Rhondda
Encyclopedia
Rhondda or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining
valley
in Wales
, formerly a local government district
, consisting of 16 communities
built around the River Rhondda
. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley (mawr large) and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley (bach small). Both the singular term 'Rhondda Valley' and the plural 'Rhondda Valleys' are commonly used. In 2001 the Rhondda constituency
of the National Assembly for Wales
had a population of 72,443; while the National Office of Statistics described the Rhondda urban area as having a population of 59,602 making it the 4th largest single urban area in Wales after the cities of Cardiff
, Swansea
and Newport
. Rhondda is part of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough and is part of the South Wales Valleys
.
The Rhondda Valley is most notable for its historical link to the coal mining industry which was at its peak between 1840-1925 AD. The Rhondda Valleys were home to a strong early nonconformist Christian movement which manifested itself in the baptist
chapels which moulded Rhondda values in the 19th and early 20th century. Rhondda is also famous for strong masculine cultural ties within a social community which expressed itself outside industry in the form of male voice choirs, sport and politics.
The larger of the two valleys, the Rhondda Fawr, extends from Porth
and rises through the valley until it reaches Blaenrhondda
, near Treherbert
. The settlements that make up the Rhondda Fawr are as follows:
song 'If I could see the Rhondda'; the valley includes Wattstown, Ynyshir, Pontygwaith, Ferndale, Tylorstown and Maerdy. The settlements that make up the Rhondda Fach are as follows:
In the early Middle Ages, Glynrhondda was a commote
of the cantref of Penychen
in the kingdom of Morgannwg, a sparsely populated agricultural area. The spelling of the commote varied widely, and the Cardiff Records shows the various spellings:
Many sources state the meaning of Rhondda as 'noisy', though this is a simplified translation without research. Sir Ifor Williams
, in his work Enwau Lleoedd, suggests that the first syllable rhwadd is a form of the Welsh adrawdd or adrodd, as in 'recite, relate, recount', similar to the Old Irish rád; 'speech'. The suggestion is that the river is speaking aloud, a comparison to the English expression 'a babbling brook'.
With the increase in population from the mid 19th century the area was officially recognised as the Ystradyfodwg Local Government District, but was renamed in 1897 as the Rhondda Urban District
after the River Rhondda.
Residents of either valley rarely use the terms 'Rhondda Fach' or 'Rhondda Fawr', referring instead to 'The Rhondda', or their specific village when relevant. Locals tend to refer to "The Rhondda" with the definite article
, despite its non-usage on sign posts and maps.
. The landscape of the Rhondda was formed by glacial
action during the last ice age, as slow moving glaciers gouged out the deep valleys that exist today. With the retreat of the ice sheet, around 8000 BC, the valleys were further modified by stream and river action. This left the two river valleys of the Rhondda with narrow, steep sided slopes which would dictate the layout of settlements from early to modern times.
' type or at least from the early Mesolithic
period, places human activity on the plateau above the valleys. Many other Mesolithic items have been discovered in the Rhondda, predominantly in the upper areas around Blaenrhondda
, Blaencwm
and Maerdy
, mainly stone age items relating to hunting, fishing and foraging which suggests seasonal nomad
ic activity. Though no definite Mesolithic settlements have been located in the area, the concentration of finds at the Craig y Llyn escarpment suggests the presence of a temporary campsite in the vicinity.
s was discovered; while carbon dating
of charcoal found at the site dated the structure as late Neolithic
.
Although little evidence of settlements has been found in the Rhondda that date between the Neolithic and Bronze Age
periods, several cairn
s and cist
s have been discovered throughout the length of both valleys. The best example of a round-cairn was found at Crug yr Afan, near the summit of Graig Fawr, west of Cwmparc
. The cairn consisted of an earthen mound with a surrounding ditch 28 metres in circumference and over 2 metres tall. Although most cairns discovered in the area are round, a ring cairn or cairn circle exists on Gelli
Mountain. Known as the 'Rhondda Stonehenge' the cairn consists of 10 upright stones no more than 60 cm in height encircling a central cist. All the cairns found within the Rhondda are located on high ground, many on ridgeways, and may have been used as waypoints.
In 1912 a hoard of 24 late Bronze Age weapons and tools was discovered during construction work at the Llyn Fawr
reservoir, at the source of the Rhondda Fawr. The items did not originate from the Rhondda and are thought to have been left at the site as a votive offering. Of particular interest were fragments of an iron sword which is the earliest iron object to be found in Wales and the only 'C-type' Hallstatt
sword recorded in Britain.
With the exception of the Neolithic settlement at Cefn Glas, there are three certain pre-Medieval settlement sites in the valley — Maendy Camp, Hen Dre'r Gelli and Hen Dre'r Mynydd. The earliest of these structures is Maendy Camp, a hillfort whose remains are situated between Ton Pentre and Cwmparc. Although its defences would have been slight, the camp made good use of the natural slopes and rock outcrops to its north-east face. Maendy camp consisted of two earthworks, an inner and outer enclosure. When the site was excavated in 1901 several archaeological finds led to the camp being misidentified as Bronze Age. These finds, mainly pottery and flint knives, were excavated from a burial cairn discovered within the outer enclosure but the site has since been classified as from the Iron Age
.
The settlement at Hen Dre'r Mynydd in Blaenrhondda was dated around the Roman period when the discovery of fragments of wheel-made Romano-British pottery were discovered at the location. The site is made up of a group of ruinous drystone roundhouses
and enclosures and is thought to have been a sheep farming community.
The most definite example of a Roman site in the area is found above Blaenllechau in Ferndale. The settlement is one of a group of earthworks and indicates the presence of the Roman army during the 1st century AD. It was thought to be a military site or marching camp
.
. This dynasty was later replaced by another founded by Meurig ap Tewdrig
whose descendant Morgan ap Owain would give Glamorgan its Welsh name Morgannwg. With the coming of the Norman
overlords after the 1066 Battle of Hastings
, south-east Wales was divided into five cantrefi. The Rhondda lay within Penychen
, a narrow strip running between modern day Glyn Neath and the coast between Cardiff
and Aberthaw
. Each cantref was further divided into commote
s, with Penychen made up of five such commotes, one being Glynrhondda.
Relics of the Dark Ages are uncommon within the Glamorgan area and secular monuments are still rarer. The few sites discovered from this period have been located in the Bro, or lowlands, leaving historians to believe that the Blaenau were sparsely inhabited, maybe only visited seasonally by pastoralists
. A few earthwork dykes are the only structural relics in the Rhondda area from this period and no carved stones or crosses exist to indicate the presence of a Christian shrine. During the Early Middle Ages
communities were split between bondmen and freemen. The bondmen lived in small villages centred around a court or llys of the local ruler to whom they paid dues; while the freemen, who enjoyed a higher status, lived in scattered homesteads. The most important village was the 'mayor's settlement' or maerdref. Maerdy
in the Rhondda Fach has been identified as a maerdref, mainly on the strength of the name, though the village did not survive past the Middle Ages. The largest concentration of dwellings from this time have been discovered around Gelli and Ystrad
in the Rhondda Fawr, mainly platform houses.
During the late 11th century, the Norman
lord, Robert Fitzhamon
entered Morgannwg in an attempt to gain control of the area, building many earth and timber castles in the lowlands. In the early 12th century the Norman expansion continued with castles being founded around Neath
, Kenfig
and Coity
, while within the same period Bishop Urban
established the Diocese of Llandaff
under which Glynrhondda belonged to the large parish of Llantrisant
.
Upon the death of William, Lord of Glamorgan
, his extensive holdings were eventually granted to Gilbert de Clare
in 1217. The subjugation of Glamorgan, begun by Fitzhamon, was finally completed by the powerful De Clare family, but although Gilbert de Clare had now become one of the great Marcher Lords the territory was far from settled. Hywel ap Maredudd, lord of Meisgyn
captured his cousin Morgan ap Cadwallon and annexed Glynrhondda in an attempt to reunify the commotes under a single native ruler. This conflict was unresolved by the time of De Clare's death and the area fell under Royal control.
The Rhondda also has the remains of two Medieval castles. The older is Castell Nos which is located at the head of the Rhondda Fach overlooking Maerdy. The only recorded evidence of Castle Nos is a mention by John Leland who stated that "Castelle Nose is but a high stony creg in the top of an hille". The castle comprises a scarp and ditch forming a raised platform and on the north face is a ruined drystone building. Due to its location and form it does not appear to be of Norman design and is therefore thought to have been built by the Welsh as a border defence; and must therefore date before 1247 when Richard de Clare
seized Glynrhondda. The second castle is Ynysygrug, located close to what is now Tonypandy
town centre. Little remains of this motte-and-bailey
earthwork defence as much was destroyed when Tonypandy railway station
was built in the 19th century. Ynysygrug is dated around the 12th century or early 13th century and has been misidentified by several historians, notably Owen Morgen in his book 'History of Pontypridd and Rhondda Valleys' who recorded it as a druid
ic sacred mound and Iolo Morgannwg
who erroneously believed it to be the burial mound of king Rhys ap Tewdwr
.
This earliest Christian monument located in the Rhondda is the shrine of St. Mary at Penrhys
whose holy well was mentioned by Rhisiart ap Rhys
in the 15th century.
: the Upper or Rhigos
Hamlet to the north, the Middle or Penrhys Hamlet and the lower or Clydach Hamlet. Throughout the post-Medieval period the Rhondda was a heavily wooded area and its main economic staple was the rearing of sheep, horses and cattle. The historian Rice Merrick, in describing the upland area of the Vale of Glamorgan, stated that there "was always great breeding of cattle, horses and sheep; but in elder time therin grew but small store of corn, for in most places there the ground was not thereunto apt..." While English cartographer John Speed
described that the rearing of cattle was the "best means unto wealth that the Shire doth afford". As there was no fair held in the Rhondda the animals would be taken to neighbouring fairs and markets at Neath
, Merthyr, Llantrisant
, Ynysybwl
and Llandaff
. However, to be self-supporting, the farmers of the area grew crops such as oats, corn and barley in small quantities. Crops were grown in the lower part of the Rhondda on narrow meadows adjoining the riversides, though during the Napoleonic Wars
scarce supplies forced the cultivation of the upland areas such as Carn-y-wiwer
and Penrhys. Merrick would describe the diet of the upland inhabitants as consisting of "bread made of wheat...and ale and bear" and over two hundred years later Benjamin Malkin showed how little the diet had changed when he wrote that the people still ate "Oatmeal bread, with a relish of miserable cheese; and the beer, where they have any, is worse than none".
In the first half of the 17th century a rising cost of consumable goods and a series of bad harvests brought about economic changes in Glamorgan. Those with enough wealth were able to seize on opportunities created by these unsettled conditions and set about enlarging and enclosing farm lands. The enclosure
of freehold lands that began in the later Middle Ages now gained momentum and farms that were once owned by individual farmers were now owned by small groups of wealthy landowners. By the 19th century most of the Rhondda farms and estates were owned by absentee landlord
s, such as the Marquis of Bute, Earl of Dunraven, Crawshay Bailey
of Merthyr and the De Winton family of Brecon
.
Between the Acts of Union in the mid 16th century and the English Civil War
in the mid 17th century, a period of great rebuilding took place in the Kingdom of England
, of which Wales was now annexed, and this is reflected in the structures that were built within the Rhondda Valley. The fluctuating economic state of the late Tudor
period resulted in farmers taking in more land, creating higher levels of surplus goods and therefore producing higher profits. This profit was reflected in the new farm houses built in the Rhondda and for the first time an emphasis on domestic comfort became apparent in the design of the dwellings. Many of the new farm buildings were simple structures consisting of two or three small rooms, though of a much sturdier and permanent quality than the Medieval platform houses. A popular style of building was the long-house
, a building which combined the house and cowshed into a single building. By 1840, at least 160 farms existed in the Rhondda, but most were destroyed with the growth of the mining industry. Of the few surviving buildings, those of note include Tynewydd ('New House') in Blaenrhondda
, a 17th century house thought to have given its name to the neighbouring village of Tynewydd
and Tyntyle in Ystrad dated around 1600.
There were few industrial buildings pre-1850; those of note include the 17th century blast furnace
at Pontygwaith
which gave the village its name and the fulling mill
established by Harri David in 1738, which in turn gave its name to Tonypandy
. Corn mills existed sparsely throughout the valleys as did early coal pits, with two early pits recorded as being opened in 1612 at Rhigos and Cwmparc; though these would have mined from exposed rock in the hillside and not deep mined.
The southern coalfield of Wales
is the largest continuous coalfield in Britain, extending some 113 kilometres (70.2 mi) from Pontypool
in the east to St Brides Bay in the West, covering almost 2600 square kilometres (1,003.9 sq mi). This coalfield took in the majority of Glamorgan, and the entirety of the Rhondda was situated within it. Although neighbouring areas such as Merthyr and Aberdare
had already sunk coal mines, it was not until Walter Coffin
initiated the Dinas
Lower Colliery in 1812 that coal was first exported from the Rhondda Valleys on any sort of commercial scale. This coal was originally taken by packhorse
, before the extension of Dr. Griffiths'
private tramline, to Pontypridd
and then by the Glamorganshire Canal
to the port at Cardiff. The lack of any transportation links was one of the main problems that curtailed exploitation of the Rhondda Valley coal fields, along with the belief that the coalfields beneath the valley were thought to be too deep for economic working. It was therefore seen as an expensive risk and deterred anyone looking for a quick profit. The exploration of the Rhondda was undertaken by the Bute Trustees, agents of the third Marquess of Bute
, who not only owned large tracts of valley farmland but also possessed a large financial interest in the Cardiff Docks
which would export the coal. The trustees sank the Bute Merthyr Colliery in October 1851, at the top of the Rhondda Fawr in what would become Treherbert
. The Bute Merthyr began producing coal in 1855, the first working steam coal colliery in the Rhondda.
In conjunction with the sinking of the first colliery at the head of the Rhondda, the second issue of transportation was being tackled at the same time with the extension of the Taff Vale Railway
(TVR) line. After Royal Assent was given to construct the railway in 1836, the original line was laid from Cardiff to Abercynon
, and by 1841 a branch was opened to link Cardiff with Dinas via Pontypridd. This would allow easier and faster transportation for Walter Coffin's Dinas mine, an unsurprising addition considering Coffin was a director of the TVR. In 1849 the TVR had extended into the Rhondda Fach and by 1856 the railway had reached the furthest areas of both the Fach and Fawr valleys at Maerdy and Treherbert. For the first time the Rhondda Valley was connected by a major transportation route to the rest of Wales and the exploitation of its coalfields could begin.
The TVR line would dominate the transportation of coal throughout the Rhondda's industrial history, and its monopoly was a point of contention, as with no rivals the colliery owners could not negotiate for haulage rates. Several attempts were made to break the monopoly including the opening of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway
, between 1885 and 1895, which linked Blaenrhondda at the head of the Rhondda Fawr to the Prince of Wales Dock. To achieve this rail link the Rhondda Tunnel was constructed through Mynydd Blaengwynfy to Blaengwynfi
; at the time the longest railway tunnel in Wales.
Initially the shallower pits at Aberdare proved a bigger attraction for prospective mine owners, but once Aberdare became fully worked by the 1860s the Rhondda saw a rapid growth in development. During the 1860s-1870s 20 collieries opened in the Rhondda Valleys with the leading coalowner in the Rhondda Fach being David Davis of Aberdare, and David Davies
in the Rhondda Fawr. In 1865 the output of coal from the Rhondda Valley was roughly one quarter of that of Aberdare; ten years later the Rhondda was producing over two million tons, more than the Aberdare Valleys. These figures would later be dwarfed by the massive excavation rates seen in the last quarter of the 19th century up to the beginning of the First World War. In 1913 it was recorded that the Rhondda Valley's output was 9.6 million tons.
By 1893 there were more than 75 collieries within the Rhondda Valleys and although most were initially owned by a small group of private individuals this trend changed towards the start of the 20th century as companies began buying up the existing collieries. The widespread adoption of limited liability
status began a trend towards a concentration of ownership, reducing some of the economic risks involved in coalmining: unstable coal prices, inflated acquisitions, geological difficulties, and large scale accidents. The emerging companies were formed by the individuals and families who sank the original collieries; but by the turn of the century they were no more than principal shareholders. These companies included the Davies's Ocean Coal Company, Archibald Hood
's Glamorgan Coal Company and David Davis & Son.
During the early to mid 19th century the Rhondda Valleys were inhabited by small farming settlements. In 1841 the parish of Ystradyfodwg
, which would later constitute most of the Rhondda Borough, was recorded as having a population of less than a thousand inhabitants. With the discovery of massive deposits of high quality, accessible coal during the mid 19th century the Rhondda Valleys experienced a large influx of financial immigrants. The first immigrants came to the lower Rhondda villages of Dinas, Eirw and Cymmer. Special sinkers came from Llansamlet
, while the first miners were from Penderyn, Cwmgwrach and the neighbouring areas of Llantrisant
and Llanharan
. The 1851 Census lists apprenticed paupers from Temple Cloud
in Somerset, some of the earliest English immigrants. As more and more coal mines were sunk the population grew to fill the jobs needed to extract the coal. In the 1860s and 1870s the majority came from the neighbouring Welsh counties, but with the improving rail transportation and cheaper transport immigrants came from further afield. The 1890s recorded workers from the South West, places such as Gloucester and Devon, by the 1900s people came from North Wales, the lead mining area of Anglesey
and the depressed slate
-quarrying villages of Bethesda, Ffestiniog
and Dinorwig
. Although there are records of Scottish workers, mainly centered around Archibald Hood's Llwynypia mines, there were only small numbers of Irish, less than 1,000 by 1911. The low immigration levels of Irish workers is often blamed on the forcible ejection of the Irish who lived in Treherbert during three days of rioting in 1857. The population of the valleys peaked in 1924 at over 167,900 inhabitants.
The mass influx of immigrants during this period were almost totally English and Welsh; the most notable exception being an immigrant nationality from outside the United Kingdom
, the Italians. In the late 19th century a group of Italian immigrants, originally from the northern area of Italy, centred around the town of Bardi, were forced out of London by an over-saturation of the market. These immigrants set up a network of cafés, ice cream parlour
s and fish & chip shops
throughout South Wales and these businesses became iconic landmarks in the villages they served and they and subsequent generations became Welsh Italians
. Particular to the Rhondda, the shops ran by the Italian immigrants, were known as 'Bracchis', believed to have been named after Angelo Bracchi who opened the first café in the Rhondda in the early 1890s. By the early 21st century several of the original Bracchis were still open for business in the Rhondda.
At the start of the First World War, the economic prospects in South Wales were good. Although production fell after the 1913 high, demand was still strong enough to push the coalfields to their limit. In February 1917 coal mining came under government control and demand increased as the war intensified, ensuring a market for sufficient supplies of coal. After the war the picture began to change. Initially the British coal industry was buoyed by a series of fortuitous economic events, such as the American coal miners' strike, and by 1924, unemployment for miners was below the national average. But the belief that the mining industry would experience a permanent demand for coal was shattered by the Depression, and the Rhondda experienced a massive upturn in unemployment. The situation worsened in 1926 when, in response to coalowners reducing pay and lengthening working hours of miners, the TUC
called a general strike
in defence of the miners who had been locked out
following A.J. Cook's
call 'not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day'. The TUC called off the strike just nine days later, without resolving the miners' cut in wages. The miners disagreed and stayed on strike for a further seven months until they were starved into surrendering. The Rhondda saw many schemes set up by miners to aid their plight, such as soup kitchen
s and fête
s and 'joy' days to support them; while in Maerdy the local miners set up a rationing system. By the time the miners returned to work there was little desire for further action through strikes, which saw a decline in the popularity of 'The Fed' and greater emphasis on solving problems through political and parliamentary means.
With the advent of the Great Depression
, employment within the Rhondda Valleys continued to fall. This in turn led to a decline in public and social services, as people struggled to pay rates and rents. One of the outcomes of a lack of funds was a fall in health provisions, which in Rhondda lead to a lack of medical and nursing staff, a failure to provide adequate sewage works and a rise in deaths from tuberculosis
. By 1932 the long-term unemployment figure in the Rhondda was recorded at 63%, and in Ferndale the unemployment figure for adult males rose as high as 72.85%.
With little other employment available in the Rhondda the only solution appeared to be emigration. Between 1924 and 1939, 50,000 people left the Rhondda. During this time life was difficult for communities built solely around a singular industry, especially as most families were on a single wage.
The start of the Second World War saw a complete turnaround in the employment figures, and by 1944 unemployment figures in the Rhondda ranged from 1% in Treorchy to 3.7% at Tonypandy.
was the gas explosion, caused by either a build up of methane
gas or coal dust
. As the mines became deeper and ventilation become more difficult to control the risk increased. The worst single incident in the Rhondda was the 1867 Ferndale disaster in which an explosion saw the loss of 178 lives. However, the major disasters only accounted for roughly 20% of overall fatalities, with individual accidents accounting for the bulk of deaths. The list below shows mining disasters which saw the loss of five or more lives during a single incident.
The coal mining industry of the Rhondda was artificially buoyed throughout the war years, though there were expectations of a return to the pre-1939 industrial collapse after the end of the Second World War. There was a sense of salvation when the government announced the nationalisation of the British Coalmines
in 1947; but the following decades saw a continual reduction in the output from the Rhondda mines. From 15,000 miners in 1947, Rhondda had just a single pit within the valleys producing coal in 1984, located at Maerdy. The decline in the mining of coal after World War II was a country wide issue, but South Wales and Rhondda were affected to a higher degree than other areas of Britain. Oil had superseded coal as the fuel of choice in many industries and there was political pressure influencing the supply of oil. Of the few industries that were still reliant on coal, the demand was for quality coals, especially coking coal
which was required by the steel industry. Fifty percent of Glamorgan coal was now supplied to steelworks
, with the second biggest market being domestic heating, which the 'smokeless' coal of the Rhondda became once again fashionable after the publication of the Clean Air Act
. These two markets now controlled the fate of the mines in the Rhondda, and as demand fell from both sectors the knock-on effect on the mining industry was further contraction. In addition exports to other areas of Europe, traditionally France, Italy and the Low Countries
, experienced a massive decline; from 33 per cent at the turn of the century to roughly 5 per cent by 1980.
The other major factors in the decline of coal were related to the massive under-investment in Rhondda mines over the past decades. Most of the mines in the valleys were sunk between the 1850s and 1880s, which, as a consequence, meant they were far smaller than most modern mines. The Rhondda mines were in comparison antiquated, with methods of ventilation, coal-preparation and power supply all of a poor standard. In 1945 the British coal industry cut 72 per cent of their output mechanically, whereas in South Wales the figure was just 22 per cent. The only way to ensure the financial survival of the mines in the valleys was massive investment from the NCB, but the 'Plan for Coal' paper drawn up in 1950 was overly optimistic in the future demand for coal, which was drastically reduced following an industrial recession in 1956 and an increased availability of oil.
The British government and Welsh employment bodies funded and subsidized external businesses to locate new ventures within the valleys to replace the vanishing heavy industries. The first attempt to bring in business not connected to the coal mining industry began in the 1920s when David Jones, Town Clerk to the Rhondda Urban Council, gained government support in attracting outside businesses to the area. Companies included Alfred Polikoff's clothing factory, Messers Jacob Beatus, manufacturing cardboard boxes and Electrical and Musical Industries Ltd
. Following the end of the Second World War, 23 companies were set up in the Rhondda Valleys, eighteen of them sponsored by the Board of Trade
. Most companies had periods of growth and collapse, notably Thorn EMI
in the 1970s and Burberry
in the 2000s.
The Rhondda Heritage Park
, a museum commemorating Rhondda's industrial past, is situated just south of Porth in the former Lewis Merthyr Colliery in the small former mining village of Trehafod.
The commote of Glynrhondda was coterminous with the earlier parish of Ystradyfodwg, but little is known of the Celtic saint Tyfodwg, or Dyfodwg after whom the parish is named. Saint Tyfodwg is thought to have existed around 600 AD, and although the parish bears his name there are now no religious monuments or places of worship named after him within the Rhondda boundaries. There are two churches in South Wales outside the area named after the saint; Y Tre Sant in Llantrisant
and Saint Tyfodwg’s in Ogmore Vale
.
The earliest known religious monument is the Catholic holy well in Penrhys first mentioned in the 15th century, though it may have been a place of pagan worship before this. This pilgrimage site was identified as a 'manor' belonging to the Cistercian Abbey of Llantarnam
and was seen as one of the most important religious sites in Wales, because of its Marian shrine
. This holy site was the main reason people would pass through the commote; it was even thought to be the main reason why the first bridges were built over the River Rhondda.
During the Middle Ages
the Parish church
of Ystradyfodwg near the bank of the River Rhondda served the parishioners of the Rhondda Fawr, while the families of the Rhondda Fach attended Llanwynno church. The inhabitants of the lower Rhondda, in the vicinity of Porth and Dinas, would need to trek to Llantrisant to hear a service.
Despite the importance of the Anglican Church in the lives of the parishioners the growing strength of Nonconformity
would make itself felt in the 18th century. In 1738 the Reverend Henry Davies formed the Independent Cause in Cymmer and five years later a ‘'Ty Cwrdd’’ or meeting house was opened there. Although attracting families from as far away as Merthyr and the parish of Eglwysilan, there were no other Nonconformist Causes until David Williams began preaching in the Rhondda in 1784. In 1785 six people were baptised in the river near Melin-yr-Om and in 1786 ‘'Ynysfach’’ was opened in Ystrad and was “a new house for religious services”. This was the first Baptist
chapel
in the Rhondda and would be the forerunner in a new religious movement in the valley for the next 150 years. In the early 19th century there were only three places of worship in the Rhondda; the parish church (now dedicated to St. John the Baptist), Cymmer and Ynysfach chapels. This changed rapidly after 1855 as the coal mining industry brought in an influx of population and by 1905 there were 151 chapels in the valley.
Chapel life was central to valley life throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but as with many communities throughout Britain, the post wars saw a decline in regular membership. As the population declined the number of places of worship also declined, but this does not mask the severe drop in membership from the 1950s, when full parishes reduced to a degree which saw many chapels close. By 1990 the Rhondda had less than 50 places of worship, the majority demolished.
Political activism in the Rhondda has a deep link with trade unions and the socialist movement but was initially slow to develop. In the 1870s the Amalgamated Association of Miners won support, but was destroyed by employer hostility. The Cambrian Miners’ Association was more successful and the creation of the South Wales Miners' Federation
after the 1898 coal strike
, gave the South Wales miners a reputation for militancy
, in which the Rhondda Valley played its part. As part of the Redistribution Act
of 1885 the Rhondda was granted its first seat in Parliament which was won by left wing Liberal William Abraham
, who was notably the only working-class member elected in Wales. Socialism
and syndicalism
ideals grew throughout the 20th century and industrial struggle reached a crescendo in the 1910-11 Tonypandy Riots. A year later Tonypandy saw the publication of Noah Ablett
’s pamphlet The Miners' Next Step
. Tonypandy was at the centre of further public disorder when, on 11 June 1936 at Dewinton Field, a large group of people gathered to confront the open-air address by Tommy Moran
, propaganda officer of the British Union of Fascists
. The crowd, recorded as between 2,000 and 6,000 strong, turned violent and police were forced to protect Moran's Blackshirt bodyguard. Seven local people were arrested.
The Rhondda also has a strong history of communist sympathy, with the Rhondda Socialist Society
being a key element in the coalition that founded the Communist Party of Great Britain
. By 1936 there were seven Communists on the Rhondda Urban District Council and was publishing its own Communist newspaper The Vanguard. In the 1930s Maerdy became such a hotspot of Communist support it was known as Little Moscow
producing left wing activists such as Merthyr born Arthur Horner
and Marxist writer Lewis Jones
. The Rhondda miners were also active in socialist activities outside the valleys. In the 1920s and 1930s the Rhondda and the surrounding valleys provided the principal support of some of the largest hunger marches
, while in 1936 more Rhondda Federation members were serving in Spain as part of the International Brigades
than the total number of volunteers from all the English coalfields.
In 1979, Rhondda councillor Annie Powell
became Wales' only communist mayor.
, a wife and mother constantly at home and exalted as the queen of the household, was essentially a Rhondda creation. However the Rhondda did produce the suffragette
and social reformer Elizabeth Andrews
, one of only nine women among a list of a hundred greatest Welsh heroes chosen by ballot in 2004.
races, cock fighting, open air hand-ball courts (often attached to a public house
), boxing booths, foot racing and rugby union.
Rugby union
During the mid 19th century the influx of immigrants from the older mining towns, such as Aberdare and Merthyr, brought with them the game of rugby
. At Treherbert it took a five month lockout
in 1875 to see the game establish itself at the various collieries where the Amalgamated Association of Miners held their meetings. In 1877 Penygraig Rugby Football Club
was formed, followed by Treherbert
in 1879, Ferndale
in 1882, Treorchy
in 1886 and Tylorstown
in 1903. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the 'Rhondda forward' was a key player in many Welsh
teams. The heavy industrial worker was a prime aggressive attack figure in early Welsh packs, typified by the likes of Treherbert's Dai 'Tarw' (bull) Jones who at 6-foot 1 inch (185.5 cm) and 16 stone in weight was seen as an animal of a man.
Due to the lack of playing fields in the valleys, many rugby teams would share grounds, travel every week to away grounds or even play on inappropriate (e.g. sloping) pitches. The valley clubs also had no clubhouses, with most teams meeting, and changing, in the closest local public house. Many more clubs, built around colliery and pub teams, appeared and disbanded but many of the clubs survive to this day.
Football
Due to the dominance of rugby union there have been few football teams of note in the history of the Rhondda Valleys. Several teams were formed around the end of the 19th century, but most folded during the depression, including Cwmparc F.C. in 1926 and Mid-Rhondda
in 1928. The most successful club from the area is Ton Pentre F.C.
.
, which had been absorbed into the moralistic system of the Nonconformist chapels, caused a shift in social attitudes in the mid to late 19th and early 20th century Rhondda. Alcohol was looked down upon and so were the increasingly violent sport such as rugby, so young men looked for different and more acceptable past-times. Voice choirs were a natural progression from chapel society and brass bands would eventually gain acceptance by the movement.
Male voice choirs
A phenomenon of Welsh industrial communities was the appearance of male voice choirs, believed to have been formed from glee clubs. The Rhondda produced several choirs of note including the Rhondda Glee Society, who represented Wales at the World Fair eisteddfod. The rival Treorchy Male Voice Choir
also enjoyed considerable success at eisteddfodau and in 1895 sang before Queen Victoria.
Brass bands
In the mid 19th century brass band
s had a poor relationship with the Nonconformist chapels, mainly due to the heavy social drinking that came hand in hand with being a member of a band. This changed towards the end of the century and as well as becoming more respectable, many bands had actually joined the temperance movement. Two of the more well known brass bands from the Rhondda both started as temperance bands. The more famous, Cory Band
from Ton Pentre
, started life as Ton Temperance in 1884; while local rivals The Parc and Dare Band were the Cwmparc Drum and Fife Temperance Band.
As the temperance movement faded the bands found new benefactors in the colliery owners, and many bands took on the names of specific collieries. A memorable image of the connection between the collieries and brass bands came in 1985 when the Maerdy miners were filmed returning to work after the miners' strike, marching behind the village band.
For the majority of its history the area now recognised as the Rhondda Valley was an exclusively Welsh speaking area. It was only in the early 20th century that English
began to supplant Welsh as the first language of social intercourse. In 1803, English historian Benjamin Heath Malkin
mentioned while travelling through Ystradyfodwg, that he had only met one person with whom he could talk, and then with the help of an interpreter. This situation was repeated with John George Wood
, who on his visit to the area complained of the awkwardness of understanding the particular dialects and idioms used by the native speakers, which were on times difficult for other Welsh speakers to understand. This dialect was once called 'tafodiaith gwŷr y Gloran' ('the dialect of the men of Gloran').
As the industrialisation of the valleys began there was little shift in the use of Welsh as a first language. Initial immigrants were Welsh and it was not until the 1900s that English workers began settling in any great numbers, but it wasn't these new workers who changed the language; the erosion of Welsh had already begun in the 1860s in the school classrooms. The educational philosophy accepted by schoolmasters and governmental administrators was that English was the language of scholars, and that Welsh was a barrier to moral and commercial prosperity. In 1901 35.4% of Rhondda workers spoke only English but by 1911 this had risen to 43.1%, while Welsh speaking monoglots had dropped from 11.4% to 4.4% in the same period.
The true Anglicization of the Rhondda Valleys took place from 1900 to 1950. Improved transport and communications facilitated the spread of new cultural influences, along with dealings with outside companies with no understanding of Welsh, trade union meetings held in English, the coming of radio, cinema and then television and cheap English newspapers and paperback
books; all were factors in the absorption of the English language.
Cadwgan Circle
Though the population of the Rhondda was embracing English as its first language, during the 1940s a literary and intellectual movement formed in the Rhondda that would produce an influential group of Welsh language writers. Formed during the Second World War by Egyptologist J. Gwyn Griffiths
and his German wife Käte Bosse-Griffiths
, the group was known as the Cadwgan Circle (Cylch Cadwgan), and met at the Griffiths' house in Pentre. The Welsh writers who made up the movement included Pennar Davies
, Rhydwen Williams
, James Kitchener Davies
and Gareth Alban Davies
.
National Eisteddfod
The Rhondda has hosted the National Eisteddfod
on only one occasion, in 1928
at Treorchy
. The Gorsedd stones
that were placed to commemorate the event still stand on the Maindy hillside overlooking Treorchy and Cwmparc. In 1947 Treorchy held the Urdd National Eisteddfod, the Eisteddfod for children and young adults.
Communal activity
Rhondda had a strong tradition of communal activity, exemplified by workmen's halls
, miners' institute
s and trade unions. Miners began to contribute to the building and running of institutes - such as the Parc and Dare Hall
in Treorchy - from the 1890s onwards, and they were centres of both entertainment and self-improvement with billiards halls, libraries and reading rooms.
the Rhondda Chronicle which became the Rhondda Gazette and General Advertiser of the Rhondda Fach and Ogmore Valleys in 1891. In 1899, the Rhondda Valley was served by the Pontypridd and Rhondda Weekly Post while Rhondda Post was also in circulation in 1898.
The Rhondda Leader
one of the more familiar local papers of the region, was first published in 1899 and nine years later became the Rhondda Leader, Maesteg, Garw and Ogmore Telegraph. The Porth Gazette was published from 1900 to 1944 and during that period there was a newspaper called the Rhondda Socialist. Rhondda Gazette was in circulation from 1913 to 1919 while the Rhondda Clarion was available in the late 1930s.
The Porth Gazette and Rhondda Leader was published from 1944 to 1967 while also published in Pontypridd during those years was the Rhondda Fach Leader and Gazette. In more recent years the Rhondda Leader and Pontypridd & Llantrisant Observer combined before the Rhondda Leader became a separate edition once more.
In August 1952 the BBC transmitter at Wenvoe began broadcasting allowing the Rhondda to receive television pictures for the first time. This was followed in January 1958 with Commercial Television provided by Television Wales and the West
(TWW), giving the viewers of the Rhondda a choice of two television channels.
runs through Porth before ending at Treorchy, where it joins the A4061 to Hirwaun. The A4233 begins outside Rhondda at Tonyrefail
, heading north through Porth and through the Rhondda Fach to Maerdy, where the road eventually links up with the A4059 at Aberdare. Two other A roads service the area; the A4119 is a relief road, known as the Tonypandy Bypass and the other is the A4061 which links Treorchy to the Ogmore Vale
before reaching Bridgend.
There is a single rail link to the Rhondda, the Rhondda Line
, based around the old Taff Vale Railway
which serviced both the Rhondda Fach and Rhondda Fawr. The Rhondda Line runs through the Rhondda Fawr, linking Rhondda to Cardiff Central
. The railway stations that once populated the Rhondda Fach were all closed after the Beeching review
. The railway line serves ten Rhondda stations with the villages not directly linked connected through bus services.
Due to the scarcity of inhabitants in the Rhondda prior to industrialisation, there are few residents of note before the valleys became a coal mining area. The earliest individuals to come to the fore were linked with the coal industry and the people; physical men who found a way out of the Rhondda through sport; charismatic orators who led the miners through unions or political and religious leaders who tended to the deeply religious chapel going public.
The two main sports with which the Rhondda appeared to produce quality participants were rugby union and boxing
. One of the first true rugby stars to come from the Rhondda was Willie Llewellyn
, who not only gained 20 caps for Wales
scoring 48 points, but was also the first Rhondda born member of the British Lions
. Such was Llewellyn's fame that during the Tonypandy Riots, his pharmacy was left unscathed by the crowds due to his past sporting duties. Many players came through the Rhondda to gain international duty, and after the split between amateur rugby union and the professional Northern League
, many were also tempted to the North of England to earn a wage for their abilities. Amongst the new league players was Jack Rhapps
, Aberaman born, but living in the Rhondda when he 'Went North', eventually becoming the world's first dual-code international rugby player.
The most famous rugby player from the Rhondda of the later half of the 20th century is Cliff Morgan
. Morgan was born in Trebanog
, and gained 29 caps for Wales, four for the British Lions and was one of the inaugural inductees of the International Rugby Hall of Fame
. Another notable player is Billy Cleaver
from Treorchy
, a member of the 1950 Grand Slam wining team.
During the 20th century The Rhondda also supplied a steady stream of championship boxers. Percy Jones
was not only the first World Champion from the Rhondda, but was the first Welshman to hold a World Title when he won the Flyweight belt in 1914. After Jones came the Rhondda's most notable boxer, Jimmy Wilde
also known as the "Mighty Atom", who took the IBU
world flyweight title in 1916. British Champions from the valleys include Tommy Farr
who held the British and Empire heavyweight belt and Llew Edwards
who took the British featherweight title.
Although association football was not as popular as rugby in the Rhondda in the early 20th century, after the 1920s several notable players had emerged from the area. Two of the most important players both came from the village of Ton Pentre; Jimmy Murphy was capped 15 times for Wales, and in 1958 managed both the Welsh national team and Manchester United. Roy Paul
, also from Ton Pentre, led Manchester City to two successive FA Cup
finals in 1955 and 1956 and gained 33 Welsh caps. Alan Curtis
, who was best known for representing Swansea City
and Cardiff City
, came from the neighbouring village of Pentre, and in an 11 year international career won 35 caps for Wales scoring 6 goals.
The Rhondda Valleys have also produced two world class darts players. In 1975 Alan Evans
from Ferndale won the Winmau World Masters
, a feat repeated in 1994 by Richie Burnett
from Cwmparc. Burnett surpassed Evans when he also became BDO World Darts Champion
winning the tournament in 1995.
, known as Mabon, and George Thomas, Viscount Tonypandy
. Abraham, best known as a trade unionist was the first Member of Parliament of the Rhondda and the leader of the South Wales Miners' Federation. A strong negotiator in the early years of valleys' unionism, as a moderate he lost ground to more radical leaders in his later years. Thomas was the born in Port Talbot but raised in Trealaw near Tonypandy. He was a Member of Parliament for Cardiff for 38 years and Speaker of the House of Commons (1976–1983). On his retirement from politics he was made Viscount Tonypandy.
and brothers Donald
and Glyn Houston
. Baker was born in Ferndale and starred in films such as the The Cruel Sea
(1953) and Richard III
(1955), though it was as actor/producer of the 1964 film Zulu
that his legacy endures. The Houston brothers were both born in Tonypandy, with Donald gaining better success as a film actor, with memorable roles in The Blue Lagoon
(1949) and Ealing's Dance Hall
(1950). Glyn Houston acted primarily in British B-Movies, and was better known as a television actor.
, the winner of the Eisteddfod Crown on two occasions who used the landscape of the industrial valleys as a basis for much of his work. Writing in the English language Peter George was born in Treorchy and is best known as the Oscar nominated screenwriter of Dr. Strangelove, based on his book Red Alert. Reflecting the lives of the residents of the Rhondda, both Gwyn Thomas
and Ron Berry
brought a realism to the industrial valleys which was missing in the more rose-tinted writings of Richard Llewellyn
.
, a painter from Ystrad, whose expressionist work was deeply rooted in the juxtaposition of the industrialised buildings of the valleys set against the green hills that surround them. Also from the Rhondda Fawr was sculptor Robert Thomas
; born in Cwmparc, his heavy cast statues have become icons of contemporary Wales, with five of his statues publicly displayed in the centre of Cardiff.
, born in Treorchy in 1924 was the co-inventor of packet switching
, a process which enabled the exchange of information between computers, a feature which enabled the Internet.
In the social sciences, the Rhondda has produced Welsh historian John Davies
, an important voice on Welsh affairs, who is one of the most recognised faces and voices of present day Welsh history, and is also one of the main authors of The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. The Rhondda has also produced J. Gwyn Griffiths
, an eminent Egyptologist, who was also a member of the Cadwgan Circle. Griffiths and his wife Käte Bosse-Griffiths
were influential writers and curators in the history of Egyptian lore.
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, formerly a local government district
Rhondda (district)
Rhondda was a local government district based around the geographical area of the Rhondda Valley, south Wales.The district was initially created as Ystradyfodwg Local Government District from parts of Ystradyfodwg, Llanwonno and Llantrisant parishes, Glamorgan, in 1877, when the Local Government...
, consisting of 16 communities
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
built around the River Rhondda
River Rhondda
The River Rhondda is a river in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales which has two major tributaries; the Rhondda Fawr and the Rhondda Fach .- Description :...
. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley (mawr large) and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley (bach small). Both the singular term 'Rhondda Valley' and the plural 'Rhondda Valleys' are commonly used. In 2001 the Rhondda constituency
Rhondda (Assembly constituency)
Rhondda is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the South Wales Central electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to eight...
of the National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
had a population of 72,443; while the National Office of Statistics described the Rhondda urban area as having a population of 59,602 making it the 4th largest single urban area in Wales after the cities of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
and Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
. Rhondda is part of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough and is part of the South Wales Valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
.
The Rhondda Valley is most notable for its historical link to the coal mining industry which was at its peak between 1840-1925 AD. The Rhondda Valleys were home to a strong early nonconformist Christian movement which manifested itself in the baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
chapels which moulded Rhondda values in the 19th and early 20th century. Rhondda is also famous for strong masculine cultural ties within a social community which expressed itself outside industry in the form of male voice choirs, sport and politics.
Rhondda Fawr
Porth
Porth is a town and a community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Valley and is regarded as the gateway to the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach valleys because both valleys meet at Porth...
and rises through the valley until it reaches Blaenrhondda
Blaenrhondda
Blaenrhondda is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaenrhondda is a very small village and is part of the community of Treherbert.-History:...
, near Treherbert
Treherbert
Treherbert is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its economic peak between 1850 and 1920...
. The settlements that make up the Rhondda Fawr are as follows:
- BlaencwmBlaencwmBlaencwm is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaencwm is very small village and is part of the community of Treherbert.- History :...
a district of Treherbert. - BlaenrhonddaBlaenrhonddaBlaenrhondda is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaenrhondda is a very small village and is part of the community of Treherbert.-History:...
a district of Treherbert. - Cwm ClydachClydach ValeClydach Vale is a village adjoining Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the Rhondda Valley, Wales. It is named for its situation on the Nant Clydach, a tributary of the River Taff.-Integration of villages:...
a community. - CwmparcCwmparcCwmparc is a village and a district of the community of Treorchy, in the Rhondda Valley, Wales.- History :Early legends tell of a medieval park, or hunting preserve, in the area called Parc Cwm Brychiniog, which was subsequently made into four farms in Tudor times, one of which was called Parc...
a district of Treorchy. - Cymmer a district of Porth.
- Dinas RhonddaDinas RhonddaDinas is a village near Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Dinas is often referred to as Dinas Rhondda as in the railway station such as to avoid confusion with Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan...
a district of Penygraig. - Edmondstown a district of Penygraig.
- GelliGelli, RhonddaGelli is a village in the Rhondda Fawr valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales, situated on the southern bank of the Rhondda Fawr River...
a district of Ystrad - GlynfachGlynfachGlynfach is a district of the community and electoral ward of Cymmer, within the town of Porth, Rhondda Cynon Taf. There are no shops in Glynfach, however there is one pub - The Colliers Arms - and one parish church - St. John's Church...
a district of Cymmer - LlwynypiaLlwynypiaLlwynypia , is a village in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Tonypandy in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. Before 1850 a lightly populated rural farming area, Llwynypia experienced a population boom between 1860 and 1920 with the sinking of several coal mines after the discovery of large coal deposits...
a community. - PentrePentrePentre is a village and community, near Treorchy in Rhondda valley, falling within the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The village's name is taken from the Welsh word Pentref, which translates as homestead, though Pentre is named after a large farm that dominated the area before the...
a community. - PenygraigPenygraigPenygraig is a village and community in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales...
a community - PorthPorthPorth is a town and a community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Valley and is regarded as the gateway to the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach valleys because both valleys meet at Porth...
a community that sees itself as the unofficial capital of the Rhondda, mainly due to its geographic location. - Ton PentreTon PentreTon Pentre is a village in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Ton Pentre, a former industrial coal mining village, is a district of the community of Pentre. The old district of Ystradyfodwg was named after the church at Ton Pentre...
a district of Pentre. - TonypandyTonypandyTonypandy is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. A former industrial coal mining town, today Tonypandy is best known as the site of the Tonypandy Riots....
a community. - TrealawTrealawTrealaw is the longest village in the Rhondda Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.Trealaw stretches over two miles from the junction of Cemetery Road and Brithweunydd Road in the east, to the junction of Ynyscynon Road and Partridge Road to the northwest....
a community. - TrebanogTrebanogTrebanog is a village lying on the southernmost outskirts of the Rhondda Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, located off the A4233 road between Porth the unoficial capital of the Rhondda, and the town of Tonyrefail which is at the head of the Ely Valley...
a district of Cymmer - TrehafodTrehafodTrehafod is a village in the Rhondda Valley between Porth and Pontypridd in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, although in administrative terms is split between the electoral division of Cymmer to the West and Rhondda to the East...
the most southernmost and smallest of the Rhondda Valley communities. - TreherbertTreherbertTreherbert is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its economic peak between 1850 and 1920...
a community. - TreorchyTreorchyTreorchy is a village, although it used to be and still has characteristics of a town, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr valley...
the largest community in either of the valleys. - TynewyddTynewyddTynewydd is a village located in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. With Treherbert, Blaencwm, Blaenrhondda and Pen-yr-englyn it is part of a community of former industrial coal mining villages at the head of Rhondda Fawr, the larger of the Rhondda Valleys.The village is...
a district of Treherbert - Williamstown a district of Penygraig.
- YnyswenYnyswenYnyswen is a village in the community of Treorchy, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales.Ynyswen railway station is on the Rhondda Line....
a district of Treorchy. - YstradYstrad RhonddaYstrad is a community and village in the Rhondda Fawr valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. As a community and ward Ystrad contains the neighbouring district of Gelli...
a community.
Rhondda Fach
The Rhondda Fach is celebrated in the 1971 David AlexanderDavid Alexander (singer)
David Alexander was a Welsh singer and entertainer.-Early years:Born in Blackwood, Monmouthshire, Alexander left Bedwellty Grammar School at the age of sixteen to support his family. He joined his father and eldest brother in the mines at Oakdale Colliery...
song 'If I could see the Rhondda'; the valley includes Wattstown, Ynyshir, Pontygwaith, Ferndale, Tylorstown and Maerdy. The settlements that make up the Rhondda Fach are as follows:
- BlaenllechauBlaenllechauBlaenllechau is a small village located in the Rhondda Fach valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Neighbouring villages are Ferndale, Maerdy and Tylorstown. The population of Blaenllechau is far less than 1000.-History:...
a district of Ferndale. - Ferndale a community.
- MaerdyMaerdyMaerdy is a village and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley.- History :...
a community. - PenrhysPenrhysPenrhys is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated on a hillside overlooking both valleys of Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach. It is situated around 1,100 ft above sea level and is a district of Tylorstown...
a district of Tylorstown. - PontygwaithPontygwaith, RhonddaPontygwaith is a small village located in the Rhondda Fach valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.- History :...
a district of Tylorstown. - TylorstownTylorstownTylorstown is a village located in the Rhondda valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It was founded by Alfred Tylor who set up an early coal mining operation in the location in the mid-19th century....
a community. - Stanleytown a district of Tylorstown.
- WattstownWattstownWattstown is a village located in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Located in the Rhondda Fach valley it is a district of the community of Ynyshir. Prior to mid 19th century industrialisation the area was once little more than a wooded area, sparsely populated...
a district of Ynyshir. - YnyshirYnyshirYnyshir , meaning "Long Island" in English, is a village and a community located in the Rhondda Valley, within Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. The village takes its name from a farm in the area, falling within the historic parishes of Ystradyfodwg and Llanwynno . The community of Ynyshir also...
a community.
Etymology
Commote
A commote , sometimes spelt in older documents as cymwd, was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix cym- and the noun bod...
of the cantref of Penychen
Penychen
Penychen was a possible minor kingdom of early mediæval Wales and later a cantref of the Kingdom of Morgannwg. Penychen was one of three cantrefs that made up the kingdom of Glywysing, the other two being Gwynllwg and Gorfynydd...
in the kingdom of Morgannwg, a sparsely populated agricultural area. The spelling of the commote varied widely, and the Cardiff Records shows the various spellings:
|
|
Many sources state the meaning of Rhondda as 'noisy', though this is a simplified translation without research. Sir Ifor Williams
Ifor Williams
Sir Ifor Williams was a Welsh scholar who laid the foundations for the academic study of Old Welsh, particularly early Welsh poetry....
, in his work Enwau Lleoedd, suggests that the first syllable rhwadd is a form of the Welsh adrawdd or adrodd, as in 'recite, relate, recount', similar to the Old Irish rád; 'speech'. The suggestion is that the river is speaking aloud, a comparison to the English expression 'a babbling brook'.
With the increase in population from the mid 19th century the area was officially recognised as the Ystradyfodwg Local Government District, but was renamed in 1897 as the Rhondda Urban District
Rhondda (district)
Rhondda was a local government district based around the geographical area of the Rhondda Valley, south Wales.The district was initially created as Ystradyfodwg Local Government District from parts of Ystradyfodwg, Llanwonno and Llantrisant parishes, Glamorgan, in 1877, when the Local Government...
after the River Rhondda.
Residents of either valley rarely use the terms 'Rhondda Fach' or 'Rhondda Fawr', referring instead to 'The Rhondda', or their specific village when relevant. Locals tend to refer to "The Rhondda" with the definite article
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
, despite its non-usage on sign posts and maps.
Prehistoric and Roman Rhondda: 8,000 BC—410 AD
The Rhondda Valley is located in the upland, or Blaenau, area of GlamorganGlamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
. The landscape of the Rhondda was formed by glacial
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
action during the last ice age, as slow moving glaciers gouged out the deep valleys that exist today. With the retreat of the ice sheet, around 8000 BC, the valleys were further modified by stream and river action. This left the two river valleys of the Rhondda with narrow, steep sided slopes which would dictate the layout of settlements from early to modern times.
Mesolithic period
The earliest evidence of the presence of Man in these upper areas of Glamorgan was discovered in 1963 at Craig y Llyn. A small chipped stone tool found at the site, recorded as possibly being of 'CreswellianCreswellian
The Creswellian is a British Upper Palaeolithic culture named after the type site of Creswell Crags in Derbyshire by Dorothy Garrod in 1926. It dates to between c...
' type or at least from the early Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
period, places human activity on the plateau above the valleys. Many other Mesolithic items have been discovered in the Rhondda, predominantly in the upper areas around Blaenrhondda
Blaenrhondda
Blaenrhondda is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaenrhondda is a very small village and is part of the community of Treherbert.-History:...
, Blaencwm
Blaencwm
Blaencwm is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaencwm is very small village and is part of the community of Treherbert.- History :...
and Maerdy
Maerdy
Maerdy is a village and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley.- History :...
, mainly stone age items relating to hunting, fishing and foraging which suggests seasonal nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic activity. Though no definite Mesolithic settlements have been located in the area, the concentration of finds at the Craig y Llyn escarpment suggests the presence of a temporary campsite in the vicinity.
Neolithic period
The first structural relic of Prehistoric Man was excavated in 1973 at Cefn Glas near the watershed of the Rhondda Fach river. The remains of a rectangular hut with traces of drystone wall foundations and postholePosthole
In archaeology a posthole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone. They are usually much deeper than they are wide although truncation may not make this apparent....
s was discovered; while carbon dating
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
of charcoal found at the site dated the structure as late Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
.
Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
periods, several cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
s and cist
Cist
A cist from ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East....
s have been discovered throughout the length of both valleys. The best example of a round-cairn was found at Crug yr Afan, near the summit of Graig Fawr, west of Cwmparc
Cwmparc
Cwmparc is a village and a district of the community of Treorchy, in the Rhondda Valley, Wales.- History :Early legends tell of a medieval park, or hunting preserve, in the area called Parc Cwm Brychiniog, which was subsequently made into four farms in Tudor times, one of which was called Parc...
. The cairn consisted of an earthen mound with a surrounding ditch 28 metres in circumference and over 2 metres tall. Although most cairns discovered in the area are round, a ring cairn or cairn circle exists on Gelli
Gelli, Rhondda
Gelli is a village in the Rhondda Fawr valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales, situated on the southern bank of the Rhondda Fawr River...
Mountain. Known as the 'Rhondda Stonehenge' the cairn consists of 10 upright stones no more than 60 cm in height encircling a central cist. All the cairns found within the Rhondda are located on high ground, many on ridgeways, and may have been used as waypoints.
In 1912 a hoard of 24 late Bronze Age weapons and tools was discovered during construction work at the Llyn Fawr
Llyn Fawr
Llyn Fawr is a lake in the Cynon Valley , South Wales, best known as the site of an important hoard of weapons and tools from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age...
reservoir, at the source of the Rhondda Fawr. The items did not originate from the Rhondda and are thought to have been left at the site as a votive offering. Of particular interest were fragments of an iron sword which is the earliest iron object to be found in Wales and the only 'C-type' Hallstatt
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
sword recorded in Britain.
Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
.
The settlement at Hen Dre'r Mynydd in Blaenrhondda was dated around the Roman period when the discovery of fragments of wheel-made Romano-British pottery were discovered at the location. The site is made up of a group of ruinous drystone roundhouses
Roundhouse (dwelling)
The roundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, originally built in western Europe before the Roman occupation using walls made either of stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle-and-daub panels and a conical thatched roof. Roundhouses ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m...
and enclosures and is thought to have been a sheep farming community.
The most definite example of a Roman site in the area is found above Blaenllechau in Ferndale. The settlement is one of a group of earthworks and indicates the presence of the Roman army during the 1st century AD. It was thought to be a military site or marching camp
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
.
Dark Age and Medieval Rhondda: 410—1550 AD
The 5th century saw the withdrawal of Imperial Roman support from Britain, and the succeeding centuries, the Dark Ages, witnessed the emergence of a national identity and of kingdoms. The area which would become the Rhondda lay within Glywysing, an area that incorporated the modern area of Glamorgan, ruled by a dynasty founded by GlywysGlywys
Glywys is described in Welsh genealogies as an early 5th century Welsh king who is seen as an important character in early Welsh history. The kingdom of Glywysing is believed to have been named after Glywys, and is the earliest place name for the land between the Rivers Tawe and Usk...
. This dynasty was later replaced by another founded by Meurig ap Tewdrig
Meurig ap Tewdrig
Meurig ap Tewdrig was the son of Tewdrig , and a king of the early Welsh kingdoms of Gwent and Glywysing. He is thought to have lived sometime between 400 and 600 AD....
whose descendant Morgan ap Owain would give Glamorgan its Welsh name Morgannwg. With the coming of the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
overlords after the 1066 Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
, south-east Wales was divided into five cantrefi. The Rhondda lay within Penychen
Penychen
Penychen was a possible minor kingdom of early mediæval Wales and later a cantref of the Kingdom of Morgannwg. Penychen was one of three cantrefs that made up the kingdom of Glywysing, the other two being Gwynllwg and Gorfynydd...
, a narrow strip running between modern day Glyn Neath and the coast between Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and Aberthaw
Aberthaw
Aberthaw is a village of the Vale of Glamorgan west of Barry on the coast of South Wales.The village is split into two halves - East Aberthaw and West Aberthaw, separated by the River Thaw. It is home to Aberthaw Cement Works and Aberthaw Power Station a coal power station plant that was linked to...
. Each cantref was further divided into commote
Commote
A commote , sometimes spelt in older documents as cymwd, was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix cym- and the noun bod...
s, with Penychen made up of five such commotes, one being Glynrhondda.
Relics of the Dark Ages are uncommon within the Glamorgan area and secular monuments are still rarer. The few sites discovered from this period have been located in the Bro, or lowlands, leaving historians to believe that the Blaenau were sparsely inhabited, maybe only visited seasonally by pastoralists
Pastoralism
Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...
. A few earthwork dykes are the only structural relics in the Rhondda area from this period and no carved stones or crosses exist to indicate the presence of a Christian shrine. During the Early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
communities were split between bondmen and freemen. The bondmen lived in small villages centred around a court or llys of the local ruler to whom they paid dues; while the freemen, who enjoyed a higher status, lived in scattered homesteads. The most important village was the 'mayor's settlement' or maerdref. Maerdy
Maerdy
Maerdy is a village and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley.- History :...
in the Rhondda Fach has been identified as a maerdref, mainly on the strength of the name, though the village did not survive past the Middle Ages. The largest concentration of dwellings from this time have been discovered around Gelli and Ystrad
Ystrad Rhondda
Ystrad is a community and village in the Rhondda Fawr valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. As a community and ward Ystrad contains the neighbouring district of Gelli...
in the Rhondda Fawr, mainly platform houses.
During the late 11th century, the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
lord, Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon , or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales...
entered Morgannwg in an attempt to gain control of the area, building many earth and timber castles in the lowlands. In the early 12th century the Norman expansion continued with castles being founded around Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
, Kenfig
Kenfig
Kenfig is a village and former borough in Bridgend, Wales.The borough contributed with other Glamorgan towns to sending a member of parliament to Westminster until the Reform Act of 1832...
and Coity
Coity Castle
Coity Castle in Glamorgan, Wales is a Norman castle built by Sir Payn "the Demon" de Turberville , one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of Robert FitzHamon, Lord of Gloucester. Now in ruins, it stands in the Community of Coity...
, while within the same period Bishop Urban
Urban, Bishop of Llandaff
Urban was the first bishop of South East Wales to call himself 'bishop of Llandaff'. He was of a Welsh clerical family and his baptismal name in the Welsh language is given in charter sources as Gwrgan...
established the Diocese of Llandaff
Diocese of Llandaff
The Diocese of Llandaff is a Church in Wales diocese. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Llandaff, a suburb of Cardiff...
under which Glynrhondda belonged to the large parish of Llantrisant
Llantrisant
Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...
.
Upon the death of William, Lord of Glamorgan
William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester
William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester was the son and heir of Sir Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and Mabel FitzHamon of Gloucester, daughter of Robert Fitzhamon.- Lineage :...
, his extensive holdings were eventually granted to Gilbert de Clare
Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford
Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, 5th Earl of Gloucester was the son of Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, from whom he inherited the Clare estates. He also inherited from his mother, Amice Fitz William, the estates of Gloucester and the honour of St. Hilary, and from Rohese, an...
in 1217. The subjugation of Glamorgan, begun by Fitzhamon, was finally completed by the powerful De Clare family, but although Gilbert de Clare had now become one of the great Marcher Lords the territory was far from settled. Hywel ap Maredudd, lord of Meisgyn
Miskin
Miskin is a village approximately 2 miles south of Llantrisant in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.The origin of the village was a small hamlet known as New Mill, which grew up around New Mill farm...
captured his cousin Morgan ap Cadwallon and annexed Glynrhondda in an attempt to reunify the commotes under a single native ruler. This conflict was unresolved by the time of De Clare's death and the area fell under Royal control.
Settlements of Medieval Rhondda
Little evidence exists of settlements within the Rhondda during the Norman period. Unlike the communal dwellings of the Iron Age the remains of the Medieval buildings discovered in the area follow the pattern similar to modern farmsteads; with separate holdings spaced out around the hillsides. The evidence of Medieval Welsh farmers comes from the remains of their buildings, with the foundations of platform houses having been discovered spaced out throughout both valleys. When the site of several platform houses at Gelligaer Common were excavated in the 1930s potsherds dating from the 13th-14th century were discovered.The Rhondda also has the remains of two Medieval castles. The older is Castell Nos which is located at the head of the Rhondda Fach overlooking Maerdy. The only recorded evidence of Castle Nos is a mention by John Leland who stated that "Castelle Nose is but a high stony creg in the top of an hille". The castle comprises a scarp and ditch forming a raised platform and on the north face is a ruined drystone building. Due to its location and form it does not appear to be of Norman design and is therefore thought to have been built by the Welsh as a border defence; and must therefore date before 1247 when Richard de Clare
Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford
Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester was son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and Isabel Marshal. On his father's death, when he became Earl of Gloucester , he was entrusted first to the guardianship of Hubert de Burgh. On Hubert's fall, his guardianship was...
seized Glynrhondda. The second castle is Ynysygrug, located close to what is now Tonypandy
Tonypandy
Tonypandy is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. A former industrial coal mining town, today Tonypandy is best known as the site of the Tonypandy Riots....
town centre. Little remains of this motte-and-bailey
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
earthwork defence as much was destroyed when Tonypandy railway station
Tonypandy railway station
Tonypandy railway station is a railway station serving the town of Tonypandy in south Wales. It is located on the Rhondda Line. The station cannot be directly accessed from Tonypandy, a scenic bridge over the river Rhondda must be used as the station adjoins a mountain.The original Pandy station...
was built in the 19th century. Ynysygrug is dated around the 12th century or early 13th century and has been misidentified by several historians, notably Owen Morgen in his book 'History of Pontypridd and Rhondda Valleys' who recorded it as a druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
ic sacred mound and Iolo Morgannwg
Iolo Morganwg
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg , was an influential Welsh antiquarian, poet, collector, and literary forger. He was widely considered a leading collector and expert on medieval Welsh literature in his day, but after his death it was revealed that he had forged a...
who erroneously believed it to be the burial mound of king Rhys ap Tewdwr
Rhys ap Tewdwr
Rhys ap Tewdwr was a Prince of Deheubarth in south-west Wales and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great...
.
This earliest Christian monument located in the Rhondda is the shrine of St. Mary at Penrhys
Penrhys
Penrhys is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated on a hillside overlooking both valleys of Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach. It is situated around 1,100 ft above sea level and is a district of Tylorstown...
whose holy well was mentioned by Rhisiart ap Rhys
Rhisiart ap Rhys
Rhisiart ap Rhys was a Welsh language poet from the cwmwd of Tir Iarll, Glamorgan.He was the son of Rhys Brydydd and nephew, in all probability, to the poet Gwilym Tew. 36 of his poems are extant.-Bibliography:...
in the 15th century.
Post-Medieval and pre-industrial Rhondda: 1550—1850
In the mid 16th century the Rhondda, at that time known as the Vale of Rotheney, belonged to the large but sparsely inhabited parish of Ystradyfodwg, 'St. Tyfodwg's Vale'. For administrative purposes the parish was divided into three hamletsHamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
: the Upper or Rhigos
Rhigos
Rhigos is a village in the north of the Cynon Valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. For postal purposes it comes under the town of Aberdare, although it is some from Aberdare town centre....
Hamlet to the north, the Middle or Penrhys Hamlet and the lower or Clydach Hamlet. Throughout the post-Medieval period the Rhondda was a heavily wooded area and its main economic staple was the rearing of sheep, horses and cattle. The historian Rice Merrick, in describing the upland area of the Vale of Glamorgan, stated that there "was always great breeding of cattle, horses and sheep; but in elder time therin grew but small store of corn, for in most places there the ground was not thereunto apt..." While English cartographer John Speed
John Speed
John Speed was an English historian and cartographer.-Life:He was born at Farndon, Cheshire, and went into his father's tailoring business where he worked until he was about 50...
described that the rearing of cattle was the "best means unto wealth that the Shire doth afford". As there was no fair held in the Rhondda the animals would be taken to neighbouring fairs and markets at Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
, Merthyr, Llantrisant
Llantrisant
Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...
, Ynysybwl
Ynysybwl
Ynysybwl is a village in Cwm Clydach in Wales. It is situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, roughly north-north-east of Cardiff, north of Pontypridd and south of Merthyr Tydfil, and forms part of the community of Ynysybwl and Coed-y-cwm....
and Llandaff
Llandaff
Llandaff is a district in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales, having been incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Church in Wales Bishop of Llandaff, whose diocese covers the most populous area of South Wales. Much of the district is covered by parkland known as Llandaff...
. However, to be self-supporting, the farmers of the area grew crops such as oats, corn and barley in small quantities. Crops were grown in the lower part of the Rhondda on narrow meadows adjoining the riversides, though during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
scarce supplies forced the cultivation of the upland areas such as Carn-y-wiwer
Wattstown
Wattstown is a village located in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Located in the Rhondda Fach valley it is a district of the community of Ynyshir. Prior to mid 19th century industrialisation the area was once little more than a wooded area, sparsely populated...
and Penrhys. Merrick would describe the diet of the upland inhabitants as consisting of "bread made of wheat...and ale and bear" and over two hundred years later Benjamin Malkin showed how little the diet had changed when he wrote that the people still ate "Oatmeal bread, with a relish of miserable cheese; and the beer, where they have any, is worse than none".
In the first half of the 17th century a rising cost of consumable goods and a series of bad harvests brought about economic changes in Glamorgan. Those with enough wealth were able to seize on opportunities created by these unsettled conditions and set about enlarging and enclosing farm lands. The enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
of freehold lands that began in the later Middle Ages now gained momentum and farms that were once owned by individual farmers were now owned by small groups of wealthy landowners. By the 19th century most of the Rhondda farms and estates were owned by absentee landlord
Absentee landlord
Absentee landlord is an economic term for a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. This practice is problematic for that region because absentee landlords drain local wealth into their home country, particularly that...
s, such as the Marquis of Bute, Earl of Dunraven, Crawshay Bailey
Crawshay Bailey
Crawshay Bailey was an English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales.-Early life:Bailey was born in 1789 in Great Wenham, Suffolk, the son of John Bailey, of Wakefield and his wife Susannah...
of Merthyr and the De Winton family of Brecon
Brecon
Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...
.
Settlements of post-Medieval Rhondda
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in the mid 17th century, a period of great rebuilding took place in the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
, of which Wales was now annexed, and this is reflected in the structures that were built within the Rhondda Valley. The fluctuating economic state of the late Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
period resulted in farmers taking in more land, creating higher levels of surplus goods and therefore producing higher profits. This profit was reflected in the new farm houses built in the Rhondda and for the first time an emphasis on domestic comfort became apparent in the design of the dwellings. Many of the new farm buildings were simple structures consisting of two or three small rooms, though of a much sturdier and permanent quality than the Medieval platform houses. A popular style of building was the long-house
Dartmoor longhouse
The Dartmoor longhouse is a type of traditional home, found on the high ground of Dartmoor, in Devon, England and belong to a wider tradition of combining human residences with those of livestock under a single roof. The earliest are thought to have been built in the 13th century, and they...
, a building which combined the house and cowshed into a single building. By 1840, at least 160 farms existed in the Rhondda, but most were destroyed with the growth of the mining industry. Of the few surviving buildings, those of note include Tynewydd ('New House') in Blaenrhondda
Blaenrhondda
Blaenrhondda is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaenrhondda is a very small village and is part of the community of Treherbert.-History:...
, a 17th century house thought to have given its name to the neighbouring village of Tynewydd
Tynewydd
Tynewydd is a village located in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. With Treherbert, Blaencwm, Blaenrhondda and Pen-yr-englyn it is part of a community of former industrial coal mining villages at the head of Rhondda Fawr, the larger of the Rhondda Valleys.The village is...
and Tyntyle in Ystrad dated around 1600.
There were few industrial buildings pre-1850; those of note include the 17th century blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
at Pontygwaith
Pontygwaith, Rhondda
Pontygwaith is a small village located in the Rhondda Fach valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.- History :...
which gave the village its name and the fulling mill
Fulling
Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...
established by Harri David in 1738, which in turn gave its name to Tonypandy
Tonypandy
Tonypandy is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. A former industrial coal mining town, today Tonypandy is best known as the site of the Tonypandy Riots....
. Corn mills existed sparsely throughout the valleys as did early coal pits, with two early pits recorded as being opened in 1612 at Rhigos and Cwmparc; though these would have mined from exposed rock in the hillside and not deep mined.
Industrial growth (1850—1914)
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
is the largest continuous coalfield in Britain, extending some 113 kilometres (70.2 mi) from Pontypool
Pontypool
Pontypool is a town of approximately 36,000 people in the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales....
in the east to St Brides Bay in the West, covering almost 2600 square kilometres (1,003.9 sq mi). This coalfield took in the majority of Glamorgan, and the entirety of the Rhondda was situated within it. Although neighbouring areas such as Merthyr and Aberdare
Aberdare
Aberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Dare and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,705...
had already sunk coal mines, it was not until Walter Coffin
Walter Coffin
Walter Coffin was a Welsh coalowner and Member of Parliament. Coffin is recognised as the first person to exploit the rich coal fields of the Rhondda Valley on an industrial scale, pioneering the growth of one of the most wealthy coal mining areas in the world.-Early life:Born in 1784 he was the...
initiated the Dinas
Dinas Rhondda
Dinas is a village near Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Dinas is often referred to as Dinas Rhondda as in the railway station such as to avoid confusion with Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan...
Lower Colliery in 1812 that coal was first exported from the Rhondda Valleys on any sort of commercial scale. This coal was originally taken by packhorse
Packhorse
.A packhorse or pack horse refers generally to an equid such as a horse, mule, donkey or pony used for carrying goods on their backs, usually carried in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. ...
, before the extension of Dr. Griffiths'
Richard Griffiths (industrialist)
Dr. Richard Griffiths was a Welsh industrial pioneer. Griffiths is notable for building the first recognised transport links into the Rhondda Valley paving the way for future coal exploration into one of the world's richest coal fields....
private tramline, to Pontypridd
Pontypridd
Pontypridd is both a community and a principal town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
and then by the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
to the port at Cardiff. The lack of any transportation links was one of the main problems that curtailed exploitation of the Rhondda Valley coal fields, along with the belief that the coalfields beneath the valley were thought to be too deep for economic working. It was therefore seen as an expensive risk and deterred anyone looking for a quick profit. The exploration of the Rhondda was undertaken by the Bute Trustees, agents of the third Marquess of Bute
John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute
John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute KT, KSG, KGCHS was a landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist and architectural patron.-Early life:...
, who not only owned large tracts of valley farmland but also possessed a large financial interest in the Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks is a port in south Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost...
which would export the coal. The trustees sank the Bute Merthyr Colliery in October 1851, at the top of the Rhondda Fawr in what would become Treherbert
Treherbert
Treherbert is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its economic peak between 1850 and 1920...
. The Bute Merthyr began producing coal in 1855, the first working steam coal colliery in the Rhondda.
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
(TVR) line. After Royal Assent was given to construct the railway in 1836, the original line was laid from Cardiff to Abercynon
Abercynon
Abercynon is a small village in the Cynon Valley in Mid Glamorgan, Wales. The unitary authority is now known as Rhondda Cynon Taff. It is composed of the village of Abercynon itself,Carnetown,Glancynon,Park View and Pontcynon. However, in recent years the sign to show motorists they are entering...
, and by 1841 a branch was opened to link Cardiff with Dinas via Pontypridd. This would allow easier and faster transportation for Walter Coffin's Dinas mine, an unsurprising addition considering Coffin was a director of the TVR. In 1849 the TVR had extended into the Rhondda Fach and by 1856 the railway had reached the furthest areas of both the Fach and Fawr valleys at Maerdy and Treherbert. For the first time the Rhondda Valley was connected by a major transportation route to the rest of Wales and the exploitation of its coalfields could begin.
The TVR line would dominate the transportation of coal throughout the Rhondda's industrial history, and its monopoly was a point of contention, as with no rivals the colliery owners could not negotiate for haulage rates. Several attempts were made to break the monopoly including the opening of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway
Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway
The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway connected the coal mines of the Rhondda Valley to the Swansea Bay ports.Connecting with the Taff Vale Railway at Treherbert, it had branches to Aberavon and Port Talbot docks. It was later extended to Swansea and a branch to Neath was added, bringing the total...
, between 1885 and 1895, which linked Blaenrhondda at the head of the Rhondda Fawr to the Prince of Wales Dock. To achieve this rail link the Rhondda Tunnel was constructed through Mynydd Blaengwynfy to Blaengwynfi
Blaengwynfi
Blaengwynfi is a village in the Neath Port Talbot area of South Wales.It is a part of the "Upper Afan Valleys". It used to be a coal mining village, and is directly below the village of "Abergwynfi"...
; at the time the longest railway tunnel in Wales.
Initially the shallower pits at Aberdare proved a bigger attraction for prospective mine owners, but once Aberdare became fully worked by the 1860s the Rhondda saw a rapid growth in development. During the 1860s-1870s 20 collieries opened in the Rhondda Valleys with the leading coalowner in the Rhondda Fach being David Davis of Aberdare, and David Davies
David Davies (industrialist)
David Davies was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1874 and 1886. Davies was often known as David Davies Llandinam , in order to differentiate him from others of the same name.Davies was the son of David Davies and his wife Elizabeth...
in the Rhondda Fawr. In 1865 the output of coal from the Rhondda Valley was roughly one quarter of that of Aberdare; ten years later the Rhondda was producing over two million tons, more than the Aberdare Valleys. These figures would later be dwarfed by the massive excavation rates seen in the last quarter of the 19th century up to the beginning of the First World War. In 1913 it was recorded that the Rhondda Valley's output was 9.6 million tons.
By 1893 there were more than 75 collieries within the Rhondda Valleys and although most were initially owned by a small group of private individuals this trend changed towards the start of the 20th century as companies began buying up the existing collieries. The widespread adoption of limited liability
Limited liability
Limited liability is a concept where by a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a company or partnership with limited liability. If a company with limited liability is sued, then the plaintiffs are suing the company, not its...
status began a trend towards a concentration of ownership, reducing some of the economic risks involved in coalmining: unstable coal prices, inflated acquisitions, geological difficulties, and large scale accidents. The emerging companies were formed by the individuals and families who sank the original collieries; but by the turn of the century they were no more than principal shareholders. These companies included the Davies's Ocean Coal Company, Archibald Hood
Archibald Hood
Archibald Hood was a Scottish engineer and coalowner who became an important figure in the industrial growth of the Rhondda Valley. Born in Kilmarnock and brought up by his widower father, Hood received a limited education and was working in the local mine by the time he was a teenager.The son of...
's Glamorgan Coal Company and David Davis & Son.
Population growth in the Industrial period
| Year | Male | Female | Total |
| 1801 | 265 | 277 | 542 |
| 1841 | 386 | 362 | 748 |
| 1851 | 493 | 458 | 951 |
| 1861 | 1669 | 1366 | 3035 |
| 1871 | 9559 | 7355 | 16914 |
| 1881 | 30877 | 24755 | 55632 |
| 1891 | 50174 | 38177 | 88351 |
| 1901 | 62315 | 51420 | 113735 |
| 1911 | 83209 | 69572 | 152781 |
| 1921 | 85351 | 77378 | 162729 |
| source |
During the early to mid 19th century the Rhondda Valleys were inhabited by small farming settlements. In 1841 the parish of Ystradyfodwg
Ystradyfodwg
Ystradyfodwg was an ancient upland parish in Glamorganshire, Wales. It is believed to have been named after Tyfodwg who was either a 7th century saint or chieftain....
, which would later constitute most of the Rhondda Borough, was recorded as having a population of less than a thousand inhabitants. With the discovery of massive deposits of high quality, accessible coal during the mid 19th century the Rhondda Valleys experienced a large influx of financial immigrants. The first immigrants came to the lower Rhondda villages of Dinas, Eirw and Cymmer. Special sinkers came from Llansamlet
Llansamlet
Llansamlet is the name of an electoral ward and a coterminous community City and County of Swansea, Wales, UK. Llansamlet does not have a community council....
, while the first miners were from Penderyn, Cwmgwrach and the neighbouring areas of Llantrisant
Llantrisant
Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...
and Llanharan
Llanharan
Llanharan is a small village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Llanharan thrived during the British industrial revolution, with several tin and coal mines in the location providing employment to the town's residents...
. The 1851 Census lists apprenticed paupers from Temple Cloud
Temple Cloud
Temple Cloud is a village within the Chew Valley in Somerset in the Bath and North East Somerset Council area on the A37 road. It is located 10 miles from Bristol and Bath, very close to Clutton. The nearest town is Midsomer Norton [5 miles]. The village of Cameley is also very close.The Temple in...
in Somerset, some of the earliest English immigrants. As more and more coal mines were sunk the population grew to fill the jobs needed to extract the coal. In the 1860s and 1870s the majority came from the neighbouring Welsh counties, but with the improving rail transportation and cheaper transport immigrants came from further afield. The 1890s recorded workers from the South West, places such as Gloucester and Devon, by the 1900s people came from North Wales, the lead mining area of Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
and the depressed slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
-quarrying villages of Bethesda, Ffestiniog
Ffestiniog
Ffestiniog is a community in Gwynedd in Wales, containing several villages, in particular the settlements of Llan Ffestiniog and Blaenau Ffestiniog. It has a population of 4,830....
and Dinorwig
Dinorwig
Dinorwig is a small village located high above Llyn Padarn, near Llanberis, in Wales.It is thought that it was part of the territory of the Ordovices tribe, and that 'Dinorwig' means "Fort of the Ordovices".The village has a long history of slate quarrying...
. Although there are records of Scottish workers, mainly centered around Archibald Hood's Llwynypia mines, there were only small numbers of Irish, less than 1,000 by 1911. The low immigration levels of Irish workers is often blamed on the forcible ejection of the Irish who lived in Treherbert during three days of rioting in 1857. The population of the valleys peaked in 1924 at over 167,900 inhabitants.
The mass influx of immigrants during this period were almost totally English and Welsh; the most notable exception being an immigrant nationality from outside the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the Italians. In the late 19th century a group of Italian immigrants, originally from the northern area of Italy, centred around the town of Bardi, were forced out of London by an over-saturation of the market. These immigrants set up a network of cafés, ice cream parlour
Ice cream parlor
Ice cream parlors are places that sell ice cream and frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is normally sold in two varieties in these stores: soft-serve ice cream , and hard-packed, which has an assortment of flavors, as well as frozen yogurt, which is a low-fat alternative and tastes slightly...
s and fish & chip shops
Fish and chips
Fish and chips is a popular take-away food in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada...
throughout South Wales and these businesses became iconic landmarks in the villages they served and they and subsequent generations became Welsh Italians
Welsh Italians
Welsh Italians are British citizens residing in Wales whose ancestry wholly or partly originates in Italy. Most Italian immigration to Wales took place in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the largest number of migrants settling in Glamorgan and Newport.-Migration history:Italian immigrants...
. Particular to the Rhondda, the shops ran by the Italian immigrants, were known as 'Bracchis', believed to have been named after Angelo Bracchi who opened the first café in the Rhondda in the early 1890s. By the early 21st century several of the original Bracchis were still open for business in the Rhondda.
The decline of coal and economic emigration (1914-1944)
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
called a general strike
1926 United Kingdom general strike
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
in defence of the miners who had been locked out
Lockout (industry)
A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
following A.J. Cook's
A. J. Cook (trade unionist)
Arthur James Cook , known as A. J. Cook, was a British coal miner and trade union leader. He is remembered as one of the United Kingdom's best known miners’ leaders and a key component of the National Minority Movement around the General Strike of 1926.-Early years:A.J...
call 'not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day'. The TUC called off the strike just nine days later, without resolving the miners' cut in wages. The miners disagreed and stayed on strike for a further seven months until they were starved into surrendering. The Rhondda saw many schemes set up by miners to aid their plight, such as soup kitchen
Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups...
s and fête
Fête
Fête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village fête,...
s and 'joy' days to support them; while in Maerdy the local miners set up a rationing system. By the time the miners returned to work there was little desire for further action through strikes, which saw a decline in the popularity of 'The Fed' and greater emphasis on solving problems through political and parliamentary means.
With the advent of the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
, employment within the Rhondda Valleys continued to fall. This in turn led to a decline in public and social services, as people struggled to pay rates and rents. One of the outcomes of a lack of funds was a fall in health provisions, which in Rhondda lead to a lack of medical and nursing staff, a failure to provide adequate sewage works and a rise in deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. By 1932 the long-term unemployment figure in the Rhondda was recorded at 63%, and in Ferndale the unemployment figure for adult males rose as high as 72.85%.
The start of the Second World War saw a complete turnaround in the employment figures, and by 1944 unemployment figures in the Rhondda ranged from 1% in Treorchy to 3.7% at Tonypandy.
Mining disasters
As with any heavy industry, the possibility of serious injury or death was an everyday risk for the mine workers of the Rhondda Valley. The most notorious form of colliery disasterMining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
was the gas explosion, caused by either a build up of methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
gas or coal dust
Coal dust
Coal dust is a fine powdered form of coal, which is created by the crushing, grinding, or pulverizing of coal. Because of the brittle nature of coal, coal dust can be created during mining, transportation, or by mechanically handling coal.-Explosions:...
. As the mines became deeper and ventilation become more difficult to control the risk increased. The worst single incident in the Rhondda was the 1867 Ferndale disaster in which an explosion saw the loss of 178 lives. However, the major disasters only accounted for roughly 20% of overall fatalities, with individual accidents accounting for the bulk of deaths. The list below shows mining disasters which saw the loss of five or more lives during a single incident.
| Colliery | Location | Date | Year | Death toll | cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinas Colliery | Dinas | 1 January | 1844 | 12 | gas explosion |
| Cymmer Colliery | Cymmer | 15 July | 1856 | 112 | gas explosion |
| Ferndale No. 1 Pit Ferndale Colliery Ferndale Colliery was a series of nine coal mines, located close to the village of Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales.-History:... |
Blaenllechau Blaenllechau Blaenllechau is a small village located in the Rhondda Fach valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Neighbouring villages are Ferndale, Maerdy and Tylorstown. The population of Blaenllechau is far less than 1000.-History:... |
8 November | 1867 | 178 | gas explosion |
| Ferndale No. 1 Pit | Blaenllechau | 10 June | 1869 | 53 | gas explosion |
| Pentre Colliery | Pentre | 24 February | 1871 | 38 | gas explosion |
| Tynewydd Colliery | Porth | 11 April | 1877 | 5 | flooding |
| Dinas Middle Colliery | Dinas | 13 January | 1879 | 63 | gas explosion |
| Naval Colliery | Penygraig Penygraig Penygraig is a village and community in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales... |
10 December | 1880 | 101 | gas explosion |
| Gelli Colliery | Gelli | 21 August | 1883 | 5 | gas explosion |
| Naval Colliery | Penygraig | 27 January | 1884 | 14 | gas explosion |
| Maerdy Colliery | Maerdy | 23–24 December | 1885 | 81 | gas explosion |
| National Colliery | Wattstown | 18 February | 1887 | 39 | gas explosion |
| Tylorstown Colliery | Tylorstown | 27 January | 1896 | 57 | gas explosion |
| National Colliery | Wattstown | 11 July | 1905 | 120 | gas explosion |
| Cambrian Colliery Cambrian Colliery The Cambrian Colliery was a large coal mine that operated between 1872 and 1967 near Clydach Vale in the Rhondda Valley, south Wales. It is notable for its huge production and for two infamous explosion disasters, in 1905 and 1965, in which a total of 64 miners were killed... No.1 |
Clydach Vale Clydach Vale Clydach Vale is a village adjoining Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the Rhondda Valley, Wales. It is named for its situation on the Nant Clydach, a tributary of the River Taff.-Integration of villages:... |
10 March | 1905 | 34 | gas explosion |
| Naval Colliery | Penygraig | 27 August | 1909 | 6 | cage fall |
| Glamorgan Colliery | Llwynypia | 25 January | 1932 | 11 | firedamp |
| Blaenclydach Colliery | Clydach Vale | 25 November | 1941 | 7 | runaway trolly |
| Lewis Merthyr Colliery | Trehafod | 22 November | 1956 | 9 | gas explosion |
| Cambrian Colliery Cambrian Colliery The Cambrian Colliery was a large coal mine that operated between 1872 and 1967 near Clydach Vale in the Rhondda Valley, south Wales. It is notable for its huge production and for two infamous explosion disasters, in 1905 and 1965, in which a total of 64 miners were killed... |
Clydach Vale | 17 May | 1965 | 31 | gas explosion |
Modern Rhondda 1945-present
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
in 1947; but the following decades saw a continual reduction in the output from the Rhondda mines. From 15,000 miners in 1947, Rhondda had just a single pit within the valleys producing coal in 1984, located at Maerdy. The decline in the mining of coal after World War II was a country wide issue, but South Wales and Rhondda were affected to a higher degree than other areas of Britain. Oil had superseded coal as the fuel of choice in many industries and there was political pressure influencing the supply of oil. Of the few industries that were still reliant on coal, the demand was for quality coals, especially coking coal
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
which was required by the steel industry. Fifty percent of Glamorgan coal was now supplied to steelworks
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
, with the second biggest market being domestic heating, which the 'smokeless' coal of the Rhondda became once again fashionable after the publication of the Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act
A Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...
. These two markets now controlled the fate of the mines in the Rhondda, and as demand fell from both sectors the knock-on effect on the mining industry was further contraction. In addition exports to other areas of Europe, traditionally France, Italy and the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, experienced a massive decline; from 33 per cent at the turn of the century to roughly 5 per cent by 1980.
The other major factors in the decline of coal were related to the massive under-investment in Rhondda mines over the past decades. Most of the mines in the valleys were sunk between the 1850s and 1880s, which, as a consequence, meant they were far smaller than most modern mines. The Rhondda mines were in comparison antiquated, with methods of ventilation, coal-preparation and power supply all of a poor standard. In 1945 the British coal industry cut 72 per cent of their output mechanically, whereas in South Wales the figure was just 22 per cent. The only way to ensure the financial survival of the mines in the valleys was massive investment from the NCB, but the 'Plan for Coal' paper drawn up in 1950 was overly optimistic in the future demand for coal, which was drastically reduced following an industrial recession in 1956 and an increased availability of oil.
The British government and Welsh employment bodies funded and subsidized external businesses to locate new ventures within the valleys to replace the vanishing heavy industries. The first attempt to bring in business not connected to the coal mining industry began in the 1920s when David Jones, Town Clerk to the Rhondda Urban Council, gained government support in attracting outside businesses to the area. Companies included Alfred Polikoff's clothing factory, Messers Jacob Beatus, manufacturing cardboard boxes and Electrical and Musical Industries Ltd
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
. Following the end of the Second World War, 23 companies were set up in the Rhondda Valleys, eighteen of them sponsored by the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
. Most companies had periods of growth and collapse, notably Thorn EMI
Thorn EMI
Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created in October 1979 when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but it demerged again in...
in the 1970s and Burberry
Burberry
Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fashion accessories. Its distinctive tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. Burberry is most famous for its iconic trench coat, which was invented by founder Thomas Burberry...
in the 2000s.
The Rhondda Heritage Park
Rhondda Heritage Park
Rhondda Heritage Park, Trehafod, Rhondda, South Wales is a tourist attraction which offers an insight into the life of the coal mining community that existed in the area until the 1980s....
, a museum commemorating Rhondda's industrial past, is situated just south of Porth in the former Lewis Merthyr Colliery in the small former mining village of Trehafod.
Religion
Llantrisant
Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...
and Saint Tyfodwg’s in Ogmore Vale
Ogmore Vale
Ogmore Vale is a village in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore.The village's main source of income came from coal mining. Up until the year 1865, the Ogmore valley was a quiet, isolated, rural hill farming community of less than ten farms and a few cottages...
.
The earliest known religious monument is the Catholic holy well in Penrhys first mentioned in the 15th century, though it may have been a place of pagan worship before this. This pilgrimage site was identified as a 'manor' belonging to the Cistercian Abbey of Llantarnam
Llantarnam Abbey
Llantarnam Abbey is an abbey of the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy and a former Cistercian monastery located in Llantarnam, Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen in southeast Wales.- History :...
and was seen as one of the most important religious sites in Wales, because of its Marian shrine
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
In the culture and practice of some Christian Churches - mainly, but not solely, the Roman Catholic Church - a Shrine to the Virgin Mary is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion...
. This holy site was the main reason people would pass through the commote; it was even thought to be the main reason why the first bridges were built over the River Rhondda.
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
the Parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Ystradyfodwg near the bank of the River Rhondda served the parishioners of the Rhondda Fawr, while the families of the Rhondda Fach attended Llanwynno church. The inhabitants of the lower Rhondda, in the vicinity of Porth and Dinas, would need to trek to Llantrisant to hear a service.
Despite the importance of the Anglican Church in the lives of the parishioners the growing strength of Nonconformity
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
would make itself felt in the 18th century. In 1738 the Reverend Henry Davies formed the Independent Cause in Cymmer and five years later a ‘'Ty Cwrdd’’ or meeting house was opened there. Although attracting families from as far away as Merthyr and the parish of Eglwysilan, there were no other Nonconformist Causes until David Williams began preaching in the Rhondda in 1784. In 1785 six people were baptised in the river near Melin-yr-Om and in 1786 ‘'Ynysfach’’ was opened in Ystrad and was “a new house for religious services”. This was the first Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
in the Rhondda and would be the forerunner in a new religious movement in the valley for the next 150 years. In the early 19th century there were only three places of worship in the Rhondda; the parish church (now dedicated to St. John the Baptist), Cymmer and Ynysfach chapels. This changed rapidly after 1855 as the coal mining industry brought in an influx of population and by 1905 there were 151 chapels in the valley.
Chapel life was central to valley life throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but as with many communities throughout Britain, the post wars saw a decline in regular membership. As the population declined the number of places of worship also declined, but this does not mask the severe drop in membership from the 1950s, when full parishes reduced to a degree which saw many chapels close. By 1990 the Rhondda had less than 50 places of worship, the majority demolished.
Political activism
South Wales Miners' Federation
The South Wales Miners' Federation , nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for miners in South Wales.The union was founded on 24 October 1898, following the defeat of the South Wales miners' strike of 1898...
after the 1898 coal strike
Welsh coal strike of 1898
The Welsh coal strike of 1898 was an industrial dispute involving the colliers of South Wales and Monmouthshire. The strike began as an attempt by the colliers to remove the sliding scale, which determined their wage based on the price of coal...
, gave the South Wales miners a reputation for militancy
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
, in which the Rhondda Valley played its part. As part of the Redistribution Act
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equally populated constituencies, in an attempt to equalise representation across...
of 1885 the Rhondda was granted its first seat in Parliament which was won by left wing Liberal William Abraham
William Abraham (Welsh politician)
William "Mabon" Abraham was a Welsh trade unionist and Labour politician, and a Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1920. Although an MP for 35 years, it was as a trade unionist that Abraham is most well known...
, who was notably the only working-class member elected in Wales. Socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
ideals grew throughout the 20th century and industrial struggle reached a crescendo in the 1910-11 Tonypandy Riots. A year later Tonypandy saw the publication of Noah Ablett
Noah Ablett
Noah Ablett was a trade unionist and political theorist who is most noted for writing 'The Miners' Next Step' a Syndicalist treaty which Ablett described as 'scientific trade unionism....
’s pamphlet The Miners' Next Step
The Miners' Next Step
The Miners' Next Step was an economic and political pamphlet produced in 1912 calling for coal miners through their lodges, to embrace syndicalism and a new 'scientific' trade unionism. The pamphlet was written by the 'Unofficial Reform Committee' a group of syndaclist and socialists involved in...
. Tonypandy was at the centre of further public disorder when, on 11 June 1936 at Dewinton Field, a large group of people gathered to confront the open-air address by Tommy Moran
Tommy Moran
Thomas P. "Tommy" Moran was a leading member of the British Union of Fascists and a close associate of Oswald Mosley. Initially a miner, Moran later became a qualified engineer and also served in the Royal Navy, where he became a champion boxer in the Light heavyweight division.-Entry into...
, propaganda officer of the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
. The crowd, recorded as between 2,000 and 6,000 strong, turned violent and police were forced to protect Moran's Blackshirt bodyguard. Seven local people were arrested.
The Rhondda also has a strong history of communist sympathy, with the Rhondda Socialist Society
South Wales Socialist Society
The South Wales Socialist Society was a federation of communist groups in Wales, with many of its members being coal miners. It was formed as the Rhondda Socialist Society in 1911 by participants in the Miners Reform Movement, which opposed right-wing trade union leaders., It enthusiastically...
being a key element in the coalition that founded the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
. By 1936 there were seven Communists on the Rhondda Urban District Council and was publishing its own Communist newspaper The Vanguard. In the 1930s Maerdy became such a hotspot of Communist support it was known as Little Moscow
Little Moscow
Little Moscow was a term used to describe towns and villages in capitalist societies whose population appeared to hold extreme left-wing political values or communist views...
producing left wing activists such as Merthyr born Arthur Horner
Arthur Horner (politician)
Arthur Lewis Horner was a Welsh trade union leader and communist politician. During his periods of office as President of the South Wales Miners Federation from 1936, and as General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1946, he became one of the most prominent and influential...
and Marxist writer Lewis Jones
Lewis Jones (writer)
Lewis Jones, writer, and political activist of the left, was born in Clydach Vale in industrialized South Wales.Although his novels are more studied by academics now than by general readers, Jones occupies an honourable place in the history of left-wing politics in Britain, and in the ranks of...
. The Rhondda miners were also active in socialist activities outside the valleys. In the 1920s and 1930s the Rhondda and the surrounding valleys provided the principal support of some of the largest hunger marches
Hunger marches
The Hunger marches were a series of marches held in the 1930s during The Great Depression in the United Kingdom to protest against hunger and unemployment in the United Kingdom....
, while in 1936 more Rhondda Federation members were serving in Spain as part of the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
than the total number of volunteers from all the English coalfields.
In 1979, Rhondda councillor Annie Powell
Annie Powell
Annie Powell was a Welsh Communist politician.Born in Rhondda and educated at Pentre Grammar School, Powell became interested in politics while at Glamorgan Training College, Barry, in the 1920s...
became Wales' only communist mayor.
Role of women
With an economy fundamentally dependent upon a single industry, there was a scarcity of paid employment for women in Rhondda's coalmining heyday. The Encyclopaedia of Wales notes that the image of the Welsh MamWelsh Mam
The Welsh Mam was an archetypal image of Welsh married women that emerged in 19th century industrial South Wales. Described as "hardworking, ‘pious’ and clean, a mother to her sons and responsible for the home", this image of women was depicted in Richard Llewellyn's 1939 novel How Green Was My...
, a wife and mother constantly at home and exalted as the queen of the household, was essentially a Rhondda creation. However the Rhondda did produce the suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
and social reformer Elizabeth Andrews
Elizabeth Andrews
Elizabeth Andrews was the first woman organiser of the Labour Party in Wales.Andrews, née Smith, was born into a mining family at Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley, one of eleven children . She lived in Station Road, Hirwaun, and was obliged to leave school at the age of twelve, in order to help at home...
, one of only nine women among a list of a hundred greatest Welsh heroes chosen by ballot in 2004.
Sport
Social amenities were rudimentary even before the formation of the Rhondda Urban District Council in 1897. Due to the geographic layout of the valleys, land was a scarce resource, and therefore leisure activities that took up little space, time and money were sought. This saw the popularity of activities such as greyhoundGreyhound
The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...
races, cock fighting, open air hand-ball courts (often attached to a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
), boxing booths, foot racing and rugby union.
During the mid 19th century the influx of immigrants from the older mining towns, such as Aberdare and Merthyr, brought with them the game of rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
. At Treherbert it took a five month lockout
Lockout (industry)
A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
in 1875 to see the game establish itself at the various collieries where the Amalgamated Association of Miners held their meetings. In 1877 Penygraig Rugby Football Club
Penygraig RFC
Penygraig Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Penygraig, Wales. Penygraig RFC formed in 1877, one of the earlier rugby clubs to emerge, and by 1890's were a strong voice in the Welsh Rugby Union, one of four clubs from the Rhondda Valley that held WRU representation.-Early...
was formed, followed by Treherbert
Treherbert RFC
Treherbert Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Tynewydd in the Rhondda Valley. Treherbert RFC play home games in red shirts with black shorts and black socks...
in 1879, Ferndale
Ferndale RFC
Ferndale RFC are a rugby union club based in the Upper Rhondda Fach, Wales. First formed in 1882, and disbanded in 1921, the club reformed in 1989. They currently play their home games at Greenwood Park, Ferndale formerly playing their home matches at Blaenllechau Park...
in 1882, Treorchy
Treorchy RFC
Treorchy Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Treorchy, in the Rhondda Valley, Wales. They formed in 1886 and by 1891 were a strong voice in the Welsh Football Union and were playing in the Rhondda Division...
in 1886 and Tylorstown
Tylorstown RFC
Tylorstown Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Tylorstown, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues....
in 1903. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the 'Rhondda forward' was a key player in many Welsh
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
teams. The heavy industrial worker was a prime aggressive attack figure in early Welsh packs, typified by the likes of Treherbert's Dai 'Tarw' (bull) Jones who at 6-foot 1 inch (185.5 cm) and 16 stone in weight was seen as an animal of a man.
Due to the lack of playing fields in the valleys, many rugby teams would share grounds, travel every week to away grounds or even play on inappropriate (e.g. sloping) pitches. The valley clubs also had no clubhouses, with most teams meeting, and changing, in the closest local public house. Many more clubs, built around colliery and pub teams, appeared and disbanded but many of the clubs survive to this day.
Football
Due to the dominance of rugby union there have been few football teams of note in the history of the Rhondda Valleys. Several teams were formed around the end of the 19th century, but most folded during the depression, including Cwmparc F.C. in 1926 and Mid-Rhondda
Mid Rhondda F.C.
Mid Rhondda Football Club was an association football team, based in Tonypandy, Wales that was formed in 1912. Mid Rhondda were one of the earlier South Wales teams to form, as competition from rugby union within the Rhondda Valleys was very strong...
in 1928. The most successful club from the area is Ton Pentre F.C.
Ton Pentre F.C.
Ton Pentre Football Club is a football team based in Ton Pentre, Wales, which plays in the Welsh Football League Division Two.Nicknamed the "Rhondda Bulldogs", the team plays at Ynys Park, Ton Pentre, Rhondda Cynon Taff, which once accommodated 2700 seated spectators...
.
Music
The temperance movementTemperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
, which had been absorbed into the moralistic system of the Nonconformist chapels, caused a shift in social attitudes in the mid to late 19th and early 20th century Rhondda. Alcohol was looked down upon and so were the increasingly violent sport such as rugby, so young men looked for different and more acceptable past-times. Voice choirs were a natural progression from chapel society and brass bands would eventually gain acceptance by the movement.
Male voice choirs
A phenomenon of Welsh industrial communities was the appearance of male voice choirs, believed to have been formed from glee clubs. The Rhondda produced several choirs of note including the Rhondda Glee Society, who represented Wales at the World Fair eisteddfod. The rival Treorchy Male Voice Choir
Treorchy Male Choir
Treorchy Male Voice Choir is a choir based in Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley, Wales, United Kingdom.Choirs have existed in the Rhondda Valley for more than a hundred and fifty years and Treorchy is one of the best known from the area...
also enjoyed considerable success at eisteddfodau and in 1895 sang before Queen Victoria.
Brass bands
In the mid 19th century brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
s had a poor relationship with the Nonconformist chapels, mainly due to the heavy social drinking that came hand in hand with being a member of a band. This changed towards the end of the century and as well as becoming more respectable, many bands had actually joined the temperance movement. Two of the more well known brass bands from the Rhondda both started as temperance bands. The more famous, Cory Band
Cory Band
The Cory Band, formerly the Buy As You View Band, is one of the oldest and best known brass bands in the world.-History and origins:The Cory Band hails from the Rhondda Valley in Wales. They were formed in 1884 and originally bore the name ‘Ton Temperance’ a reference to the Temperance movement in...
from Ton Pentre
Ton Pentre
Ton Pentre is a village in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Ton Pentre, a former industrial coal mining village, is a district of the community of Pentre. The old district of Ystradyfodwg was named after the church at Ton Pentre...
, started life as Ton Temperance in 1884; while local rivals The Parc and Dare Band were the Cwmparc Drum and Fife Temperance Band.
As the temperance movement faded the bands found new benefactors in the colliery owners, and many bands took on the names of specific collieries. A memorable image of the connection between the collieries and brass bands came in 1985 when the Maerdy miners were filmed returning to work after the miners' strike, marching behind the village band.
Culture and nationality
LanguageFor the majority of its history the area now recognised as the Rhondda Valley was an exclusively Welsh speaking area. It was only in the early 20th century that English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
began to supplant Welsh as the first language of social intercourse. In 1803, English historian Benjamin Heath Malkin
Benjamin Heath Malkin
Benjamin Heath Malkin was a British scholar and writer notable for his connection to the artist and poet William Blake.Malkin was educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University, receiving his MA in 1802 and his doctorate in 1810. In 1795 he published Essays on Subjects connected with...
mentioned while travelling through Ystradyfodwg, that he had only met one person with whom he could talk, and then with the help of an interpreter. This situation was repeated with John George Wood
John George Wood
John George Wood, or Rev J. G. Wood, , was a popular English writer on natural history.Wood was born in London, son of surgeon John Freeman Wood and Juliana Lisetta, and educated at home, at Ashbourne grammar school and Merton College, Oxford ; also at Christ Church, where he worked for some time...
, who on his visit to the area complained of the awkwardness of understanding the particular dialects and idioms used by the native speakers, which were on times difficult for other Welsh speakers to understand. This dialect was once called 'tafodiaith gwŷr y Gloran' ('the dialect of the men of Gloran').
As the industrialisation of the valleys began there was little shift in the use of Welsh as a first language. Initial immigrants were Welsh and it was not until the 1900s that English workers began settling in any great numbers, but it wasn't these new workers who changed the language; the erosion of Welsh had already begun in the 1860s in the school classrooms. The educational philosophy accepted by schoolmasters and governmental administrators was that English was the language of scholars, and that Welsh was a barrier to moral and commercial prosperity. In 1901 35.4% of Rhondda workers spoke only English but by 1911 this had risen to 43.1%, while Welsh speaking monoglots had dropped from 11.4% to 4.4% in the same period.
The true Anglicization of the Rhondda Valleys took place from 1900 to 1950. Improved transport and communications facilitated the spread of new cultural influences, along with dealings with outside companies with no understanding of Welsh, trade union meetings held in English, the coming of radio, cinema and then television and cheap English newspapers and paperback
Paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
books; all were factors in the absorption of the English language.
Cadwgan Circle
Though the population of the Rhondda was embracing English as its first language, during the 1940s a literary and intellectual movement formed in the Rhondda that would produce an influential group of Welsh language writers. Formed during the Second World War by Egyptologist J. Gwyn Griffiths
J. Gwyn Griffiths
John Gwyn Griffiths , was a Welsh poet, Egyptologist and nationalist political activist who spent the largest span of his career lecturing at Swansea University.-Early history:...
and his German wife Käte Bosse-Griffiths
Käte Bosse-Griffiths
Käte Bosse-Griffiths was a German born Egyptologist who after moving to Wales became a writer in the Welsh language.-Early history:...
, the group was known as the Cadwgan Circle (Cylch Cadwgan), and met at the Griffiths' house in Pentre. The Welsh writers who made up the movement included Pennar Davies
Pennar Davies
William Thomas Pennar Davies was a Welsh clergyman and author.Born simply William Thomas Davies, in Mountain Ash , the son of a miner, he took the name "Pennar" "as a sign of his identification with the native culture of Wales"...
, Rhydwen Williams
Rhydwen Williams
Robert Rhydwenfro Williams, known as Rhydwen Williams , was a Welsh poet, novelist and Baptist minister. His work is mainly written in his native Welsh language, and is noted for adapting the established style and context of Welsh poetry from a rural and bygone age to that of a modern industrial...
, James Kitchener Davies
James Kitchener Davies
James Kitchener Davies , also known as J. Kitchener Davies, was a Welsh poet and playwright who wrote mostly in the Welsh language...
and Gareth Alban Davies
Gareth Alban Davies
Gareth Alban Davies , was a Welsh poet, educator and Hispanist who spent the largest span of his academic career lecturing at the University of Leeds...
.
The Rhondda has hosted the National Eisteddfod
National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
on only one occasion, in 1928
1928 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1928 to Wales and its people.-Incumbents:*Prince of Wales - Edward, Prince of Wales, son of King George V of the United Kingdom*Princess of Wales - vacant...
at Treorchy
Treorchy
Treorchy is a village, although it used to be and still has characteristics of a town, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr valley...
. The Gorsedd stones
Gorsedd stones
Gorsedd Stones are groups of standing stones constructed for the National Eisteddfod of Wales. They form an integral part of the druidic Gorsedd ceremonies of the Eisteddfod...
that were placed to commemorate the event still stand on the Maindy hillside overlooking Treorchy and Cwmparc. In 1947 Treorchy held the Urdd National Eisteddfod, the Eisteddfod for children and young adults.
Communal activity
Rhondda had a strong tradition of communal activity, exemplified by workmen's halls
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
, miners' institute
Miners' institute
Miners' institutes, sometimes known as Workingmen's institute, Mine Workers' institute, or Miners' Welfare Hall are large institutional buildings that were typically built during the height of the industrial period as a meeting and educational venue...
s and trade unions. Miners began to contribute to the building and running of institutes - such as the Parc and Dare Hall
Parc and Dare Hall
The Parc and Dare Hall is a former Miners' institute but now serves as a large entertainment venue in the village of Treorchy, in the Rhondda Valley of Wales...
in Treorchy - from the 1890s onwards, and they were centres of both entertainment and self-improvement with billiards halls, libraries and reading rooms.
Media
In 1884 the Rhondda Valley was served by local newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
the Rhondda Chronicle which became the Rhondda Gazette and General Advertiser of the Rhondda Fach and Ogmore Valleys in 1891. In 1899, the Rhondda Valley was served by the Pontypridd and Rhondda Weekly Post while Rhondda Post was also in circulation in 1898.
The Rhondda Leader
Rhondda Leader
The Rhondda Leader is a weekly newspaper distributed in the Rhondda Valleys, South Wales. The tabloid newspaper is published on a Wednesday by Media Wales which is owned by the UK's largest newspaper corporation, Trinity Mirror...
one of the more familiar local papers of the region, was first published in 1899 and nine years later became the Rhondda Leader, Maesteg, Garw and Ogmore Telegraph. The Porth Gazette was published from 1900 to 1944 and during that period there was a newspaper called the Rhondda Socialist. Rhondda Gazette was in circulation from 1913 to 1919 while the Rhondda Clarion was available in the late 1930s.
The Porth Gazette and Rhondda Leader was published from 1944 to 1967 while also published in Pontypridd during those years was the Rhondda Fach Leader and Gazette. In more recent years the Rhondda Leader and Pontypridd & Llantrisant Observer combined before the Rhondda Leader became a separate edition once more.
In August 1952 the BBC transmitter at Wenvoe began broadcasting allowing the Rhondda to receive television pictures for the first time. This was followed in January 1958 with Commercial Television provided by Television Wales and the West
Television Wales and the West
Television Wales and the WestTelevision Wales and the WestTelevision Wales and the West , accessed 19 August 2006, accessed 19 August 2006 was the British "Independent Television" contractor for the franchise area serving 'South Wales and West of England' 1956–68 Television Wales and the...
(TWW), giving the viewers of the Rhondda a choice of two television channels.
Transport
Due to the geological layout of the Rhondda Valley, transport links are fairly restrictive. Two main roads service the area, the A4058 runs through the Rhondda Fawr and the A4233 services the Rhondda Fach. The A4058 starts at PontypriddPontypridd
Pontypridd is both a community and a principal town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
runs through Porth before ending at Treorchy, where it joins the A4061 to Hirwaun. The A4233 begins outside Rhondda at Tonyrefail
Tonyrefail
Tonyrefail is a village and community in Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough, Wales. It is situated north west of Llantrisant at the head of the Ely Valley, south of the Rhondda, being around from Trebanog and around from Williamstown. It is also around from the village of Gilfach Goch...
, heading north through Porth and through the Rhondda Fach to Maerdy, where the road eventually links up with the A4059 at Aberdare. Two other A roads service the area; the A4119 is a relief road, known as the Tonypandy Bypass and the other is the A4061 which links Treorchy to the Ogmore Vale
Ogmore Vale
Ogmore Vale is a village in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore.The village's main source of income came from coal mining. Up until the year 1865, the Ogmore valley was a quiet, isolated, rural hill farming community of less than ten farms and a few cottages...
before reaching Bridgend.
There is a single rail link to the Rhondda, the Rhondda Line
Rhondda Line
The Rhondda Line is a commuter railway line in South Wales from Cardiff to Treherbert. The line follows the Merthyr Line as far as Pontypridd, where it then diverges to continue along the Rhondda Valley.The places served by the line are listed below:...
, based around the old Taff Vale Railway
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
which serviced both the Rhondda Fach and Rhondda Fawr. The Rhondda Line runs through the Rhondda Fawr, linking Rhondda to Cardiff Central
Cardiff Central railway station
Cardiff Central railway station is a major railway station on the South Wales Main Line in Cardiff, Wales.It is the largest and busiest station in Wales and one of the major stations of the British rail network, the tenth busiest station in the United Kingdom outside of London , based on 2007/08...
. The railway stations that once populated the Rhondda Fach were all closed after the Beeching review
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
. The railway line serves ten Rhondda stations with the villages not directly linked connected through bus services.
Residents of note
See also :Category:People from RhonddaDue to the scarcity of inhabitants in the Rhondda prior to industrialisation, there are few residents of note before the valleys became a coal mining area. The earliest individuals to come to the fore were linked with the coal industry and the people; physical men who found a way out of the Rhondda through sport; charismatic orators who led the miners through unions or political and religious leaders who tended to the deeply religious chapel going public.
Sport
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. One of the first true rugby stars to come from the Rhondda was Willie Llewellyn
Willie Llewellyn
William Morris "Willie" Llewellyn was a Welsh international rugby union player. He captained Wales in 1905 and London Welsh in 1902. He was a member of the winning Welsh team who beat the 1905 touring All Blacks, toured with the British Isles to Australasia in 1904 and won three Triple Crown...
, who not only gained 20 caps for Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
scoring 48 points, but was also the first Rhondda born member of the British Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
. Such was Llewellyn's fame that during the Tonypandy Riots, his pharmacy was left unscathed by the crowds due to his past sporting duties. Many players came through the Rhondda to gain international duty, and after the split between amateur rugby union and the professional Northern League
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, many were also tempted to the North of England to earn a wage for their abilities. Amongst the new league players was Jack Rhapps
Jack Rhapps
John "Jack" Rhapps was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Penygraig and international rugby for Wales...
, Aberaman born, but living in the Rhondda when he 'Went North', eventually becoming the world's first dual-code international rugby player.
The most famous rugby player from the Rhondda of the later half of the 20th century is Cliff Morgan
Cliff Morgan
Cliff Morgan is a former Welsh rugby union player who played for Cardiff RFC and earned 29 caps for Wales between 1951 and 1958.-Rugby career:...
. Morgan was born in Trebanog
Trebanog
Trebanog is a village lying on the southernmost outskirts of the Rhondda Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, located off the A4233 road between Porth the unoficial capital of the Rhondda, and the town of Tonyrefail which is at the head of the Ely Valley...
, and gained 29 caps for Wales, four for the British Lions and was one of the inaugural inductees of the International Rugby Hall of Fame
International Rugby Hall of Fame
The International Rugby Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF accepts new inductees every two years...
. Another notable player is Billy Cleaver
Billy Cleaver
William 'Billy' Cleaver was a Welsh international fly-half who played club rugby for Cardiff. He won 14 caps for Wales and was selected to play in the British Lions on the 1950 tour of Australia and New Zealand...
from Treorchy
Treorchy
Treorchy is a village, although it used to be and still has characteristics of a town, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr valley...
, a member of the 1950 Grand Slam wining team.
During the 20th century The Rhondda also supplied a steady stream of championship boxers. Percy Jones
Percy Jones (boxer)
Rhondda's Percy Jones became the first Welshman ever to win a World Boxing title when he took the World Flyweight Championship from Bill Ladbury in 1914...
was not only the first World Champion from the Rhondda, but was the first Welshman to hold a World Title when he won the Flyweight belt in 1914. After Jones came the Rhondda's most notable boxer, Jimmy Wilde
Jimmy Wilde
Jimmy Wilde , was a Welsh world boxing champion. He was the first official world flyweight champion and was rated by American boxing writer Nat Fleischer, as well as many other professionals and fans including former boxer, trainer, manager and promoter, Charley 'Broadway' Rose, as "the greatest...
also known as the "Mighty Atom", who took the IBU
International Boxing Union
The International Boxing Union was created June 1911 in Paris, France. It was an attempt to create a unified international governing body for professional boxing...
world flyweight title in 1916. British Champions from the valleys include Tommy Farr
Tommy Farr
Thomas George Farr was one of the most famous Welsh and British boxers of all time. Born in Clydach Vale, Wales and nicknamed "the Tonypandy Terror", he became British and Empire heavyweight champion on 15 March 1937. Prior to 1936, he had boxed in the light heavyweight division in which he was...
who held the British and Empire heavyweight belt and Llew Edwards
Llew Edwards
Llewellyn "Llew" Edwards was a Welsh boxer who fought professionally between 1913 and 1922. He is most notable for winning the British Empire featherweight boxing championship in 1915.-Boxing career:...
who took the British featherweight title.
Although association football was not as popular as rugby in the Rhondda in the early 20th century, after the 1920s several notable players had emerged from the area. Two of the most important players both came from the village of Ton Pentre; Jimmy Murphy was capped 15 times for Wales, and in 1958 managed both the Welsh national team and Manchester United. Roy Paul
Roy Paul
Roy Paul was a footballer who played as a half-back for Swansea Town and Manchester City...
, also from Ton Pentre, led Manchester City to two successive FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
finals in 1955 and 1956 and gained 33 Welsh caps. Alan Curtis
Alan Curtis (footballer)
Alan Thomas Curtis is a former Welsh international footballer, who played as a forward. He played 35 times for Wales scoring 6 goals...
, who was best known for representing Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...
and Cardiff City
Cardiff City F.C.
Cardiff City Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club competes in the English football pyramid and is currently playing in the Football League Championship. Cardiff City is the best supported football club in Wales, averaging approximately 22,500 for...
, came from the neighbouring village of Pentre, and in an 11 year international career won 35 caps for Wales scoring 6 goals.
The Rhondda Valleys have also produced two world class darts players. In 1975 Alan Evans
Alan Evans (darts player)
David "Alan" Evans was a Welsh professional darts player who competed in the 1970s and 1980s.Evans was one of the early faces of television darts and had some tournament success in the 1970s...
from Ferndale won the Winmau World Masters
Winmau World Masters
The Winmau World Masters is one of the longest running and most prestigious professional darts tournaments, which began in 1974 - even before the current World Professional Championship...
, a feat repeated in 1994 by Richie Burnett
Richie Burnett
Richie Burnett is a Welsh darts player who was the 1995 Embassy World Darts Champion and currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. His nickname is The Prince of Wales.-BDO career:...
from Cwmparc. Burnett surpassed Evans when he also became BDO World Darts Champion
BDO World Darts Championship
The BDO World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the British Darts Organisation . It began in 1978, and was the only world championship tournament until 1994...
winning the tournament in 1995.
Politics
Despite neither being born in the Rhondda, the two most notable political figures to emerge from the area are William AbrahamWilliam Abraham (Welsh politician)
William "Mabon" Abraham was a Welsh trade unionist and Labour politician, and a Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1920. Although an MP for 35 years, it was as a trade unionist that Abraham is most well known...
, known as Mabon, and George Thomas, Viscount Tonypandy
George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy
Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy PC was a British Labour Party politician and Speaker of the House of Commons. Born in Port Talbot, Wales, he initially worked as a teacher in both London and Cardiff...
. Abraham, best known as a trade unionist was the first Member of Parliament of the Rhondda and the leader of the South Wales Miners' Federation. A strong negotiator in the early years of valleys' unionism, as a moderate he lost ground to more radical leaders in his later years. Thomas was the born in Port Talbot but raised in Trealaw near Tonypandy. He was a Member of Parliament for Cardiff for 38 years and Speaker of the House of Commons (1976–1983). On his retirement from politics he was made Viscount Tonypandy.
Film and television
The most well known actors to have been born in the Rhondda are Sir Stanley BakerStanley Baker
Sir Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.-Early career:William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years...
and brothers Donald
Donald Houston
Donald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful...
and Glyn Houston
Glyn Houston
Glyn Houston , is an actor best known for his television work. He is the brother of the late film actor Donald Houston.-Early life:...
. Baker was born in Ferndale and starred in films such as the The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (film)
The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios starring Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden, with Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister...
(1953) and Richard III
Richard III (1955 film)
Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors,...
(1955), though it was as actor/producer of the 1964 film Zulu
Zulu (film)
Zulu is a 1964 historical war film depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War....
that his legacy endures. The Houston brothers were both born in Tonypandy, with Donald gaining better success as a film actor, with memorable roles in The Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon (1949 film)
The Blue Lagoon is a 1949 British romance and adventure film produced and directed by Frank Launder, starring Jean Simmons and Donald Houston. The screenplay was adapted by John Baines, Michael Hogan and Frank Launder from the novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole...
(1949) and Ealing's Dance Hall
Dance Hall (film)
Dance Hall is a 1950 British film directed by Charles Crichton. Appealing mainly to a female audience, the film was an unusual departure for the studio, known at the time primarily for its classic comedies starring Alec Guinness.-Plot:...
(1950). Glyn Houston acted primarily in British B-Movies, and was better known as a television actor.
Literature
Of the Cadwgan Circle, the most notable of their number is Rhydwen WilliamsRhydwen Williams
Robert Rhydwenfro Williams, known as Rhydwen Williams , was a Welsh poet, novelist and Baptist minister. His work is mainly written in his native Welsh language, and is noted for adapting the established style and context of Welsh poetry from a rural and bygone age to that of a modern industrial...
, the winner of the Eisteddfod Crown on two occasions who used the landscape of the industrial valleys as a basis for much of his work. Writing in the English language Peter George was born in Treorchy and is best known as the Oscar nominated screenwriter of Dr. Strangelove, based on his book Red Alert. Reflecting the lives of the residents of the Rhondda, both Gwyn Thomas
Gwyn Thomas (novelist)
Gwyn Thomas was a Welsh writer who has been called 'the true voice of the English-speaking valleys'.-Early life:...
and Ron Berry
Ron Berry
Ronald Anthony "Ron" Berry was a Welsh author of novels and short stories. Born in the Rhondda Valleys where he remained for most his life, his books reflect the working class of the industrial valleys though his vision is more optimistic and there is less concern for politics and religion which...
brought a realism to the industrial valleys which was missing in the more rose-tinted writings of Richard Llewellyn
Richard Llewellyn
Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd , better known by his pen name Richard Llewellyn, was a Welsh novelist.Llewellyn Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd (8 December 1906 – 30 November 1983), better known by his pen name Richard Llewellyn, was a Welsh novelist.Llewellyn Richard Dafydd...
.
Visual arts
The Rhondda Valleys has not produced as notable a group of visual artists as it has writers, though in the 1950s a small group of students, brought together through a daily commute by train to the Cardiff College of Art, came to prominence and are known as the 'Rhondda Group'. Although they did not set up a school or have a manifesto; the group, which included Charles Burton, Glyn Morgan, Gwyn Evans, Nigel Flower, David Mainwaring, Ernest Zobole and Robert Thomas, were an important artistic movement in 20th century Welsh art. The most notable members of the group include Ernest ZoboleErnest Zobole
Ernest Zobole was a Welsh painter and art teacher. Zobole's paintings, originally oil on canvas, later switching to oil on board, reflected the industrial setting of the Rhondda Valleys...
, a painter from Ystrad, whose expressionist work was deeply rooted in the juxtaposition of the industrialised buildings of the valleys set against the green hills that surround them. Also from the Rhondda Fawr was sculptor Robert Thomas
Robert Thomas (sculptor)
Robert Thomas was a Welsh sculptor born in Cwmparc in the Rhondda Valley. He is best known for his work in bronze sculptures, many of which are on public display...
; born in Cwmparc, his heavy cast statues have become icons of contemporary Wales, with five of his statues publicly displayed in the centre of Cardiff.
Science and social science
In sciences and social sciences the Rhondda has provided important academics within the aspects of Wales and on the World stage. Donald DaviesDonald Davies
Donald Watts Davies, CBE FRS was a Welsh computer scientist who was one of the inventors of packet switching computer networking, and originator of the term.-Career history:...
, born in Treorchy in 1924 was the co-inventor of packet switching
Packet switching
Packet switching is a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data – regardless of content, type, or structure – into suitably sized blocks, called packets. Packet switching features delivery of variable-bit-rate data streams over a shared network...
, a process which enabled the exchange of information between computers, a feature which enabled the Internet.
In the social sciences, the Rhondda has produced Welsh historian John Davies
John Davies (historian)
John Davies is a Welsh historian, and a television and radio broadcaster.Davies was born in the Rhondda, Wales, and studied at both University College, Cardiff, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He is married with four children...
, an important voice on Welsh affairs, who is one of the most recognised faces and voices of present day Welsh history, and is also one of the main authors of The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. The Rhondda has also produced J. Gwyn Griffiths
J. Gwyn Griffiths
John Gwyn Griffiths , was a Welsh poet, Egyptologist and nationalist political activist who spent the largest span of his career lecturing at Swansea University.-Early history:...
, an eminent Egyptologist, who was also a member of the Cadwgan Circle. Griffiths and his wife Käte Bosse-Griffiths
Käte Bosse-Griffiths
Käte Bosse-Griffiths was a German born Egyptologist who after moving to Wales became a writer in the Welsh language.-Early history:...
were influential writers and curators in the history of Egyptian lore.
External links
- Rhondda Valleys Information and History — The history of the Rhondda Valleys with high resolution mining photographs.