Little Mill, Monmouthshire
Little Mill (Welsh: Y Felin Fach) is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. The village has grown in size in recent years and has as a result a population of over 1,000.
History and amenities
The village derives its name from a watermill that was situated in the village. It comprises mainly ribbon development along the A472 trunk road. Even today Little Mill is small and mostly contains Victorian cottages and villas and compact housing developments dating between the 1950s to the present. Half a mile north of the village is Ty Draw, a small residential community that was previously the local reformatory school for boys from 1859 until the First World War.
The village has minimal facilities, comprising a pub, an evangelical church and a village hall with which several community groups are affiliated. These act as the primary meeting points for locals. The Newport to Hereford railway line runs along its western boundary and until the 1950s had its own station, Little Mill Junction, at the point where the Monmouth branch line joined the main line. Today the nearest stations are Pontypool and New Inn and Cwmbran. The village is in the catchment area for several schools including Usk primary and Goytre Fawr primary schools as well as several comprehensive schools including Caerleon Comprehensive School and King Henry VIII Comprehensive School. Little Mill contains two parks including what is locally known as the "pocket park" and "the big park".
During 2013-14 a very high density housing estate was built at the village's eastern edge which involved the demolition of The Sawmill , the single most distinctive residence in Little Mill, and use of surrounding open areas.
Since its re-opening in 2012, the Halfway House pub has also been a primary meeting point for locals, with a selective choice of beer and ales, large boules courts and a beer garden. Local residents can also converse with lifetime resident, Chris James, at the pub on weeknights, engaging in in-depth discussions about chainsaws, agricultural mechanisms and touch cloth.