Llanvapley

Llanvapley (Welsh: Llanfable) is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. Llan has replaced the (earlier) Eglwys (1254).

Location

Llanvapley is located at grid reference SO364141.

Llanvapley is sited on the B4233 road, a popular route for cyclists, about four miles from Abergavenny and nine miles from Monmouth.

The English name for the village is Llanvapley and the Welsh Llanfable. In very recent times, the village has wrongly been referenced to as Llanfapley being put down to a Welsh learner unwittingly believing this to be correct as there is no 'v' in the Welsh alphabet. Both Llanvapley and Llanfable are referenced on ancient maps, documents and property deeds but Llanfapley can still be occasionally spotted in use.

Amenities

The Red Hart Inn, in the centre of the village, reopened in February 2020 after a substantial renovations and offers diverse menus and craft ales. Families are welcome and the large south facing pub garden to the rear has great views of the Llanvapley cricket ground and surrounding countryside. Extensive parking is available on site.

Llanvapley has a cricket team and the modern cricket pavilion and village hall is run by the Llanvapley Sports & Social Association and is also used as a polling station. The site includes an excellent children's playground with tree seats and picnic benches. The Local Women's Institute meets regularly and tai chi classes are often available, amongst other activities. Llanvapley holds an annual scarecrow competition, which attracts large numbers of entries from across Monmouthshire, and much press interest (one ScareCovid29 Crow runner up in 2020 came from Transylvania).

The church of St Mapley is of 15th century origin, ancient yet recently renovated using natural materials sourced nearby; services are held on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. The Rev. Heidi Prince was appointed as Priest-in-Charge in 2015, having been a highly popular Rector of Llanvapley between 1997 and 2006. She was the first woman to be appointed in six centuries of worship. Many services locally are planned for whole families, and the church is particularly welcoming to children.

Llanvapley Court is the largest property in the village and was in the past a country hotel and housed the Land Army during WWII. A number of historic Welsh longhouses of architectural note can be found within the curtilage of Llanvapley, as illustrated in the Historic Houses of Monmouthshire, by Lord Raglan.

The village has strong transport links, being about 4 miles from Abergavenny railway station with direct trains to London, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Hereford, Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester and beyond.

Education provision locally is strong and free state school transport is provided by Monmouthshire County Council leaves the village at about 8am daily. The local state schools include the outstanding Monmouth Comprehensive School and Cross Ash Primary, Hereford Sixth Form College, and independent schools including Haberdashers' Monmouth Schools for boys and girls.

The village lies within the historic Three Castles area, a ten minute drive of the historic castles of Raglan, White Castle, Skenfrith and Grosmont.

Excellent cinema is available 4 and 9 miles away, at The Baker St and Savoy cinemas respectively, the latter being the oldest working cinema in Wales.

Openreach provides super fast broadband throughout the village, averaging 70 megabytes per second and for that reason the village attracts many seeking to escape to the county whilst maintaining active careers.

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