NINE MILE POINT

The origins of this famous local name dates back to 1802. The Canal Company, which already had an operational canal from Newport to Crumlin in the neighbouring Ebbw Valley, was anxious to extend into the Sirhowy Valley, in order to tap into valuable new traffic. The Monmouthshire Canal Act of 26 June 1802 empowered the canal company to build a tramroad from the River Usk at Newport, to NINE MILE POINT (NMP) – so called because it was exactly nine miles from ‘milepost zero’. (The actual location of NMP >GR 203911< is on the opposite side of the valley to what is now the village of Wattsville, about 2.5 miles down the valley from .)

In 1855, the ‘Monmouthshire Line’ from NMP to Newport, was converted into a railway, and became part of the Sirhowy to Newport passenger service, inaugurated on 19 June 1865. At NMP, the track south-east to Newport was operated by the Great Western Railway (GWR), whilst north to Tredegar, Sirhowy and Nantybwch was owned by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR). The last passenger train at NMP, on the Nantybwch to service, ran on Saturday 11 June 1960. Only freight traffic then ran for the next decade, with the line eventually closing on 2 May 1970.

A new coalmine was sunk by Burnyeat, Brown & Co at in 1902, initially called Coronation Colliery, but the name of NMP soon became established for the pit, with NMP junction to the mainline crossing the River Sirhowy being in close proximity. The villages of Cwmfelinfach and Ynysddu, even today predominantly made up of terraced streets, were built to house the pit workers and their families, which in turn gave rise to association football in this area. The history of NMP colliery is a fascinating one. Two original shafts were sunk by 1905 – the West Pit at a depth of 392 yards, and the East Pit at 383 yards. 7 men lost their lives on 13 August 1904, in a rockfall during the sinking of the shafts. In 1908, the third and final shaft was sunk at a depth of just 203 yards – the ‘Black Vein’. At its peak in 1913, NMP colliery employed 2,105 men. During 1935, there was a “stay down strike” involving 164 miners. They were protesting over the use of ‘scab’ miners (i.e. non-Federation), and the strike lasted for 177 hours. Their actions prompted support from up to 30,000 other workers in the coalfield, before the employers backed down, and only used union-federated coal workers. Maximum output was achieved in 1957, with 301,126 tons of coal produced. NMP colliery closed in July 1964.

The colliery workers all contributed to a welfare and social fund, monies being deducted fro their weekly pay. This fund initially paid for the building of the NMP Institute in New Road, Cwmfelinfach in 1913. After decades of use as a cinema, dance-hall, swimming pool, library, gymnasium and various function rooms, the grand old building succumbed to a devastating fire in the late 1990s, and the remaining shell was demolished. In 1927, work started on the Welfare Grounds at Ynysddu, with provision for a Pavilion, Bowling Green, Tennis Courts, Cricket Field and a dual-use Soccer/Rugby Field. The very first game played on the field here involved Ynysddu Crusaders FC in 1929.

The NMP name also lives on in another three guises. Firstly, NMP road is on B4512 running through the village of Wattsville. Secondly, NMP Industrial Estate, housing a large number of various size industrial units, situated between Cwmfelinfach and Brynawel, is on the site of the old NMP colliery – a tram of coal marks the entrance. And finally, the NMP picnic area and car park, on the actual site of the old railway station, is now part of the Sirhowy Valley Country Park (initiated in 1987) and Sustrans National Cycle Route No 47.