Editing Risca (section)

==History==
There is evidence of human habitation in the Risca area going back thousands of years, such as the [[Silures]] hillfort on nearby [[Twmbarlwm]]; however, the area was rural and sparsely populated until the nineteenth century. As local industries expanded and transport links improved with the building of the canal and railways, the population rapidly increased.

Several arguments have been put forward for the derivation of the name ''Risca/Rhisga'' including that it comes from the Welsh ''yr is cae'', meaning "the lower field", or ''yr hesg cae'', meaning "field or rushes", or ''rhisgl'', meaning oak bark.<ref name="osborne">{{cite journal|last1=Osborne|first1= Dr. G.O.|title=Notes on the Origin of the Place Name 'Risca'|journal=Gwent Local History|date=Autumn 1989|issue=67|pages=3–10|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1337678/1338965/4|publisher=Gwent Local History Council|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref>

The earliest known official use of the name ''Risca'' for the place was in 1476 when two men from Risca were charged at the Newport [[Assizes]], although there are also ecclesiastical documents going as far back as 1146 which include mentions of a man called ''Kadmore de Risca''.<ref name="osborne" />

From 1540, Risca is found regularly in land transactions involving the Tredegar estates and in 1747 [[John Wesley]] recorded a visit in his diary.<ref name="osborne" />

Rapid population increase started around 1820 with the opening of the mines.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Population
|-
|1851
|2,044<ref name="Office1862">{{cite book|author=Great Britain. Census Office|title=Census of England and Wales for the Year 1861|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm0_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1|year=1862|pages=1–}}</ref>
|-
|1861
|2,744<ref name="Office1862" />
|-
|1871
|3,400<ref>{{cite journal|title=RISCA|journal=Monmouthshire Merlin|date=14 April 1871|publisher=Charles Hough|hdl = 10107/3441773}}</ref>
|-
|1891
|7,783<ref>{{cite book|title=Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire|date=1901|publisher=Kelly's Directories}}</ref>
|-
|1906
|11,200<ref>{{cite journal|title=RISCA HOUSING QUESTION|journal=Evening Express|date=8 June 1906|publisher=Walter Alfred Pearce|hdl = 10107/4164123}}</ref>
|-
|1911
|14,149<ref>{{cite book|title=Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire and South Wales|date=1920|publisher=Kelly's Directory|page=204|url=https://archive.org/stream/kellysdirectoryo141920lond#page/n225/mode/2up|access-date=14 April 2016}}</ref>
|-
|1921
|16,745<ref>{{cite web|title=1921 Census of England and Wales|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/datavalue/492072|website=Visions of Britain|access-date=14 April 2016}}</ref>
|-
|1931
|16,605<ref>{{cite web|title=1931 Census of England and Wales|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/datavalue/492072|website=Visions of Britain|access-date=14 April 2016}}</ref>
|-
|1951
|15,130<ref>{{cite web|title=1951 Census of England and Wales|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/datavalue/214886|website=Visions of Britain|access-date=14 April 2016}}</ref>
|-
|1961
|13,955<ref>{{cite web|title=1961 Census of England and Wales|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/datavalue/39969|website=Visions of Britain|access-date=14 April 2016}}</ref>
|-
|1971
|15,835<ref>{{cite web|title=1971 Census: Aggregate data (Great Britain) w561445 RISCA U.D.|url=http://casweb.ukdataservice.ac.uk/|website=Registrar General for England and Wales, UK Data Service Census Support.|access-date=14 April 2016}}</ref>
|-
|1991
|11,543<ref>[https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/construct/components/cellComponent.asp?menuopt=10&subcomp= - Risca West 4,850 & Risca East 6,693]</ref>
|-
|2001
|11,455<ref>[https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Statistics-and-data/Risca_West.aspx - Risca West Ward 2001 Census (population 5071)]</ref><ref>[https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Statistics-and-data/Risca_East.aspx - Risca East Ward 2001 Census (population 6384)]</ref>
|-
|2011
|11,693<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Statistics-and-data-2011/Risca_West.aspx - Risca West Ward 2011 Census (population 5229)]</ref><ref name="caerphilly.gov.uk">[https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Statistics-and-data-2011/Risca_East.aspx - Risca East Ward 2011 Census (population 6464)]</ref>

|}

Note: Until the 1990s, these figures include the population of the nearby villages of [[Crosskeys]] and [[Pontymister]] but since the reorganisation of wards only include the population of Risca East and Risca West wards.

===Industrial heritage===
From the early nineteenth century, the area around Risca was dominated by coal mining and transport systems to access the mines,<ref name="oxfordhouse" /> although there is also evidence that lead and coal were being extracted much earlier.<ref name="alanjones">{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Alan Victor|title=Risca - its industrial and social development|date=1980|publisher=New Horizon|location=Bognor Regis|isbn=0861164725}}</ref> [[File:Risca Sunset (8325846913).jpg|thumb|View over Risca]]

The first large-scale mine was the Black Vein Colliery, which was located near to the boundary between Risca and what is now Cross Keys and closed in 1921.<ref name="blackvein">{{cite web|title=Black Vein Colliery|url=http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/Gwent/BlackVein.htm|website=Welsh Coal Mines|access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref> The New Risca Colliery, which was between what is now Wattsville and Cross Keys, operated until 1967.<ref name="newrisca">{{cite web|title=Risca New Pit|url=http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/Gwent/RiscaPit.htm|website=Welsh coal mines|access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref>

The Black Vein coal seam was very explosive and the mines working it experienced [[Risca colliery disasters|a series of serious mine accidents]]. In 1846, 35 miners were killed in an explosion at the Black Vein Colliery, and in 1860 more than 140 miners were killed at the same mine.<ref name="blackvein" /> In 1860, an explosion at the New Risca colliery, which was working the same seam of coal, killed 120 men.<ref name="newrisca" />

Brickworks, quarries and copper, tin and iron works also developed in and around Risca through the nineteenth century.<ref name="alanjones" />

Risca was served by the [[Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company]] lines to the north from Tredegar (via the [[Sirhowy Railway]]) and Ebbw Vale towards Newport to the south, including passenger facilities at the original [[Risca railway station]].

===Twentieth century===
The dominance of coal in the local economy meant that mine closures in the 1930s and 1940s caused severe unemployment in Risca.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Boucher|first1=Dan|title=The Big Society in a small country - Wales, social capital, mutualism and self-help|date=24 June 2013|publisher=Institute of Welsh Affairs|isbn=978-1-904773-66-5|pages=13–14|url=http://www.iwa.wales/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bigsocietyinasmallcountry-10-copy.pdf}}</ref> Some charitable relief was sent by the Mayor of Oxford's Mining Distress Committee. In 1931, this included - with the help of a grant from the Educational Settlements Association - the founding of the Educational Settlement at Oxford House, Risca. The first wardens of the settlement were a couple, Mr and Mrs Wills. David Wills was a UK pioneer of [[psychiatric social work]], a holder of a William Straight Fellowship at the [[Columbia University School of Social Work|New York School of Social Work]] at [[Columbia University]]. Oxford House, Risca was founded at Hillside, moving in 1937 to The Grove.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb218-d2357|title=Oxford House Educational Settlement, Risca, Records - Archives Hub|website=archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk|access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref> Oxford House is now an adult education centre operated by Caerphilly Borough Council.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/Services/Schools-and-learning/Adult-learning/Courses|title=Caerphilly - Adult education courses|website=www.caerphilly.gov.uk|access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref>

By the end of the 1970s, most of the local coalmines had closed and the majority of the population were working in other industries.

The town is now part of the Cardiff Capital Region which has a combined population of 1,543,293.