CWMBRAN Development Corporation’s last remaining road sign, formerly on The Highway and welcoming everyone to Croesyceiliog, alongside many other twentieth century stories and artefacts from our Valley, has recently had to be moved within Torfaen Museum due to the ongoing upgrading of the museum’s lighting and heating systems.

It is now 70 years since Cwmbran New Town was being planned. This photograph is of an architects design concept for Cwmbran Town Centre in 1949.

In an open letter to the people of the Valley, the first Chairman of the newly established Cwmbran Development Corporation, T H Huxley Turner wrote in March 1951: “[Cwmbran] is the first new town to be established in Wales and it is the aim of the Corporation to set a standard of what an Industrial Town should be

"The new Cwmbran will be a self-contained town with a character of its own, and, to achieve this, all the amenities of modern life, including social, commercial, recreational and cultural facilities have to be provided.”

The Development Corporation took as their logo the image of the Crow stood over a river and surrounded by green fields (‘the verdant Valley of the Crow’ as Cwmbran was described by Dr John in 2007 in his history of Cwmbran).

The Development Corporation was wound up in 1988 after having been deemed by the Welsh Office to have met its objectives and assets were sold off or transferred to the Borough or Community councils.

Nostalgia is provided by Torfaen Museum.