https://wikishire.co.uk/w/index.php?title=Coelbren&feed=atom&action=historyCoelbren - Revision history2024-03-29T11:37:17ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.25.5https://wikishire.co.uk/w/index.php?title=Coelbren&diff=64301&oldid=prevOwain: /* History */2019-06-27T21:34:08Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">History</span></span></p>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 21:34, 27 June 2019</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[File:Coelbren Junction station.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A Neath-Brecon train at Coelbren Junction shortly before closure in December 1962]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[File:Coelbren Junction station.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A Neath-Brecon train at Coelbren Junction shortly before closure in December 1962]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>From <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the </del>1873, Coelbren was the location of a significant junction on the Neath and Brecon Railway, and here stood Coelbren Junction station.  From this junction a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">7</del>-mile branch diverged leading to the Swansea Vale Railway at [[Ynysygeinon]].  The contractor John Dickson had a terrace of houses constructed quite possibly for navvies working on the line and known originally as Dickson's Row though now known as Price's Row.<ref>Hughes, S. & Reynolds, P. A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region. RCAHMW 2nd edn 1989</ref> The lines closed in 1962 though the trackbed can still be seen almost encircling the eastern part of the village.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>From 1873, Coelbren was the location of a significant junction on the Neath and Brecon Railway, and here stood Coelbren Junction station.  From this junction a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">seven</ins>-mile branch diverged leading to the Swansea Vale Railway at [[Ynysygeinon]].  The contractor John Dickson had a terrace of houses constructed quite possibly for navvies working on the line and known originally as Dickson's Row though now known as Price's Row.<ref>Hughes, S. & Reynolds, P. A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region. RCAHMW 2nd edn 1989</ref> The lines closed in 1962 though the trackbed can still be seen almost encircling the eastern part of the village.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The route to Swansea Vale has now been converted into a cycleway as Route 43 of the [[National Cycle Network]] linking the village with [[Ystradgynlais]]; it is planned that the trackbed northwards towards [[Brecon]] should also form part of Route 43.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The route to Swansea Vale has now been converted into a cycleway as Route 43 of the [[National Cycle Network]] linking the village with [[Ystradgynlais]]; it is planned that the trackbed northwards towards [[Brecon]] should also form part of Route 43.</div></td></tr>
</table>Owainhttps://wikishire.co.uk/w/index.php?title=Coelbren&diff=64297&oldid=prevRB: Created page with "{{Infobox town |name=Coelbren |welsh=Y Coelbren |county=Brecknockshire |picture=Cefn Byrle Road, Coelbren - geograph.org.uk - 918692.jpg |picture caption=Cefn Byrle Road, Coel..."2019-06-27T12:49:17Z<p>Created page with "{{Infobox town |name=Coelbren |welsh=Y Coelbren |county=Brecknockshire |picture=Cefn Byrle Road, Coelbren - geograph.org.uk - 918692.jpg |picture caption=Cefn Byrle Road, Coel..."</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Infobox town<br />
|name=Coelbren<br />
|welsh=Y Coelbren<br />
|county=Brecknockshire<br />
|picture=Cefn Byrle Road, Coelbren - geograph.org.uk - 918692.jpg<br />
|picture caption=Cefn Byrle Road, Coelbren<br />
|os grid ref=SN850116<br />
|latitude=51.7916667<br />
|longitude=-3.6686111<br />
|population=<br />
|census year=<br />
|post town=<br />
|postcode=SA10<br />
|dialling code=<br />
|LG district=Powys<br />
|constituency=Brecon and Radnor<br />
}}<br />
'''Coelbren''' is a small, rural village in the south of [[Brecknockshire]]. It stands on the very northern edge of the South Wales Coalfield some six miles north-east of [[Ystradgynlais]] and just outside the southern boundary of the [[Brecon Beacons]] National Park.<br />
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The village is known for the nearby [[Henrhyd Falls]], a beautiful waterfall plunging 90 feet, and which serves as a [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]-managed visitor attraction on the [[Nant Llech]].<br />
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To the east of the village flows the [[River Pyrddin]] which plunges over two more spectacular falls.<br />
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==Name==<br />
As first edition Ordnance Survey maps of the area show,<ref>{{cite web|title=Brecks XLIV.NW surv 1877, publ 1888|url=http://maps.nls.uk//view/101605802|website=National Library of Scotland|accessdate=27 January 2018}}</ref> the name 'Coelbren' applied to a farmhouse and chapel before the modern village developed. It is recorded in the name ''Tyre y Kolbren'' in 1503 where it signifies the sharing of land (modern Welsh 'tir') by means of drawing lots, a 'coelbren' being translated amongst other things as an 'inscribed piece of wood' or 'omen-stick':<ref>{{cite book|last1=Owen|first1=Hywel Wyn|last2=Morgan|first2=Richard|title=Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales|date=2007|publisher=Gomer Press|location=Llandyssul|isbn=9781843239017|page=93|edition=First}}</ref> therefore 'Land of the lot'.<br />
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==History==<br />
A Roman road over the mountains, now known as [[Sarn Helen]], runs close to the village on its eastern side. Its remains and that of a Roman fort are now much degraded. The Brecon Forest Tramroad was constructed through the village in the 1820s. Of note to the east of Coelbren is the site of Banwen Ironworks, whose partial survival is owed to its early failure. It was constructed in the 1840s by speculators from London but may have produced only 80 tons of pig iron, the whole exercise being enveloped in a financial scandal.<ref>Hughes, S. & Reynolds, P. A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region. RCAHMW 2nd edn 1989</ref><br />
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[[File:Coelbren Junction station.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A Neath-Brecon train at Coelbren Junction shortly before closure in December 1962]]<br />
From the 1873, Coelbren was the location of a significant junction on the Neath and Brecon Railway, and here stood Coelbren Junction station. From this junction a 7-mile branch diverged leading to the Swansea Vale Railway at [[Ynysygeinon]]. The contractor John Dickson had a terrace of houses constructed quite possibly for navvies working on the line and known originally as Dickson's Row though now known as Price's Row.<ref>Hughes, S. & Reynolds, P. A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region. RCAHMW 2nd edn 1989</ref> The lines closed in 1962 though the trackbed can still be seen almost encircling the eastern part of the village.<br />
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The route to Swansea Vale has now been converted into a cycleway as Route 43 of the [[National Cycle Network]] linking the village with [[Ystradgynlais]]; it is planned that the trackbed northwards towards [[Brecon]] should also form part of Route 43.<br />
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A school was opened in the village in 1894, housed at first in the vestry of Moriah Baptist Chapel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Coelbren School 2|url=http://history.powys.org.uk/history/ystrad/colsch2.html|website=Powys Digital History Project|accessdate=27 January 2018}}</ref> It was transferred to a new purpose-built site further west on Heol Eglwys in 1898 and in 1912 it was greatly expanded.<ref>{{cite web|title=Coelbren School 9|url=http://history.powys.org.uk/history/ystrad/colsch9.html|website=Powys Digital History Project|accessdate=27 January 2018}}</ref> The original Coelbren Welfare and Memorial Hall was built towards the top of Station Road in 1925 and served until the 1990s when the current building was constructed.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Davies|first1=W.T.|title=Now and Then: Upper Dulais & Swansea Valleys, A Nostalgic View of Yesteryear VOL 1|date=2002|publisher=Dinefwr Press Ltd|location=Llandybie, Carms|pages=138–139}}</ref><br />
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The A4221 road linking [[Abercraf]] with the A4109 Inter Valley Road ([[Glynneath]] to [[Aberdulais]]) near [[Dyffryn Cellwen]] passes to the immediate south of the village, its construction later in the 20th century rendering the village less isolated than it had been hitherto.<br />
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==Outside links==<br />
{{commons|Coelbren, Powys}}<br />
*{{geograph|5978300|Coelbren}}<br />
*[http://www.ystradgynlais-history.co.uk/coelbren-church.html History of Coelbren Church (Capel Colbren)]<br />
*[http://www.ystradgynlais-history.co.uk/moriah-coelbren.html History of Moriah Baptist Chapel, Coelbren]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}</div>RB