Llanvapley
Llanvapley (Welsh: Llanfable) is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. Llan has replaced the (earlier) Eglwys (1254).
Location
Llanvapley is located at grid reference SO364141. It is on the B4233 road, four miles from Abergavenny and ten miles from Monmouth. The English name for the village is Llanvapley with the Welsh being Llanfable. In very recent times, the village has been referenced as Llanfapley but without substance or any factual reasons. It is thought that a past Welsh learner could have unwittingly believed this to be correct as there is no 'v' in the Welsh alphabet but the Welsh name is Llanfable. Both Llanvapley and Llanfable are referenced on ancient maps, records, official documentation and property deeds but Llanfapley can be seen on a minority amount of signage and advertisements.
Amenities
Llanvapley has a cricket team, comprising a number of players from the village. The cricket pavilion come village hall is run by the Llanvapley Sports & Social Association who manage the day-to-day running of the building for the benefit of the community and the cricket club .
St Mabli's church is mostly of 15th Century origin, and services are held on the second and fourth Sunday of each month. The Rev. Heidi Prince was appointed as Priest-in-Charge in 2015, returning to the parish after having been Rector of Llanvapley between 1997 and 2006.
The Red Hart Inn is in the centre of the village opposite the church and had for decades been the life and soul of the village, but it is not open for business at the moment. The current owners closed the pub in 2002 and applied for change of use to a private house . This was turned down by Monmouthshire County Council. The owners appealed to the Welsh Assembly and the appeal was turned down in 2004. The pub was boarded up for a short period after this. Prospects of the pub reopening have not changed since 2004 but the current economic conditions have improved as shown by the success of other local pubs such as the Hogs Head and Warwicks. The owners of the pub applied for a certificate of legal development in 2011 but were once again unsuccessful. The Owners of the Red Hart have subsequently and more recently submitted an application to build 3 houses on ground to the rear of the pub and this further planning application is pending.
The closure of the Red Hart occurred around the time of the closure of three other local pubs, The Hostry Inn, in Llantilio Crossenny, The Halfway House, in Talycoed, and The King's Arms, in Llanvetherine. The Halfway House reopened in summer 2007 and is now known as Warwicks. Being a rural community the pubs in this area are the heart and soul of the villages, providing villagers with socialisation, inclusion and improving relations and quality of life. The villagers feel strongly regarding the closure of the pub and would like the Red Hart re-opened for the benefit of the people of Llanvapley and surrounding areas as well as visitors to the area. Those with a very long memory will remember The White Swan, a pub once situated 1 mile outside the village towards Abergavenny, which for many years now has been a private dwelling. Llanvapley is situated on the old main road from Abergavenny to Monmouth, hence the once abundance of pubs along this route to quench the thirst of herders and farmers going to market.
Llanvapley still has a post box and a telephone box. The Museum of Rural Life started by a local farmer, used to be in Llanvapley until the 1980s when it moved to Usk. It was housed in the village hall which meant the village lost the use of this communal facility where once there were Christmas parties and birthday parties for the children of the village. The building which was the village hall was originally temporarily located near Llanthony to house workers who built the Grwyne Fawr dam Black Mountains, Wales. Llanvapley Court is the biggest property in the village and was in the past a country hotel and previously housed the Land Army during WWII.
In 2013 there was an application by Camborne Energy Investments (8) to build a 67-acre solar park on land in Llanvapley which would result in a loss of 67 acres of outstandingly beautiful farm land. The planning application for this solar park was rejected by the council on 3 September 2013. Camborne Energy did not consult the local community about their plans before the application was submitted in early January. The first that anyone in the village knew about the application was when planning notices appeared on the site on 28 January. Camborne appealed to the planning inspectorate and in October 2014 were granted planning permission to the dismay of local people. As of January 2016 nothing has been constructed on the site and the Camborne Energy (3C Energy) has gone into administration. The project is now in the hands of Conergy who have not decided what to do.
External links
- Monumental Inscriptions for Llanvapley
- Catholic Recusants 1719
- - wildlife of Llanvapley.
- - Monmouth Diocesan news
Coordinates: 51°49′19″N 2°55′27″W / 51.82189°N 2.92416°W