opening of the mines.
Year | Population |
---|---|
1851 | 2,044[5] |
1861 | 2,744[5] |
1871 | 3,400[6] |
1891 | 7,783[7] |
1906 | 11,200[8] |
1911 | 14,149[9] |
1921 | 16,745[10] |
1931 | 16,605[11] |
1951 | 15,130[12] |
1961 | 13,955[13] |
1971 | 15,835[14] |
1991 | 11,543[15] |
2001 | 11,455[16][17] |
2011 | 11,693[2][1] |
Note: Until the 1990s, these figures include the population of the nearby villages of Crosskeys and Pontymister but since the reorganisation of wards only includes the population of Risca East and Risca West wards.
Industrial Heritage
From the early nineteenth century, the area around Risca has been dominated by coal mining and transport systems to access the mines,[3] although there is also evidence that lead and coal were being extracted much earlier.[18]
The first large scale mine was known as the Black Vein colliery and it was located near to the boundary between Risca and what is now Cross Keys and closed in 1921.[19] The New Risca Colliery, which was between what is now Wattsville and Cross Keys, operated until 1967.[20]
The Black Vein coal seam was very explosive and the mines working it experienced a series of serious mine accidents. In 1846, 35 miners were killed in an explosion at the Black Vein Colliery, and in 1860 more than 140 miners were killed at the same mine.[19] In 1860, an explosion at the New Risca colliery, which was working the same seam of coal, killed 120 men.[20]
In addition to its coal mines, brickworks, quarries, and copper, tin, and iron works also developed in and around Risca through the nineteenth century.[18]
Risca was served by the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company lines to the north from Tredegar (via the Sirhowy Railway) and Ebbw Vale towards Newport to the south, including passenger facilities at the original Risca railway station.
Twentieth century
The dominance of coal in the local economy meant that mine closures in the 1930s and 1940s caused severe unemployment in Risca.
By the end of the 1970s, most of the local coalmines had closed and the majority of the population were working in other industries.
Governance
In the UK Parliament, Risca is part of the constituency of
In the
Notable landmarks and buildings
Twmbarlwm, has the remains of an
The
The local
The park 'Tredegar Grounds' was donated to the people of Risca in 1897 by
The town is served by
Culture and Education
The town currently has four schools: Risca Primary School, Ty-Sign Primary School, Ty Isaf Infants School and Risca Community Comprehensive School. Risca Community Comprehensive School is the only secondary school in Risca and was opened by Elizabeth II in 1977. It is located on the same site as the town's leisure centre and has approximately 1000 pupils.
Risca also has an award-winning
Sport and Leisure
Risca United F.C. play in the Cymru South and are managed by Simon Berry. The club used to play their home games at Ty-Isaf Park.
There are some extensive mountain bike trails on the wooded hills just to the north of the town, at Cwmcarn, which are receiving increasing popularity.
Notable people
- Sprint athlete Jamie Baulch was raised in Risca before going on to compete for his country at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and various other Championships.
- Harold Edwards (rugby league) (1909–1993), Welsh rugby league footballer
- Henry Williams, [Landscape Artist] (b- 1963)
Former Lecturer Fine Art.
References
- ^ a b - Risca East Ward 2011 Census (population 6464)
- ^ a b - Risca West Ward 2011 Census (population 5229)
- ^ a b Jukes, Tony. "The development of Risca". Oxford House Industrial History Society. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ a b c Osborne, Dr. G.O. (Autumn 1989). "Notes on the Origin of the Place Name 'Risca'". Gwent Local History (67). Gwent Local History Council: 3–10. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- ^ a b Great Britain. Census Office (1862). Census of England and Wales for the Year 1861. pp. 1–.
- hdl:10107/3441773.)
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ignored (help - ^ Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire. Kelly's Directories. 1901.
- hdl:10107/4164123.)
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
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ignored (help - ^ Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire and South Wales. Kelly's Directory. 1920. p. 204. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ "1921 Census of England and Wales". Visions of Britain. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ "1931 Census of England and Wales". Visions of Britain. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ "1951 Census of England and Wales". Visions of Britain. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ "1961 Census of England and Wales". Visions of Britain. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ "1971 Census: Aggregate data (Great Britain) w561445 RISCA U.D." Registrar General for England and Wales, UK Data Service Census Support. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ - Risca West 4,850 & Risca East 6,693
- ^ - Risca West Ward 2001 Census (population 5071)
- ^ - Risca East Ward 2001 Census (population 6384)
- ^ ISBN 0861164725.
- ^ a b "Black Vein Colliery". Welsh Coal Mines. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ a b "Risca New Pit". Welsh coal mines. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-904773-66-5.
- ^ "Oxford House Educational Settlement, Risca, Records - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ "Caerphilly - Adult education courses". www.caerphilly.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6
- ^ British listed buildings
- ^ Jones, A. V. (1977) Risca, its Industrial and Social Development
- ^ https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/351898 Picture of the station