LITTLE MILL WARD

Up until May 2022 the village of Little Mill in the Parish of Mamhilad was part of Goytre Fawr Community Council Due to Local Authority boundary changes Little Mill, the hamlet of Ty Draw and Pentwyn Farm became a ward of Llanbadoc Community Council.

Little Mill Ward has the largest population of the Llanbadoc Community Council wards and has three Community Councillors.

The Village derived its name from the local corn mill which apparently was smaller than the Usk and Nantyderry Corn Mills. The Little Mill was driven by water from the Berthon Brook which also powered the Rhadyr Farm Mill (Usk College) and the Prioress Mill at the Rhadyr. Although the Little Mill ceased work in the 1930’s it still has the mill machinery and two water wheels, one to power the mill and the other was installed to power an electric generator.

Several of the houses on Berthon Road were built to house railway staff who worked on the Newport-Crewe mainline, and the electric generator Coleford, Monmouth, Usk, and Pontypool Railway which opened from Little Mill Junction to Usk in June 1856. Little Mill Halt provided the village with access to railway travel. The line was closed to general passenger traffic 30th May 1955, although it continued to support workers’ trains to serve Glascoed Royal Ordnance Factory, now BAE, until that ceased on 24th April 1961. The last goods train to use the route was in 1982 when trains ran to and from the Royal Ordinance factory during the Falklands Conflict.

The village lost its shop and its post office in the 1980s, but there is still a thriving Baptist Church and the Halfway House Pub continues as a traditional Welsh Pub

Little Mill Village Hall

During the height of the 1930's depression more and more men in Little Mill and district found it difficult to find employment. The village policeman, PC W J Taylor, saw the opportunity of engaging the time and talents of the unemployed and, in 1933, launched a project to build a village hall. Funds were raised and over 30 unemployed men provided voluntary labour to build the hall. Mr C Tedman Jones acted gratuitously as the architect and supervised the project throughout. The Village Hall opened in 1935, £885 was raised to build the hall, the main sources being £190 from the Carnegie UK Trust, £380 loan from Monmouthshire Rural Community Council, and £20 from public subscriptions. The hall cost £861 to build, and it was estimated that the voluntary labour had saved over £250.

The hall has been refurbished and improved over its long history but still reflects the original vision of PC Taylor and other community leaders. A multi-use sports area was added during the late 1990s. The play park adjacent to the hall is owned by the Village Hall but now funded and managed by the Community Council on a long lease.

The Village Hall is a registered charity and is run by a small group of local people.

Ty Draw was the home of the Monmouthshire Reformatory, built there because Benjamin Hall (of Big Ben fame) did not want the Reformatory in Llanover. It opened for 35 boys in 1859, expanded to 40 boys in 1906, 55 in 1910 and 63 boys in 1916, but was closed in 1922. All the old buildings have now been converted to housing.