Place:Llanover, Monmouthshire, Wales

source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Llanover from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"LLANOVER, a village and a parish in Abergavenny [registration] district, Monmouth[shire]. The village stands on the river Usk, near Penpergwm [railway] station, 3½ miles SSE of Abergavenny; is a considerable place; and gives the title of Baron to the family of Hall. The parish is cut into two divisions, lower and upper; and includes part of the chapelry of Blaenavon. Post town: Abergavenny. Acres of the lower division: 1,877. Real property: £3,061. Population: 348. Houses: 64. Acres of the upper division: 2,865. Real property: £13,420; of which £6,816 are in iron-works, and £30 in gas-works. Population in 1851: 2,600; in 1861: 3,942. Houses: 779. The increase of population arose from the extension of the Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company's works. Population in 1861 of the part in Blaenavon chapelry: 3,816. Houses: 747. The property is not much divided.

"Llanover Court is the seat of Lord Llanover. Part of the land is hilly, and is overhung by the Blorenge [mountain]. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Llandaff. Value: £300. Patrons: the Dean and Chapter of Llandaff. The church is a small uninteresting building, and was reported in 1859 as not good. The [perpetual] curacy of Blaenavon is a separate benefice. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, and Calvinistic Methodists, a free school supported by Lady Llanover, and an endowed school with £150 a year."

The quotation above describes Llanover before the alterations of 1894 which made its neighbour Blaenavon an urban district.

Wikipedia describes Llanover very briefly as "a village and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. The population taken at the 2011 census was 1,392. [It] is located four miles south of Abergavenny just off the A4042 road to Pontypool." There is not a word about Blaenavon where the iron works closed in 1904 and the adjoining colliery, (Big Pit, in 1980. There are, however, details of Lady Llanover (1802-1896), a patron of the Welsh arts.

In 1935, in a move to reduce the number of parishes within Abergavenny Rural District, Llanover was absorbed into the civil parish of Llanover Fawr.

Research Tips