Risca
Risca
| |
|---|---|
A view of the Tredegar Park gates, Risca | |
Location within Caerphilly | |
| Population | 11,693 |
| Language | English Cymraeg (Welsh) |
| OS grid reference | ST245905 |
| Principal area | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NEWPORT |
| Postcode district | NP11 |
| Dialling code | 01633 |
| Police | Gwent |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Risca (Welsh: Rhisga) is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough and within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in south-east Wales. It is split into two 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.
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 (1,188 ft; 362 m) and Twmbarlwm (1,375 ft; 419 m), which attract tourists for the hillwalking and mountain bikers to Cwmcarn Forest Drive.
Risca has a railway station on the Ebbw Valley Railway, reopened in February 2008.