Cwmbran (Welsh: Cwmbrân) is a new town in Wales within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, and within the modern county borough of Torfaen. It was established in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield. 'Cwmbran' means valley of the crow in the Welsh language. Based around the villages of Old Cwmbran, Pontnewydd, Upper Cwmbran, Croesyceiliog, Llantarnam and Llanyrafon, its population had grown to 47,254 by 2001. Historically, Neolithic and Bronze Age people used the area with the Iron Age Silures tribe also occupying the region before being subdued by the Roman legions based at nearby Usk and Caerleon. Around 1179, Hywel, Lord of Caerleon gave a gift of money and land to found the Cistercian Abbey at Llantarnam in Cwmbran. After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII the Abbey was closed and was bought by a succession of wealthy landowners. By the 18th century the Abbey had passed into the Blewitt family who were to become key figures in the early industrialization of Cwmbran. Brickmaking, lime kilns; iron ore, quarrying and coal mining were established during this period along with a canal to transport goods to the docks at Newport. In 1833 the Ordnance Survey map of Monmouthshire shows Cwmbran as a farm situated in the area now known as Upper Cwmbran, in the valley named Cwm Bran. Cwmbran now covers approximately 3,000 acres and has a population of around the 50,000 mark.