Having completed the set on castles I thought we might move to rivers. Gwent has four principal rivers and I might mention one or two others.
Afon Rhymni is unsurprisingly in Cwm Rhymni (the Rhymney Valley) and is traditionally the western border of Gwent or rather Monmouthshire. It flows south through Rhymney, New Tredegar, Bargoed, Ystrad Mynach, then goes north of Caerphilly round Caerphilly Mountain and on through Bedwas, Trethomas, Machen, Draethen, Llanrhymney and Rumney (parts of Cardiff). It eventually flows into the Severn Estuary.
Being part of the South Wales coalfield and iron producing area, the river had poor water quality through most of the 20th Century but the water is now a lot cleaner and is apparently full of fish and insect life and supports plenty of other wildlife.
2 comments:
I think you mean Monmouthshire. The Rhymney river is the western border of Monmouthshire. The western border of the defunct Gwent area that existed between 1974-1996 was an arbitrary line on the east bank of the river, not the river itself.
Thanks for making that clear. Doesn't Gwent also have an ancient meaning?
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