Llanvapley

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

Llanvapley is located at grid reference SO364141. It is on the B4233 road, four miles from Abergavenny and ten miles from Monmouth. The English name for the village is Llanvapley with the Welsh being Llanfable. In very recent times, the village has been referenced as Llanfapley but without substance or any factual reasons. It is thought that a past Welsh learner could have unwittingly believed this to be correct as there is no 'v' in the Welsh alphabet but the Welsh name is Llanfable. Both Llanvapley and Llanfable are referenced on ancient maps, records, official documentation and property deeds but Llanfapley can be seen on a minority amount of signage and advertisements.

Llanvapley has a cricket team, comprising a number of players from the village. The cricket pavilion come village hall is run by the Llanvapley Sports & Social Association who manage the day-to-day running of the building for the benefit of the community and the cricket club [1].

St Mabli's church is mostly of 15th Century origin, and services are held on the second and fourth Sunday of each month. The Rev. Heidi Prince was appointed as Priest-in-Charge in 2015, returning to the parish after having been Rector of Llanvapley between 1997 and 2006.

The Red Hart Inn is in the centre of the village opposite the church and had for decades been the life and soul of the village, but it is not open for business at the moment. The current owners closed the pub in 2002 and applied for change of use to a private house [2]. This was turned down by Monmouthshire County Council. The owners appealed to the Welsh Assembly and the appeal was turned down in 2004. The pub was boarded up for a short period after this. Prospects of the pub reopening have not changed since 2004 but the current economic conditions have improved as shown by the success of other local pubs such as the Hogs Head and Warwicks. The owners of the pub applied for a certificate of legal development in 2011 but were once again unsuccessful. The Owners of the Red Hart have subsequently and more recently submitted an application to build 3 houses on ground to the rear of the pub and this further planning application is pending.

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