Pontymoile (Welsh: ''Pont-y-moel'') is a suburb of Pontypool in

Torfaen Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south-w ...

, South Wales. It is all but merged with the nearby suburbs of Cwmynyscoy and Upper Race. It is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

of Torfaen, and includes the electoral wards of Brynwern, Cwmynyscoy, and Pontypool of

Torfaen County Borough Council Torfaen County Borough Council () is the governing body for Torfaen, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as a lower-tier district A district is a type of ...

. Pontymoile is directly south of Pontypool and is bordered by

Griffithstown Griffithstown is a large suburb of Pontypool in the borough of Torfaen, Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in May 1898, from Llanfrechfa Upper and Panteg, and includes Sebastopol, but, ...

to the south and New Inn to the east. It lies within the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. Historically it was called ''Llanvihangel-Point-y-moile'' (Welsh: ''Llanfihangel-Pont-y-moel''). It contains a mixture of traditional Welsh terraced houses, early

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

townhouses and modern 1960s flats and local authority housing. Pontymoile is spread across a large area and so is home to much of Pontypool's facilities including

West Monmouth School West Monmouth School (Welsh: ''Ysgol Gorllewin Mynwy''; colloquially: West Mon) is a state-funded and non-selective secondary school in Pontypool, Torfaen, south Wales. Admissions Pupils who attend the school generally live in the Torfaen area. ...

Coleg Gwent Coleg Gwent ( en, Gwent College) is Wales' largest further education college at various locations in the former county of Gwent, South Wales. It has 24,000 students ranging from secondary school leavers to mature students. A wide range of part- ...

's Pontypool campus, the Pontymoile Basin on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal as well as St. Matthew's Anglican Church and the nondenominational Pontymoile Christian Mission on Rockhill Road. Pontymoile had its own

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. The area has a small selection of shops and

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

Pontymoile Gates

The Pontymoile entrance to Pontypool Park was the original entrance leading to the house owned by the Hanbury Family. Pontymoile Gates (Welsh: ''Giatiau Pont-y-moel'') are Grade II*, Cadw-listed fine metal gates that are known locally as the ''Sally'' gates. Sally was the nickname for the Duchess of Marlborough who presented them to the Hanbury family in thanks for their assistance in the execution of her late husband's will. Pontymoile Gates Pontypool Park Gates

Research has determined that the columns and gates date from around the mid-19th century, but were later added to (the addition of dog bars) to allow larger carriages and motorized traffic to enter the park. A report taken from the Pontypool Free Press in 1933 states that the gate's specifications were designed by T. E. Deakin in July 1835. Of particular interest are the vines on the pillars and bunches of grapes that would originally have been gilded, as were some acanthus leaves and finials on the gates. It is thought the original colour of the gates may have been green, maroon or a blue colour popular at the time.

Redevelopment

Two distinct phases of road building have affected the Pontymoile area. During the early 1980s an extension to A472 was built (diverting traffic away from

and New Inn). This ended opposite the Pontymoile Mission and the area quickly became a traffic bottle-neck as the dual-carriageway A472 filtered into a one way system. Further redevelopment took place in the late 1990s to eradicate this bottle-neck when a new flyover on the A472 road was constructed to allow traffic to easily pass either into or by Pontypool town centre. This resulted in many buildings being demolished (including the original Pontymoile Mission, the railway viaduct and closure of the Prince of Wales public house). The development also resulted in a new road system to

and

's Pontypool campus.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Pontymoile and surrounding area
{{Torfaen Suburbs of Pontypool Communities in Torfaen Electoral wards of Torfaen