Blackwood, Caerphilly


Blackwood is a town, community and an electoral ward on the Sirhowy River in the South Wales Valleys administered as part of Caerphilly County Borough. It is located within the historic county of Monmouthshire.
The town houses a growing number of light industrial and high-tech firms. It is the home town of influential rock band Manic Street Preachers.

History

Blackwood was founded in the early 19th century by local colliery owner John Hodder Moggridge, who lived at nearby Woodfield Park Estate: the first houses in Blackwood were built by Moggridge in an attempt to build a model village.
Deplorable working conditions at the time of the Industrial Revolution, however, led to Blackwood becoming a centre of Chartist organisation in the 1830s. The South Wales Chartist leaders John Frost, Zephaniah Williams – a Blackwood man – and William Jones met regularly at the Coach & Horses public house in Blackwood. Planning their march on Newport in what became known as the Newport Rising in 1839, intended to coincide with a Britain-wide 'revolution' against the Government, the gentry and the Establishment in 1839.
When the insurrection erupted in November a large contingent of insurgents gathered at Blackwood. Upon meeting their comrades from the upper Sirhowy Valley the rebels armed themselves with makeshift weapons and marched south to Newport to demand the adoption of the People's Charter and the release of Henry Vincent from Monmouth gaol. However, the South Wales Movement were the only ones to march and the national rising failed and its leaders were sentenced to death.
In 1912 the Titanic's distress signals were picked up by amateur wireless enthusiast Artie Moore who resided at the Old Mill, Gelligroes, just outside the town. Moore went on to work as a senior scientist for Marconi and was involved with the invention of the transistor for telecommunications.
The former Penllwyn House on the outskirts of the town was originally part of the Lord Tredegar Estates and is believed to be the original home of the family of Henry Morgan, a privateer and Governor of Jamaica. The building is now a public house The town is home to the Maes Manor Hotel, located in a grand old manor house known as Maesrudded. The house was formerly home to the Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire.
Evan James was a weaver and wool merchant by profession and owner of the Ancient Druid Inn in Hollybush, in the parish of Bedwellty, Monmouthshire. He moved to Pontypridd when his son James was a young boy. Evan James and his son James are credited with composing the Welsh national anthem, 'Hen Wlad fy Nhadau' in 1856. Evan was a poet and it is believed that he wrote the words while his son James composed the tune. The song was published in the volume 'Gems of Welsh Melody' and soon became extremely popular. It is not certain when the song was first adopted as the Welsh national anthem. A memorial, designed by W. Goscombe John, was erected in honour of Evan and James James in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, in 1930.
The decline of the coal mining industry throughout the later part of the twentieth century affected South Wales, the major source of employment was lost and the landscape left daily reminders of what had been. State backed rejuvenation schemes have gone some way to rejuvenate the wider Blackwood area, including the relief road and various light industrial areas.

Contemporary Blackwood

In sport, Blackwood has two rugby union and one rugby league sides, all of whom play at Glan-Yr-Afon Park. The rugby union sides are Blackwood RFC, established in 1889, and Blackwood Stars RFC, originating. The rugby league club is called the Blackwood Bulldogs and plays in the Welsh Conference Premier. Rugby players Kevin Moseley, Alun Pask and Alun Lewis hail from the town.
Blackwood also has a cricket club called Blackwood Town Cricket Club that plays in the Glamorgan and Monmouthshire League Division One. A number of Blackwood players have gone on to play for Glamorgan, Ryan Watkins and Kyle Tudge amongst them
The Bus Station, which links Blackwood to a lot of surrounding areas and includes a rail-link service to nearby train stations, has had a make-over.
Blackwood's cinema, the Maxime, was originally purpose-built as a cinema in 1938, was then used as a bingo hall, but is now once again a five-screen cinema. Some of the original decor has been preserved in the foyer.
Blackwood is twinned with Protivín, a small town in the Czech Republic.

Landmarks

The Chartist Bridge

The Arup designed Chartist Bridge linking the East and West sides of the Sirhowy Valley. Previously the journey was made by de-tour or over a 1 in 4 road through the bottom of the valley known locally as the Rhiw.
The bridge is a part of the Sirhowy Enterprise Way, regeneration project and opened four months ahead of schedule on 3 December 2005.
The bridge is a cable-stayed bridge 230m long supported 30m above the valley floor by a 90m A frame pylon. Difficulties with mining-related subsidence during construction and in the foreseeable future led the design team to allow the bridge to breathe if settlement does occur. The bridge and the Sirhowy Enterprise Way are operated and maintained by the DBFO Company in accordance with the DBFO contract for a period of thirty years.
A statue to honour the Chartist struggle and their march to Newport has been erected on the East side of the bridge while a name plate is situated on the West. The statue itself is an impressive and imposing figure of a chartist striding forward, pike in hand. It is made up of thousands of brass rings and represents strength in unity.

Miners Institute

Blackwood Miners Institute is described by Caerphilly County Borough Council as the "Heart of the Community", from its inception in 1925 as Snooker Hall to its current Multi Entertainment Venue it sits at the heart of the town's event programme and is known locally as "The 'stute".
In 1925 a Snooker Hall was opened, by the Coal Industry and the Social Welfare Organisation, and funded by the miners of Oakdale Colliery at the rate of 3d a week. The building was initially single-story but by 1936 another two floors had been added and by then the building had an auditorium, dance floor, reading room, library, ladies room and rehearsal rooms for local societies. Programmes from the time included Tea Dances, snooker/billiards, reading groups, rehearsals and union meetings for local miners.
With the decline of the mining industry the building fell into disrepair throughout the 1970s and 1980s and ownership was handed to Islwyn Borough Council with the mandate to make it available for community use.
The building was formally re-opened in February 1992 by Lynne Vaughan, who was Theatre Manager between September 1991 and June 1995. Funded by Islwyn Borough Council and the Welsh Office, it has given local dramatic societies the opportunity to perform on the same stage as Jasper Carrot, Ken Dodd and Welsh National Opera.

Christianity

The 1904–1905 Welsh Revival and the prominence of Christianity in the culture of Blackwood and the surrounding villages have left Blackwood with a high number of churches and chapels, although many are now disused, derelict and falling to ruin.
Non-conformist churches include Mount Pleasant Baptist Church on Cefn Road, Blackwood Methodist Church, the Oasis Christian Centre and Blackwood Pentecostal
Anglican churches include St. Margaret's, located at the top of the High Street. There is a Roman Catholic church, Sacred Heart, in nearby Pontllanfraith.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes referred to as Mormons, have a history here.
The Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade are in Blackwood with companies meeting at the Baptist and Methodist churches, there are also a number of Christian youth groups.

Education

There is a network of primary schools, junior schools and secondary schools. The town is provided for by three local comprehensive schools all with between 800 – 1000 pupils. The Secondary schools are Blackwood Comprehensive School, Pontllanfraith Comprehensive and Oakdale Comprehensive. As of 2017 Pontllanfraith Comprehensive and Oakdale Comprehensive schools have merged to become Islwyn High School. Until the mid-1990s Blackwood comprehensive had separate uniforms for senior and junior pupils. A number of Blackwood pupils have been to Oxbridge and to other leading educational institutions.
An increase in demand for Welsh language medium education has led to the establishment of two Welsh Medium Infants and Primary schools. Ysgol Trelyn is located in the community of Pengam to the west of Blackwood and the newly opened Ysgol Cwm Derwen is located in the village of Oakdale to the east of the town. Both schools are 'feeder' schools to the Secondary School Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni located in Fleur de Lys, a village adjacent to Pengam to the west of Blackwood.

Transport

Blackwood is in the middle of the Sirhowy Valley, the source of the river near Tredegar to the North and the confluence with the River Ebbw to the South. The main road to Blackwood and for traffic heading North or South was through Blackwood High Street until the Sirhowy Enterprise Way was opened in 2005. Sirhowy Enterprise way was 4.3 km of new single carriageway roads following the former Pennar Branch railway line
on the Eastern Side of the valley, connected by the Chartist Bridge to the North and a bridge linking Woodfieldside to Blackwood in the south. The new roads which link to the A472 and the A467 provide links with Newport and other major towns and have closed off local roads such as the 1 in 4 incline of the Rhiw.
Blackwood has no heavy or light rail links, local bus services run between Blackwood Bus Station and Ystrad Mynach with a link to the Transport for Wales, Rhymney Line. Blackwood appears in the preliminary South Wales Metro plan published by Transport for Wales as being a possible extension to the rail links. The Sirhowy Tramroad, which was constructed in 1797, ran through what is now High Street. The tramroad was converted to a standard-gauge Railway in 1860 and was taken over by The London & North Western Railway in 1876 which was incorporated into The London, Midland & Scottish Railway in 1923. Passenger services ran from June 1865 until June 1960, Mineral traffic to coal yards at Blackwood & Tredegar continued until April 1969 with track lifted the following year. Some evidence of the railway still exists such as the underpass at Cwmgelli, most of the line is now a cycle path. The site of Blackwood railway station is now occupied by KFC.
The town has since been served by buses. There were two major companies in the Eastern and Central Valleys, namely:
Red & White and Western Welsh merged to become National Welsh in 1978, which was privatised in 1987. Its operations were acquired by Stagecoach in South Wales in 1992.
Other operators have included:
The Rotary Club of Blackwood was formed in 1946 and currently has seventeen male members and one female member. The Club meets every Tuesday at Maes Manor Hotel and is active in the local community. The Club raises funds for various charities and supports extracurricular activities in local schools.
Every Christmas, club members can be found at the entrance to the town's Asda store, with a miniature nativity scene, raising funds that the Club donates to local charities.
On 6 December 2012 the Club hosted the Welsh premiere of the Dustin Hoffman film Quartet. The venue for this premiere was Cardiff's Cineworld complex, with an after film party at a Cardiff hotel.
In early August 2014 Blackwood's Maxime cinema reopened its doors after being purchased by new owners and after being given an extensive refit. On 5 August the Rotary Club of Blackwood hosted the cinema's gala opening evening. The film chosen for this event was the aptly named Blackwood, a 2014 ghost story from an independent production company.
The Club's 2018 president was Trevor Morgan, a local clergyman.

Political representation

Blackwood is currently represented on Caerphilly County Borough Council by three Independent councillors: Kevin Etheridge, Andrew Farina-Childs and Nigel Dix.

Notable people