Caerphilly

Caerphilly ( , ; , ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff and west of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough and lies within the historic borders of Glamorgan, on the border with Monmouthshire. At the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,402 As of the 2021 census, the population of the wider Caerphilly local authority area stands at: 176,000 decreasing from the 2011 censes report of 178,000. A fall of 1.6%

Toponymy

The name of the town in Welsh, , means "the fort ( ) of Ffili". Despite lack of evidence, tradition states that a monastery was built by St Cenydd, a sixth-century Christian hermit from the Gower Peninsula, in the area. The Welsh cantref in the medieval period was known as Senghenydd. It is said that St Cenydd's son, St Ffili, built a fort in the area, giving the town its name. An alternative explanation is that the town was named after the Anglo-Norman Marcher Lord, Philip de Braose.

Governance

, a converted church which serves as the town council's offices and meeting place There are two tiers of local government covering Caerphilly: Caerphilly Town Council at community level and Caerphilly County Borough Council at borough level. The town council is based at the Twyn Community Centre. The borough is named after Caerphilly, but covers a much larger area. The county borough council's main offices are not in the town of Caerphilly itself, but in the more central location of Ystrad Mynach. Historically, Caerphilly formed part of the ancient parish of Eglwysilan in the county of Glamorgan. A local board was established to provide local government for Caerphilly in 1893¹, covering the two parishes of Eglwysilan and Llanfabon. The district covered by the board included a substantial area to the west and north-west of the town itself, extending to Taff's Well, Nelson and the southern part of Ystrad Mynach. In 1894, local boards were reconstituted as urban districts. Caerphilly Urban District Council governed the area from 1894 until 1974. It established its headquarters at a converted house called Bron Rhiw on Mountain Road. The urban district was abolished in 1974, with the majority of the area becoming part of Rhymney Valley District in the new county of Mid Glamorgan, except for the Taff's Well ward which went instead to Taff-Ely. A Caerphilly community was established at the same time, being a lower-tier authority, initially covering that part of the former urban district within Rhymney Valley. The community was divided in 1985, with separate communities being created for Aber Valley, Llanbradach, Nelson, and Penyhreol, and transferring the part of Ystrad Mynach which had been in the Caerphilly community to the Gelligaer community. This left the reduced Caerphilly community just covering the town itself. Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw the abolition of Mid Glamorgan County Council, and Rhymney Valley merged with neighbouring Islwyn borough to become the Caerphilly County Borough.

Aviation

The nearest airport is Cardiff Airport which is away by road, it is a 35-minute drive and about an hour by train and shuttle bus. Bristol Airport is away by road.

Rail

Caerphilly has three railway stations. All are located on the Rhymney Line serving Cardiff. Caerphilly at the southern end of the town near the shopping area Aber in the western part of the town Energlyn & Churchill Park railway station in the far western part of the town The rail service between Caerphilly and Cardiff Queen Street typically takes 13 minutes. From there services continue to Penarth, Cardiff Central, or on occasion Bridgend (Via Rhoose Cardiff International Airport).

Road

The A469 trunk road runs through the town north to south and connects the north to the Heads of the Valleys Road and the South to the A48 Gabalfa Interchange. The A468 skirts the northern boundary of the town connecting the west with the A470 and the east with the M4 Motorway European route E30 at junction 28.

Bus

Caerphilly has a wide variety of bus services all stopping at Caerphilly Interchange which is integrated with rail services at Caerphilly Railway Station. Services are operated by Stagecoach, Harris Coaches and Connect2 Almost all services to Cardiff, Newport, Blackwood, Pontypridd, Ystrad Mynach and Bargoed are operated by Stagecoach. There are also many local services to Senghenydd, Bedwas, and Llanbradach. A community bus service called Connect2 is also operated by Caerphilly Council which serves Draethen, Blackwood, Nelson, Trapwell, Manmoel Bryncenydd and Glenfields Estate.

Traditional buses

Caerphilly Urban District Council (UDC) had its own fleet of buses, which began operating in 1920 although powers to operate them had been obtained by the UDC in 1917. In 1974, this fleet was amalgamated with those of Bedwas and Machen UDC and of Gelligaer UDC to create the bus fleet of Rhymney Valley District Council. The fleet persists today as a heritage operation.

Metro

The South Wales Metro is a system integrating heavy rail, light rail and bus services in South East Wales around the hub of Cardiff Central. The first phase was approved for development in October 2013. Work has begun and the Core Valley lines (including Rhymney line) are to be electrified. New trains will be introduced (British Rail Class 756), Increasing capacity, more frequent services and greener transport for the town and the local region. Caerphilly will also benefit from new greener buses which will also be integrated into the system. The Metro should be completed by late 2023 early 2024. Geograph- Photos of Caerphilly and surrounding area Caerphilly Observer Local news website

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371507518 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.

Names in other languages