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Torfaen District (Welsh: Tor-faen) was originally formed in 1974 as a district municipality of the county of Gwent and in 1996 it was reconstituted as a principal area and unitary authority.
Torfaen (meaning "break-stone") is an old name for the river – today called Afon Lwyd ("grey river") – which flows through the district from its source north of Blaenavon southward through Abersychan, Pontypool, and Cwmbran.
Torfaen, Gwent, was bordered by the district municipality of Monmouth to the east, Newport to the south, Islwyn to the southwest, and Blaenau Gwent to the northwest.
The area has a population of around 91,000. Much of the southern part of the municipality around the Cwmbran new town conurbation is now urbanised. The north of the county borough is greener and retains extensive areas of countryside, especially on the route to Blaenavon. However, the area became sufficiently densely populated before 1900 for most of its area to be considered urban districts from 1894 and the remainder from 1912.
The administrative centre is Pontypool in the centre of the county borough.
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