Back

 Previous

Next

Do you have any photographs of this location we can use on the site?
Please email them along with a description to photos@welshicons.org.
They will remain your copyright and you will be credited as the photographer.

Blackwood (Welsh: Coed Duon) is a small town in South Wales on the River Sirhowy. It is a regional shopping centre and market town. Much of its popularity as a retail centre is because it has an unusually wide main street due to the tramway that formerly ran through the centre of the town.

Blackwood was founded by John Hodder Moggridge who resided at Woodfield Park Estate and owned a number of collieries in the area in the early 19th century. The first streets of Blackwood were built by Moggridge to house his workers to whom he leased the buildings and land for growing food. They represented a breakthrough in early working class housing and were hailed as a successful social experiment. The houses were considered of a high standard for the time.

This was not enough however and as the industrial revolution took hold, workers' conditions became a prominent subject. Blackwood was central to the Chartist movement. The South Wales leaders, John Frost, Zephaniah Williams (a Blackwood man) and William Williams met regularly at the Coach and Horses in Blackwood planning their march on Newport in 1839. Indeed when the insurrection erupted on a cold November night, a large contingent gathered at Blackwood and upon meeting their comrades who had arrived from the upper Sirhowy Valley, armed themselves and marched on Newport to take the town and demand the adoption of the People's Charter. The Insurrection failed with the leaders being sentenced to death, later commuted to deportation to Tasmania. The final chapter though must go to the Chartists as many of their demands now form the basis of the current electoral system in the UK.

History touched the valley once more in 1912 when the Titanic's distress signals were picked up by amateur wireless enthusiast Arthur (Artie) Moore who resided at the Old Mill, Gelligroes, just outside the town. Artie Moore went on to work as a senior Scientist for Marconi and was involved with the invention of the transistor in telecommunications.

Finally, the former Penllwyn House on the outskirts of the town, now a pub was originally part of the Tredegar Estates and is believed to be the original home of the family of Henry Morgan, Privateer and Governor of Jamaica.

People from Blackwood include the rock bands Manic Street Preachers, 80s rock singer Steve Strange; David Alexander (singer) and Dame Margaret Price (international Opera singer); Alun Pask (rugby player); Alun Lewis (rugby player).

The town is home to the Maes Manor Hotel, a large and grand edifice housed in an old manor-house known as Maesrudded. The house was formerly home to the Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire.

Blackwood have rugby union and rugby league sides, both of whom play at Glan-yr-afon Park. Their rugby league club is called the Blackwood Bulldogs and plays in the Welsh Conference Premier.