Editing Risca

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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
| static_image_name = An entrance to Tredegar Grounds, Risca (geograph 2704880).jpg
| static_image_caption = A view of the Tredegar Park gates, Risca
| country = Wales
| welsh_name = Rhisga
| official_name = Risca
| unitary_wales = [[Caerphilly (county borough)|Caerphilly]]
| constituency_westminster = [[Newport West and Islwyn (UK Parliament constituency)|Newport West and Islwyn]]
| constituency_welsh_assembly = [[Islwyn (Senedd constituency)|Islwyn]]
| post_town = NEWPORT
| postcode_district = NP11
| postcode_area = NP
| dial_code = [[01633]]
| os_grid_reference = ST245905
| population = 11,693
| population_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><ref name="ReferenceA">[https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Statistics-and-data-2011/Risca_West.aspx - Risca West Ward 2011 Census (population 5229)]</ref>
| coordinates = {{coord|51.608|-3.091|display=inline,title}}
| language = [[English language|English]]
| language1 = [[Welsh language|Cymraeg]] (Welsh)
}}

'''Risca''' ({{langx|cy|Rhisga}}) is a [[town]] in the [[Caerphilly County Borough]] and within the [[Historic counties of Wales|historic boundaries]] of [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]] in south-east Wales. It is split into two [[Community (Wales)|communities]]; Risca East and Risca West. It has a population of 11,700.

The town lies at the south-eastern edge of the [[South Wales Coalfield]] and has been shaped by mining, together with other heavy industries, for many centuries.<ref name="oxfordhouse">{{cite web|last1=Jukes|first1=Tony|title=The development of Risca|url=http://www.industrialgwent.co.uk/museum/risca.htm|website=Oxford House Industrial History Society|access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref>

Risca is home to Ty-Sign, a large housing estate built in the early 1960s as a satellite village for the then new [[Llanwern steelworks]].

Risca has a [[rural]] aspect and is surrounded to the east and west by several extensively wooded hills, including [[Mynydd Machen]] ({{convert|1,188|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=semicolon}}) and [[Twmbarlwm]] ({{convert|1,375|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=semicolon}}), which attract tourists for the [[hillwalking]] and [[mountain bike]]rs to [[Cwmcarn]] Forest Drive.

Risca has a railway station on the [[Ebbw Valley Railway]], reopened in February 2008. 

==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. 

==Governance==
In the UK Parliament, Risca is part of the constituency of [[Newport West and Islwyn (UK Parliament constituency)|Newport West and Islwyn]], a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] stronghold represented since the 2024 general election by [[Ruth Jones (politician)|Ruth Jones]]. [[Don Touhig]] previously represented the constituency following a by-election in 1995, but did not stand for re-election in 2010. The seat and its predecessor was formerly represented for 25 years by the former Labour leader [[Neil Kinnock]].

In the [[Senedd]], Risca is part of the constituency of [[Islwyn (Senedd constituency)|Islwyn]], represented since 2003 by Labour's [[Irene James]]. At the first Assembly elections in 1999 Brian Hancock, Plaid Cymru, won the seat in a major upset and one of 17 seats in the National Assembly of Wales for Plaid Cymru. The constituency falls within the electoral region of [[South Wales East (National Assembly for Wales electoral region)|South Wales East]], whose four AMs are Conservatives [[Mohammad Asghar]] and [[William Graham (Welsh politician)|William Graham]], Plaid Cymru's [[Jocelyn Davies]], and Liberal Democrat [[Veronica German]].

==Notable landmarks and buildings==
Twmbarlwm has the remains of an [[Iron Age]] [[hill fort]] near its summit,<ref>''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''. John Davies, [[Nigel Jenkins]], Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg761 {{ISBN|978-0-7083-1953-6}}</ref> and this is believed to have been built by the [[Silures]], the [[Celt]]ic tribe that inhabited the area before and during [[Roman Britain|Roman]] times.

The [[Welsh Oak (pub)|Welsh Oak]], a [[pub]] on the outskirts of [[Pontymister]], was the meeting place for the [[Chartists]] before they marched on [[Newport, Wales|Newport]] during the [[Newport Rising]] of 1839.

The local [[Church in Wales]] [[Church (building)|church]] is dedicated to [[Mary (Mother of Jesus)|St. Mary]] the Virgin [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/351908]. The [[St Mary and St Mercurius Coptic Orthodox Church]] in St Mary Street is a grade II listed building <ref>[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-22519-church-of-st-mary-and-st-mercurius-risca British listed buildings]</ref> and is the first [[Coptic Orthodox Church in Wales]]. It was a former [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] church, founded in 1837, rebuilt on the same site in 1852 and was dedicated to St John. The architect is unknown. The church was designed to seat 600 people. It was later known as "Trinity Methodist Church".<ref>Jones, A. V. (1977) '' Risca, its Industrial and Social Development''</ref>

The park 'Tredegar Grounds' was donated to the people of Risca in 1897 by [[Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar]], to commemorate [[Queen Victoria|Queen Victoria’s]] [[Diamond Jubilee]] and in return the 'Jubilee' statue was erected by public subscription 'in recognition of Lord Tredegar's generosity to the neighbourhood.' A small bronze statuette of [[Samson]], a bearded figure dressed in a loincloth, stands on a circular stone plinth on a square stepped base. [[File:Looking across the park to the shops, Risca (geograph 3543029).jpg|thumb|A view through Tredegar Park towards the main street of Risca]]

[[Risca and Pontymister railway station]] is served by trains between {{stnlink|Ebbw Vale Town}} and either {{stnlink|Cardiff Central}} or {{stnlink|Newport}}. The [[Monmouthshire and Brecon canal|Monmouthshire Canal]] passes through the town.<ref>https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/351898 Picture of the station</ref>

==Education and culture==
The town currently has four schools: Risca Primary School, Ty-Sign Primary School, Ty Isaf Infants School and Risca Community Comprehensive School. [[Risca Community Comprehensive School]] is the only secondary school in Risca and was opened by [[Elizabeth II]] in 1977. It is located on the same site as the town's leisure centre and has approximately 1000 pupils.

Risca also has an award-winning [[male voice choir]].

==Sport and leisure==
[[Risca United F.C.]] play in the [[Cymru South]] and are managed by Simon Berry. The club used to play their home games at Ty-Isaf Park.

[[Risca RFC]] (The Cuckoos) play in the [[Welsh Rugby Union]] [[WRU Division one East|Division 1 East]], at Stores Field, Risca. An active mini-rugby & junior section with age groups from 6 to 16, provide a steady stream of players, some of them having progressed to the early stages of professional rugby with the [[Dragons (rugby union)|Newport Gwent Dragons]].

There are some extensive [[mountain bike]] trails on the wooded hills just to the north of the town, at [[Cwmcarn]], which are receiving increasing popularity.

==Notable people==
:''See [[:Category:People from Risca]]''
* Sprint athlete [[Jamie Baulch]] was raised in Risca before going on to compete for his country at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and various other Championships.
* [[Harold Edwards (rugby league)]] (1909–1993), Welsh rugby league footballer

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.riscachoir.net/ Risca Male Choir official website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/risca_male_choir/ BBC Wales profile of Risca Choir]
* [http://www.riscamuseum.org.uk Risca Industrial History Museum]
* [http://www.francisfrith.com/search/wales/gwent/risca/photos/risca_photos.htm 12 old photos of Risca]
* [http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/ Welsh Coal Mines website - check out Risca area's pits history]
* [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/MON/Risca/index.html Risca on Genuki website]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~familyalbum/krisca.htm Kelly's 1901 Directory of Risca and area]

{{Caerphilly}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Caerphilly County Borough]]
[[Category:Former communities of Wales]]