Local Area History 

Risca / Rhisga (originally from either yr+is+cae or from the word "rhisgl") (phonetic: r-hisk-car) 

OS Grid Reference - ST 245 905 

There are two conflicting explanations for this place name, which dates back to at least 1146 (sourced from 'Cartae et alia Munimenta de Glamorgan', G.T.Clark 1910). One derivation is from “yr is cae” meaning “the lower enclosure”, referring to its location at the lower end of upland areas. The other suggested meaning is that the name comes from “rhisgl” meaning “tree bark”, which may have been used in leathermaking and refers to the use of bark on the outside of logbuilt houses; there is no evidence of such structures ever being in the area however.

Pontymister / Pont-y-meistr (pont+y+meistr or pont+y+mystwyr) (phonetic: pont-uh-may-stir) 

OS Grid Reference - ST 240 900 

The settlement gets its name from the local bridge, recorded in 1624 as Pont y Maister and as Maister Bridge the following year. The name itself dates back even further as the farm in the area was recorded as Maestyr in 1600, Maes Tire in 1668 and as Maister c1700. A possible meaning is "the (iron) master’s bridge”, but another origin of the name goes back to a time when the former grange of Llantarnam Abbey was located there, near a water mill. This name even pre-dates the farm as records show the mill name Mayster Kynfawr from 1204 (Kynfawr is possibly the Welsh personal name Cynfor), Mayst (an abbreviated form of Mayster) in 1254 and master myll in 1581. The Welsh word “mystwyr” comes from the Latin “monasterium” and could be a reference to the Abbey

Tŷ Sign (originally from tir+y+sygn or sugn) (phonetic: tea-sign) 

OS Grid Reference - ST 247 907 

A curious example of what appears to be very literally a bilingual name with the first word in Welsh and the second in English. Recorded as The Signe in 1654, Kaye nessa yr Signe (field next to the sign) in 1685, Tyr y Signe 1760 and the current spelling appears in 1832 as Ty-Sign. The name may come from "tir" and an old Welsh word "sygn" (originally the Latin signum and then Old English segn or Old French signe) meaning a sign of the Zodiac or possibly it comes from the Welsh word "sugn", which means "suction" as there may have been very marshy or boggy land in the area.