Castle Park, Caerphilly

Caerphilly (, ; Welsh: Caerffili, Welsh pronunciation: [ˌkairˈfɪlɪ]) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is 7 mi (11 km) north of Cardiff and 12 mi (19 km) northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies within the historic borders of Glamorgan, on the border with Monmouthshire. At the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,402 while the wider Caerphilly local authority area had a population of 178,806.

Caerphilly (Welsh: Caerffili) is a constituency of the Senedd. It elects one Member of the Senedd by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the South Wales East electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to eight constituency members, to produce a degree of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Caerphilly (Welsh: Caerffili) is a constituency centred on the town of Caerphilly in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2001 by Wayne David of the Labour Party.Since its creation, the constituency has always elected Labour MPs, although the predecessor constituency of East Glamorganshire, and prior to that Glamorganshire had elected Liberal MPs throughout the Victorian era.

Van (Welsh: Y Fan) is a suburb and community in Caerphilly county borough in Wales, situated in the east of the town of Caerphilly. It contains the vast housing estate of Lansbury Park and the estates of Porset Park, Castle Park, Mornington Meadows and Badgers Wood. Van mainly consists of residential properties, one industrial estate and only one public house - The Fisherman's Rest. Nearly all of the property in Van is of post war construction. The area is served by one large primary school - St James. The same name is given to the electoral ward of Caerphilly County Borough council that also covers Van. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 Van had a population of 5,050., decreasing to 4,923 in 2011 census.For political administration Van is served by a Community Council that meets monthly.

Virginia Park is a rugby ground, cricket ground and former greyhound racing stadium in Caerphilly, South Wales. It is currently the home ground for Caerphilly RFC.

Caerphilly railway station (Welsh: Gorsaf reilffordd Caerffili) is a railway station serving the town of Caerphilly, south Wales. It is a stop on the Rhymney Line of the Valley Lines network. The station is located at Station Road in the south of the town. Facilities include a small shop and a ticket kiosk. A self-service ticket machine was installed near the entrance to the station on 22 December 2008. Several advertising murals depicting holiday travel in various parts of South Wales have been placed on the northbound side of the station in order to improve the 'look' of the station.

Caerphilly Castle (Welsh: Castell Caerffili) is a medieval fortification in Caerphilly in South Wales. The castle was constructed by Gilbert de Clare in the 13th century as part of his campaign to maintain control of Glamorgan, and saw extensive fighting between Gilbert, his descendants, and the native Welsh rulers. Surrounded by extensive artificial lakes – considered by historian Allen Brown to be "the most elaborate water defences in all Britain" – it occupies around 30 acres (12 ha) and is the largest castle in Wales and the second-largest castle in the United Kingdom after Windsor Castle. It is famous for having introduced concentric castle defences to Britain and for its large gatehouses. Gilbert began work on the castle in 1268 following his occupation of the north of Glamorgan, with the majority of the construction occurring over the next three years at a considerable cost. The project was opposed by Gilbert's Welsh rival Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, leading to the site being burnt in 1270 and taken over by royal officials in 1271. Despite these interruptions, Gilbert successfully completed the castle and took control of the region. The core of Caerphilly Castle, including the castle's luxurious accommodation, was built on what became a central island, surrounding by several artificial lakes, a design Gilbert probably derived from that at Kenilworth. The dams for these lakes were further fortified, and an island to the west provided additional protection. The concentric rings of walls inspired Edward I's castles in North Wales, and proved what historian Norman Pounds has termed "a turning point in the history of the castle in Britain".The castle was attacked during the Madog ap Llywelyn revolt of 1294, the Llywelyn Bren uprising in 1316 and during the overthrow of Edward II in 1326–27. In the late 15th century, however, it fell into decline and by the 16th century the lakes had drained away and the walls were robbed of their stone. The Marquesses of Bute acquired the property in 1776 and under the third and fourth Marquesses extensive restoration took place. In 1950 the castle and grounds were given to the state and the water defences were re-flooded. In the 21st century, the Welsh heritage agency Cadw manages the site as a tourist attraction.

Caerphilly railway works in Caerphilly (Welsh: Caerffili) in the county of Glamorgan was the only main railway works in Wales. It was built for the Rhymney Railway in 1899 and taken over by the Great Western Railway at amalgamation in 1923. Much of its initial work was in refurbishing older locomotives with new boilers and covered cabs. In 1906, C.H. Riches who had been at Gorton locomotive works became Locomotive Superintendent and appointed J.H. Sellars as Works Foreman. Their policy was to modernise and standardise the locomotive stock, and Riches designed a standard boiler and cylinders for all the railway's tank engines. He also designed a new class of 0-6-2 tank engine to be built by Robert Stephenson and Company who had provided six of their own design in 1903. In 1919 Sellars became the Works Manager. Until 1922 the works only repaired its own locomotives, but they began to be sent from the Barry Railway and in 1924 the first Swindon-built locomotive arrived. The works was enlarged with a new erecting shop in 1926. The works also maintained a variety of wagons and passenger vehicles, building new mineral wagons and a few carriages, with a new workshop in 1901. However a new wagon works was built at Cardiff and, with work finishing its main work of converting Westinghouse air brakes to GWR vacuum brakes, the carriage and wagon works was phased out. However, in 1939 new workshops were built for carriage repairs only. Until 1952 only tank engines had been repaired, but the efficiency of the works was such that they were asked to handle the smaller two-cylinder tender engines. They were so successful that larger engines were sent, the first being the 4-6-0 Number 5955 Garth Hall. Around 1958 Swindon was committed to diesel locomotives and Caerphilly was sent Castle class and BR Standard locomotives. With the withdrawal of steam on British Railways, the works closed in 1963 and the site converted into an industrial estate.

St Martin's Comprehensive School is a comprehensive school in the County borough of Caerphilly in Mid Glamorgan, Wales. It is located in Caerphilly town. The school website states the aim of school is that "each individual student leaves us, having succeeded to the best of their ability."

Mornington Meadows (Welsh: Dolydd Trefore) is a residential area in the town of Caerphilly, south Wales. The name comes from the pastoral land and hay meadows which once covered this area. It borders Porset Park to the south, with pastoral land to the north-east. It is within the community council of Van, Caerphilly and the electoral ward of St. James. The estate was constructed in the 1970s. All residential roads within the estate are linked into a circular internal ring road - Pen Y Cae. The estate only has one exit road for vehicles, but has a considerable number of pedestrian paths in to and out of the estate. Despite Mornington Meadows having an English name all of the roads in the estate have Welsh names.

Cadw ([ˈkadu], a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. Cadwcode: cym promoted to code: cy works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage sites of Wales, to make them available for the public to visit, enjoy, and understand their significance. Cadwcode: cym promoted to code: cy manages 127 state-owned properties and sites. It arranges events at its managed properties, provides lectures and teaching sessions, offers heritage walks, and hosts an online shop. Members of the public can become members of Cadwcode: cym promoted to code: cy to gain membership privileges.

Wern Ddu Claypits is a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Van in Caerphilly County Borough, South Wales. The woodland is known locally as Coed y Werin, which surrounds a 19th-century clay pit, dug to supply clay to the Caerphilly Brick Company. It is designated because of the important coal measure rocks exposed there.