Treorchy is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

, although it used to be and still has characteristics of a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

, in the county borough

County borough

County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...

 of Rhondda Cynon Taf, 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...

, lying in the Rhondda Fawr valley. Treorchy is also one of the 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....

 of the Rhondda

Rhondda

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 and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...

, taking in the near villages 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...

 and Ynyswen

Ynyswen

Ynyswen 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....

.

Treorchy was originally an agricultural area but with the discovery of coal in the Rhondda Valley it became a densely populated industrial town.