Risca

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Risca
Welsh: Rhisga

Population	11,455^[1]^[2]
OS grid reference	ST245905
Principal area	Caerphilly
Ceremonial county	Gwent
Constituent country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWPORT
Postcode district	NP11
Dialling code	01633
Police	Gwent
Fire	South Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
European Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Islwyn
List of places: UK • Wales • Caerphilly

Alternate meanings: see Risca (disambiguation).

Risca [1] (Welsh: Rhisga) is a town of approximately 11,500 people in south-east Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is today part of the Newport conurbation (which as a whole has a population of 160,000).

The town lies at the south-eastern edge of the South Wales Coalfield, and a coal mine used to operate in the town with terraced housing [2] nearby for workers. It is home to Ty-Sign [3], which is a large housing estate [4] which has a leisure centre, shops and skate park. It has a rural aspect, and is surrounded to the east and west by several extensively wooded hills [5] including Mynydd Machen [6] (1,188ft/362m) and Twmbarlwm [7] (1,375ft/419m) which attract tourists for the hillwalking and mountain bikers to Cwmcarn Forest Drive.

Twmbarlwm has the remains of an Iron Age hill fort near its summit,^[3] and this is believed to have been built by the Silures, the Celtic tribe that inhabited the area before and during Roman times.

1 Notable landmarks and buildings
2 Culture
3 Sport and lesiure
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Notable landmarks and buildings

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

The local Church in Wales church is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin [8].

The Monmouthshire canal passes through the town [9].

The park 'Tredegar Grounds' was donated to the people of Risca in 1897 by Lord Tredegar to commemorate 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.

[edit] Culture

Risca has an award-winning male voice choir (male voice choirs are traditional in the South Wales Valleys).

[edit] Sport and lesiure

Risca RFC [10] (The Cuckoos) play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division 4 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 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.