THIS week we have chosen photographs from the digital archives of Pontypool Museum looking back at housing stock in the south of the borough.

Prior to Cwmbran becoming a ‘new town’ in 1949, the area which now falls into the limits of the town was spread across a number of villages.

The largest of these – Croesyceiliog, Llantarnam, Llanyrafon, Pontnewydd, Old Cwmbran and Upper Cwmbran – remain a key area in terms of housing across the Torfaen town.

One of the photos shows a house in the Ty Coch area of Cwmbran, with the Blaen Bran mountain in the background.

Before the industrialisation of the area, farming was a common industry, although part of the reason behind the creation of the Cwmbran town area was to house workers from the heavy industries.

The second photo shows a street in Llantarnam.

In this area of the town, rows of houses are visible – which is largely different to the isolated property despite being only a short distance away.

These images were donated by the Pontypool Museum as part of its digital archive, which aims to preserve historic documents, images and records from the area.

To find out more about the digital archive, contact the museum at pontypoolmuseum@hotmail.co.uk or call 01495 752036.

The Free Press thanks Pontypool Museum for allowing us to print the images.