St Illtyd
hamlet / village in Blaenau Gwent, Wales
St Illtyd is a hamlet near Aberbeeg, in southeast Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is situated on the mountain road between Pontypool and Abertillery in Blaenau Gwent. It rests at about 1200 feet above sea level. The Royal Mail postcode is NP13 2AY.
It is located 1.26 miles (2.03 km) south of Abertillery and 10.56 miles (16.99 km) north of Newport. The B4471 runs near to the village. The population of the wider community including nearby Aberbeeg and Llanhilleth is 4,797.
Geography
In and around the hamlet there can be found cottages, farms, former farms, a public house, a former public house, a huge former open cast site, former levels, a canyon left by an opencast or strip mining and a television transmitter.
A nearby proposal for a sandstone mine has been reported by newspapers locally after a number of unsuccessful planning applications since 2006. The landowner made further attempts in 2011.
History
It is most notable for St Illtyd's Church, a 13th-century building generally believed to have been built by Cistercian monks from Llantarnam on the site of a previous church which historians have tended to date as dating from 863 AD or thereabouts.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “St Illtyd” as hamlet / village in Blaenau Gwent, Wales. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as hamlet / village in Blaenau Gwent, Wales. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7593395. Authority coordinates are 51.711, -3.133. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1200, 2006 and 2011.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “St Illtyd”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow St Illtyd primary sources, St Illtyd archive and Illtyd research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “St Illtyd”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “St Illtyd” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.