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Some of the names are instantly recognisable and integral to the history of Wales.

Others are not so well-known and their names, just like their buildings and villagers, all but lost to time.

These are Wales' lost and abandoned villages and neighbourhoods.

Capel Celyn, Gwynedd

Perhaps the most famous of them all, Capel Celyn was flooded to create a fresh water reserve for Liverpool in 1965, becoming Llyn Celyn.

The forcible eviction of 48 inhabitants and subsequent flooding of their homes and village will never be forgiven by many.

The village was a rural community in the Tryweryn Valley, between Bala and Blaenau Ffestiniog, and Welsh was the dominant language.

As well as 12 homes, farms, a post office, church, cemetery, and a school were lost.

The decision incensed the nation, and ill feeling still remains. For 50 years, the iconic monument "Cofiwch Drywern" has stood as a memorial to the lost village and as a homage to a Welsh-speaking community that was not so much thrown under the bus as thrown under the water.

When that monument — an instantly recognisable painting on a wall in Ceredigion — was vandalised earlier this year, not only did people gather to repair it but more than 50 other walls were painted across Wales in the weeks that followed.

The Manic Street Preachers song Ready For Drowning was also inspired by the story.

Cwmorthin, Gwynedd

(Image: Arthur C Harris/Creative Commons) (Image: David Medcalf/Creative Commons)

Just a few miles north-west of Capel Celyn, above the village of Tanygrisiau, there was once a village called Cwmorthin. It's described on the website cwmorthin.com as having "a history of rural hardship, one of remoteness and of industrialisation".

It was once home to working class families who gathered there during the boom in the 19 century slate industry, joining a farming community that had lived there reputedly since the 11th century.

All that remains in this remote and stunningly beautiful pocket of what is now the Snowdonia National Park are the crumbling walls of old quarry buildings and a farmhouse, Cwmorthin Uchaf, which reportedly belonged to a man called Sion Jones, who said before his death aged 100 in the 1860s that his family had occupied the farm for 800 years.

Llanwddyn, Powys

(Image: Creative Commons)

Capel Celyn may be the most famous instance of a Welsh community dismantled for English gain, but it was not the first.

Llanwddyn was a small village at the head of Vyrnwy Valley and it too was submerged to create a reservoir for Liverpool.

Three inns, two chapels, 10 farmhouses and a large estate were lost after a dam was built and the area flooded in 1888.

Its population was moved about two miles away.

The reservoir, renamed Lake Vyrnwy, is today a popular nature reserve with tourists.

During drought conditions, the remains and foundations of the old village can still be seen.

Kenfig, Bridgend

(Image: Stephen Fisk/Abandoned Communities)

Kenfig was once a thriving community, founded around 1140 by the Earl of Gloucester, and would've been one of the fifth or sixth largest towns in Glamorgan.

Its residents included burgesses and their families. The town started as a small community within the outer defences of Kenfig Castle, but then developed outside the castle towards the direction of the sea.

The community began fall victim to sand, carried by strong winds from the nearby coast, which engulfed its buildings and ruined its fields.

By the 15th century all of its inhabitants had moved out. Today, sand dunes cover the remains of the Bronze Age settlement, which was also the subject of an archaeological dig by televisions Time Team in 2012.

Porth Y Nant, Gwynedd

(Image: Abandoned Communities) (Image: Ashley Martin/Abandoned Communities)

The former quarrying village located on the northern coast of the Llyn Peninsula was abandoned during World War Two after its quarrying operations, involving granite, ceased.

Its community was forced to leave and search for work elsewhere, leaving its homes and buildings to fall into disrepair.

There was no mains gas, electricity, or water, and only two phones.

Hippies moved in to the abandoned houses in the 60s and 70s. By the 80s, the village had been bought and restored, turning into Nant Gwrtheyrn, a heritage centre.

Newtown, Cardiff

(Image: Mirrorpix)

(Image: Mirrorpix)

Newtown was also known as Little Ireland, one of the lost districts of Cardiff. Its history has been erased from modern maps, but lives on through the stories of its residents, who still live in the city.

In the years following the Irish potato famine of 1845 hundreds of Irish families began to arrive in Cardiff, mostly ending up in Newtown, which had been purposely expanded by the Marquess of Bute to house construction workers for Cardiff's new docks.

Newtown came to consist of six streets – Ellen Street, North Williams Street, Pendoylan Street and Pendoylan Place, Roland Street, Rosemary Street – immediately south of the railway and north of Tyndall Street.

(Image: Richard Williams)

By the 1930s, Newtown had already deteriorated to slum conditions and in 1970, the houses were demolished. The Vulcan pub was one of the last original remnants before it was was demolished in 2012. Now all that remains is an old stone wall which borders the railway line running into Cardiff Central train station.

You can read the full story of Newtown here.

Bwlch y Gwynt and Machynys, Llanelli

(Image: Abandoned Communities) (Image: Sandra Jenkins/Abandoned Communities) (Image: Abandoned Communities)

Bwlch y Gwynt and Machynys were two distinct communities south of Llanelli, known for their production of tin and steel.

The hamlets were once made up of more than 100 homes and had their own school as well as the surrounding industries.

After the tinplate mines shut in the 60s and 70s, families of around 100 homes moved out of their communities and in to council houses in Llanelli.

The terraced houses and factories were pulled down and in 2005 the land was turned into an 18-hole golf course.

Dylife, Powys

(Image: Abandoned Communities)

Located at the head of Afon Twymyn in the Cambrian Mountains, Dylife was a former lead mining community.

It was first established during Roman times and recommenced during the 17th century until the 19th century.

As lead reserves declined near the end of the 1860s, so did Dylife's population.

Before the community diminished, it housed a church, chapels, a school, post office, grocery, butchers and a smithery.

In 1864, its population stood at around 100, with 300 of its men and boys working in the mines, but numbers began to dwindle with the loss of work.

The Star, a pub from the time of the decline, still remains.

Temperance Town, Cardiff

Temperance Town was a working class suburb established in in the 1860s and demolished in the 1930s to make way for Cardiff Bus Station.

The Temperance Town district, centred around Wood Street, was abandoned in 1937 after years of decline.

The area was once an open swamp until the area of land was sold by Colonel Wood - hence the name Wood Street – to Jacob Scott Matthews, a market gardener who lived where Dumfries Place now stands.

A staunch teetotaller, he made it a condition that no inns or public houses were to be built there.

Cardiff's decline in coal exports in the years leading up to the 1930s resulted in increasing poverty and overcrowding in the suburb.

The last two people to leave Temperance Town were Mr & Mrs Henry Arthur Hannam who lived at 32 Eisteddfod Street.

Mynydd Epynt, Powys

Mynydd Epynt was a farming community which existed until the 1940s, when it was evacuated to make way for military training land.

A primary school, chapel and regular markets provided a focus for interaction as did the sharing of farm work.

The community would also take part in Eisteddfodau in local villages, having to walk long distances over the surrounding mountains to get there.

(Image: Graham Horn/Creative Commons)

In 1939 the village was informed that the War Office intended to take over the area to use as army training land.

Each property owner was told they would have to leave and would be compensated. Despite distress, protest and national outrage, the community was evicted by 1940.

Tiger Bay, Cardiff

Dockworkers and sailors from around the world settled in neighbourhoods around the dockland, creating diverse migrant communities.

Notorious for crime and prostitution, the area was also known for its vibrancy and distinct character.

Large areas were destroyed in the 1960s, long after Cardiff's exportation of coal declined, and its communities were displaced.

These pictures show the remarkable transformation of Cardiff Bay in the 20th century.

Y Graig, Monmouthshire

(Image: Stephen Fisk/Abandoned Communities)

Situated on a steep hill about three miles west of Abergavenny and overlooking the River Usk, Y Graig was a settlement which existed during 18th and 19th centuries.

The area was declared a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1998 after the ruined remains of 25 homes, buildings, and orchards were found. The year 1746 is inscribed into a large stone inside the remains of a building, which could indicate the time the settlement was constructed. Each house would have been the centre of its own smallholding. Walls kept the holdings apart, and each would have been mostly self-sufficient, with a number having their own pens for pigs and goats.

Pwll Du, Blaenavon

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Formerly a mining village, it was demolished in 1963 after its mines closed and the population moved to find work.

From the mid 18th century, the village played a leading role in the coal and iron industry, served by a primitive railway system.

It consisted of 48 houses, a baptist chapel, as well as other buildings which remain today, including the Lamb and Fox public house and the Miners' Welfare Hall which is now the Pwll Du Adventure Centre.

The video above is ITV Wales footage from Pwll Du.

Trellech, Monmouthshire

(Image: Roger Davies/Creative Commons)

Trellech still exists as a village today but it was once one of the largest medieval settlements in Wales.

Its remains have been subject to archaeological digs excavations over many years.

It is thought the town was created by the De Clare family for the exploitation of local iron supplies from the Forest of Dean, and charcoal produced in the local woodland.

By 1288 there were 378 plots recorded in Trellech, which would have made it bigger than Cardiff or Chepstow. A large part of the settlement was destroyed in 1291 after a raid over a deer-poaching dispute. ​

Owain Glyndwr ravaged what was left in the 15th century which effectively spelt the end for the community.

The former residents of Taff Street, Merthyr Vale