Administrative Boundary of Torfaen

About Torfaen

Torfaen (Tor-faen) is a principal area in south-east Wales, situated between Newport and the Brecon Beacons along the valley of the Afon Lwyd. Covering approximately 126 square kilometres, Torfaen had a population of approximately 93,000 at the 2022 Census, encompassing the towns of Pontypool, Cwmbran, and Blaenavon. The Blaenavon Industrial Landscape Blaenavon, at the head of the valley, preserves one of the most complete surviving industrial landscapes from the era of the Industrial Revolution, inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2000 in recognition of its role in the global iron and coal trade of the 18th and 19th centuries. Blaenavon Ironworks, founded in 1789, is one of the best-preserved examples of an 18th-century ironworks anywhere in the world, its surviving blast furnaces and workers' cottages offering a rare, intact picture of early industrial life. Big Pit National Coal Museum, a former working colliery that closed in 1980 and reopened as a museum, allows visitors to descend 90 metres underground on tours led by former miners, one of the most vivid coal-mining heritage experiences in Britain. Pontypool and Cwmbran Pontypool, an important centre of ironworking from the 17th century onwards and later famous for its distinctive black-lacquered "Pontypool japanware," retains Pontypool Park, home to a folly known as the Shell Grotto and one of the valleys' finest green spaces. Cwmbran, designated a new town in 1949 as part of the post-war programme to house overspill population, has grown into Torfaen's largest settlement and principal shopping centre. GIS and Boundary Data The administrative boundary of Torfaen Council is available for free download in GeoJSON and KML formats, sourced from the OS Open Geography portal (Crown copyright 2024). Compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS, Mapbox, and Google Earth, the dataset supports industrial heritage mapping, UNESCO site conservation research, new town planning study, and demographic analysis across the Torfaen council area.

📍 Administrative boundary of Torfaen county