Ynyshir
Encyclopedia
Ynyshir meaning "Long Island" in English, is a village and a community
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....
located in 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...
Valley, within Rhondda Cynon Taf, South 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...
. The village takes its name from a farm in the area, falling within the historic parishes 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....
and Llanwynno
Llanwynno
Llanwynno is a hamlet high up in the mountains between the historic mining valleys of the Rhondda and Cynon Valleys in Rhondda Cynon Taf deep in the heart of the South Wales Valleys ....
(Llanwonno). The community of Ynyshir also comprises the small adjoining village of Wattstown
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...
. Neighbouring communities are Porth
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 Tylorstown
Tylorstown
Tylorstown 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....
.
Ynyshir has its own library, post office, doctor's surgery and a number of shops and other significant amenities, although these represent a fraction of the businesses which once fronted the main road - Ynyshir Road during the village's heyday. It is also home to local football teams Ynyshir Albions and Ynyshir and Wattstown Boys Club. In 2009 the new modern £5.5 million Ynyshir Community Primary School located on Llanwonno Road was opened, this was to replace the previous Ynyshir Junior School and later in 2010 also replaced the old Ynyshir Infants School off Gynor Place.
History
Up until the mid 18th century Ynyshir was a sparsely populated agricultural area. Then in the 1840s the first deep coal mine was sunk in the village, representing the first colliery to be opened in the Rhondda Fach valley, and consequently Ynyshir also represents the earliest colliery settlement of the valley.The initial development of the village began along the west bank of the Rhondda Fach river within the parish of Ystradyfodwg on the land occupied by Ynyshir farm, later followed by the development east of the river within the parish of Llanwonno on land owned by Maendy and Penrhiw farms. By 1900 much of the village which is evident today was in place.
In 1841 the 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...
reached neighbouring Dinas and with the train came far greater commercial opportunities for prospective colliery owners, with the first section of the Rhondda Fach Branch of the Taff Vale railway being marked by the extension of the railway from Porth and Dinas to Ynyshir in 1849.
Ynyshir was home to several chapels/churches, namely - Ainon Chapel (Welsh Baptist), Bethany Chapel (English Baptist), Moriah Chapel (Calvinistic Methodist), St Anne's (Church in Wales), Saron Chapel (Welsh Independent), Ynyshir Welsh Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Bethel Chapel (Welsh Baptist), Penuel Chapel (English Independent), Tabernacle Chapel (Congregational Methodist) and Ynyshir English Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.
Industrialisation
Shepherd and Evans sank the first deep mine in Ynyshir in 1845. The mine was subsequently bought by Francis Crawshay to supply the Crawshay Ironworks in Treforest. The Ynyshir colliery would be followed by the Ynyshir Steam Colliery, Standard 1 pit in 1875 and Standard 2 pit in 1876 and then in 1904 the Lady Lewis opened, which was later connected underground to the Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries (today the Rhondda Heritage ParkRhondda 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....
) at Hafod (Trehafod
Trehafod
Trehafod 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...
).
In 1896, local twins the Lewis brothers invented carbonated soft-drink Lurvills Delight
Lurvills Delight
Lurvills Delight was a popular carbonated soft drink in Wales between 1896 and 1910.Invented by Ynyshir resident twin brothers Harold and Iolo Lewis in 1895, the mixture was a carbonated mixture of stingy, Nettles, Dock leaves, infused with Juniper berry extract...
, the profits from which allowed 150 local mining families to emigrate to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Production ceased in 1910, due a local shortage of dock leaves.
Transport
Between 1849 and 1856, the Taff Vale RailwayTaff 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...
opened the Maerdy Branch from , including a station at . Passenger services were withdrawn in 1964, and the line closed completely and was lifted from June 1986 after coal from Mardy Colliery
Mardy Colliery
Mardy Colliery was a coal mine located in the South Wales village of Maerdy , in the Rhondda Valley, located in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales...
was raised through Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...
.
In 2005, RCT council constructed the A4223 Porth and Lower Rhondda Fach Relief Road (Porth Bypass), which follows the old Rhondda Fach branch railway line through Ynyshir, past Wattstown and on to Pontygwaith
Pontygwaith, Rhondda
Pontygwaith is a small village located in the Rhondda Fach valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.- History :...
. Its construction has meant a significant decrease in traffic flows through the village.