Torfaen

Blaenavon Ironworks

Torfaen, county borough, historic county of Monmouthshire, southeastern Wales. Torfaen is centred on the urbanized and industrialized valley of the Afon Lywd (formerly called the River Torfaen), and it encompasses the surrounding wooded hills and moorlands.

Pontypool, the county borough’s administrative centre, was an early metalworking centre, with iron smelting dating back to 1577, and immigrants from Pontypool reputedly built the first forge in the United States in 1652. Pontypool became in 1720 the first town in Britain to produce tinplate. Many workers from the town were involved in the Chartist Riots (demonstrations for parliamentary reform) in Newport, Wales, in 1839. The historic industrial landscape associated with Blaenavon Ironworks (near the town of Blaenavon in Torfaen but also including portions of the present Monmouthshire county) was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. Blaenavon is now the site of Big Pit National Coal Museum.

Cwmbrân, located south of Pontypool, began as a small industrial town, but after World War II it became a focus of governmental development as one of the 32 “new towns” established in the United Kingdom to relieve congestion and decay in the older industrial areas.

Most of Torfaen’s traditional industries have ceased to operate. New industries include the manufacture of automobile components, food processing, nylon production, and electronics. Area 49 square miles (126 square km). Pop. (2001) 90,949; (2011) 91,075.