page_title: Bargoed
section_title: Redevelopment
hierarchical_section_title: Bargoed / Redevelopment
caption_attribution_description: English: Hanbury Street Baptist chapel, Bargoed
context_page_description: Bargoed is a town and community in the Rhymney Valley, Wales, one of the South Wales Valleys. It lies on the Rhymney River in the county borough of Caerphilly. It straddles the ancient boundary of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, with Bargoed lying in Glamorgan and Aberbargoed in Monmouthshire. 'Greater Bargoed', as defined by the local authority Caerphilly County Borough Council, consists of the towns of Bargoed and Aberbargoed and the village of Gilfach. The combined population of these settlements is about 13,000. The town's rugby club holds the world record for the most consecutive league wins in a row and was World Rugby magazine's team of the year in 2005.
context_section_description: The town has been undergoing a major redevelopment scheme, which included a bypass (running through the valley, with links to Bargoed town centre, Aberbargoed and Gilfach), Morrisons supermarket and petrol station, a new bus station, repaving the road though the heart of the town, a 400+ space car park, new library, 3 new offices, a relaxation area where the old bus station was on Hanbury Square, and 7 retail units. There are ongoing issues with plans for a state of the art Odeon Cinema and the site remains undeveloped (summer 2015). A redevelopment of the former Plasnewydd Hotel has created Murray's – a modern and welcoming public house with all of the most up to date and hygienic facilities people expect.
  The Grade II* listed Hanbury Road Baptist chapel has been converted into a public library which includes a council services helpdesk, a computer suite, a coffee lounge, and a scaled-down chapel; the pipe organ (now silent), occupies its original dominant position overlooking the main ground floor area, while the erstwhile chapel gallery houses a substantial collection of reference and other books. At the rear of the library a new mini park has been created using 40 ft flower sculptures.
  The sites of the former collieries of Bargoed, Gilfach, and Britannia have been landscaped as a recreational nature park with a network of paths on either side of the Rhymney river. Figures of mine workers from these three communities have become the inspiration for wooden sculptures in the park, while in Hanbury Square a group of three immense heads of colliery workers dominates the tiered piazza.
caption: Baptist chapel converted to Public Library
exif: {}