The Rhondda our Valley

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Historically, Rhondda was mostly covered by the parish of Ystradyfodwg. The small village of Ystradyfodwg was centred on its parish church of St John the Baptist, with the old village being absorbed into the urban area of Ton Pentre as it grew during the industrial revolution. In 1877 most of the parish of Ystradyfodwg was made a local government district, governed by a local board, excluding only the Rhigos area of the parish, which lay to the north of the hills at the top of the Rhondda Fawr valley. [89] The local government district was enlarged in 1879 to also cover parts of Llanwonno and Llantrisant parishes, which had the effect of bringing the Porth area within the Ystradyfodwg Local Government District. [90] [91] Rhondda / ˈ r ɒ n ð ə/, or the Rhondda Valley ( Welsh: Cwm Rhondda [kʊm ˈr̥ɔnða]), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ( mawr large) and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley ( bach small) – so that the singular "Rhondda Valley" and the plural are both commonly used. The area forms part of the South Wales Valleys. From 1897 until 1996 there was a local government district of Rhondda. The former district at its abolition comprised sixteen communities. Since 1996 these sixteen communities of the Rhondda have been part of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough. The area of the former district is still used as the Rhondda Senedd constituency and Westminster constituency, having an estimated population in 2020 of 69,506. It is most noted for its historical coalmining industry, which peaked between 1840 and 1925. The valleys produced a strong Nonconformist movement manifest in the Baptist chapels that moulded Rhondda values in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also known for its male voice choirs and in sport and politics. Cornwall, John (1987). Rhondda Collieries , Volume 1, Number 4 in the Coalfield Series. Cowbridge: D. Brown and Sons Ltd. p.8. ISBN 0-905928-82-2. The Rhondda Leader, one of the more familiar local papers, appeared in 1899 [152] and nine years later became the Rhondda Leader, Maesteg, Garw and Ogmore Telegraph. The Porth Gazette was published from 1900 to 1944, [153] and during that period there was a newspaper called the Rhondda Socialist. The Rhondda Gazette was in circulation from 1913 to 1919, while the Rhondda Clarion was available in the late 1930s. Moseley 1936: British fascism: Routed on the streets". permanentrevolution.net. 4 May 2008 . Retrieved 19 October 2011.

John Ward (1914). 'Our Lady of Penrhys', Glamorganshire. Vol.69. Archaeologia Cambrensis. pp.395–405. In the medieval period the area became an important pilgrimage centre, known for Ffynnon Fair (English: Mary's Well), a well that still exists. Its chapel, shrine and hostelry were created to accommodate the large number of pilgrims. If we can make that happen, we just feel the momentum that we create would just get it over the line." The outflow of employed residents led to a process of social engineering (whether intentional or not) whereby those on unemployment or other state benefits were relocated into Penrhys from other council-run estates, with the initial prospect of saving on separate heating costs. As a result of the concentration of socially-impoverished residents during the 1970s and 1980s, the village gained a poor reputation and was seen by many as an undesirable location. In an attempt to rejuvenate the village, the Priority Estate Programme was undertaken in the late 1980s with all houses refurbished and environmental improvements made throughout the community. This, though, proved unsuccessful as the reputation of Penrhys was so low that new occupants could not be found; this led to newly refurbished houses being vandalised as they stood empty. This in turn fuelled the area's negative reputation. 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, recorded a population of less than a thousand. [23] With the discovery of massive deposits of high quality, accessible coal in the mid-19th century, the valleys experienced a large influx of financial immigrants. The first 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 neighbouring areas of Llantrisant and Llanharan. [53] The 1851 Census lists apprenticed paupers from Temple Cloud in Somerset, some of the earliest English immigrants. [53] From a mere 951 in 1851, the population of Ystradyfodwg parish grew to 16,914 in 1871. By 1901 the Rhondda Urban District had a population of 113,735. [54] 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 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, and 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. [55] Although there are records of Scottish workers, mainly centred on Archibald Hood's Llwynypia mines, there were only small numbers of Irish, less than 1,000 by 1911. [56] This absence is often blamed on the forcible ejection of the Irish who lived in Treherbert during three days of rioting in 1857. [57] The population of the valleys peaked in 1924 at over 167,900 inhabitants. [23]

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In 1979, Rhondda councillor Annie Powell became Wales' only communist mayor. [128] Culture and recreation [ edit ] Role of women [ edit ] Rhondda had a strong tradition of communal activity, exemplified by workmen's halls, miners' institutes and trade unions. [149] 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 were centres of entertainment and self-improvement, with billiards halls, libraries and reading rooms. [150] Media [ edit ] Welcome to Rhondda Cynon Taf Libraries Digital Archive. Here you will find over 20,000 digital images taken from our local history collections. There are images of people at work and at play; of buildings; places and events helping to illustrate all aspects of life in the County Borough from around 1880 to the present day.

Pugh, T.B. (1971). Glamorgan County History, Volume III, The Middle Ages: The Marcher Lordships of Glamorgan and Morgannwg and Gower and Kilvey from the Norman Conquest to the Act of Union of England and Wales. University of Wales Press. p.39. Tony Moon, project secretary, said: "That [the tweet] is true as far as the main links of the tunnel goes. 90-odd per cent of the tunnel is managed by National Highways but the end that's owned by Neath Port Talbot council is different and we're still looking at the possibility of going ahead with that end by getting planning permission from Neath Port Talbot council.The 5th century saw the withdrawal of Imperial Roman support from Britain, and succeeding centuries saw the emergence of national identity and of kingdoms. The area which would become the Rhondda lay within Glywysing, which incorporated the modern area of Glamorgan and was ruled by a dynasty founded by Glywys. [16] This dynasty was replaced by another founded by Meurig ap Tewdrig, whose descendant Morgan ap Owain would give Glamorgan its Welsh name Morgannwg. [17] 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 commotes, with Penychen made up of five such commotes, one being Glynrhondda. [18] Other major factors in the decline of coal related to massive under-investment in the Rhondda mines over the previous decades. Most mines in the valleys had been sunk between the 1850s and 1880s, so that they were far smaller than most modern mines. [83] The Rhondda mines were comparatively antiquated in their methods of ventilation, coal-preparation and power supply. [83] In 1945 the British coal industry was cutting 72 per cent of its output mechanically, whereas in South Wales the figure was just 22 per cent. [83] The only way to ensure financial survival of the mines in the valleys was massive investment by the NCB, but its "Plan for Coal" paper drawn up in 1950 was overly optimistic about future demand, [84] which was drastically reduced after an industrial recession in 1956 and with increased availability of oil. [80] Rhondda Places of Worship". LSJ Services [Wales] Ltd. TheRhondda.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011 . Retrieved 19 October 2011. In August 1952 the BBC transmitter at Wenvoe began broadcasting, allowing the Rhondda to receive television pictures for the first time. [155] This was followed in January 1958 by commercial television from Television Wales and the West (TWW), giving Rhondda viewers a choice of two channels. [156] Transport [ edit ] The A4061 Bwlch-y-Clawdd road was built in 1928. It connected the Rhondda to Nantymoel and Abergwynfi and made a lasting impression on the landscape to be featured in National Geographic. [157] Davis (1989), p. 26, "Morgan not only misidentifies the height of the 30-ft. mound as 100 ft. but states that '...all these sacred mounds were reared in this country... when Druidism was the established religion', but gives no historic proof. The book also has an illustration of the castle to which the artist has added a moat and several druids, neither of which are factual."

Rhondda Urban District Council: The change of name sanctioned". Glamorgan Free Press. Pontypridd. 24 July 1897. p.3 . Retrieved 20 October 2022. Rhondda is a conurbation of numerous smaller settlements along the valleys. The Royal Mail treats five of the settlements as post towns: Ferndale, Pentre, Porth, Tonypandy, and Treorchy, all of which come under the CF postcode area. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) deems most of the settlements in the Rhondda Fawr valley and lower Rhondda Fach valley to form part of the Tonypandy built-up area, with a population at the 2011 census of 62,545. [96] The ONS separately defines a Ferndale built-up area covering much of the upper Rhondda Fach valley, with a population in 2011 of 7,338. [97] Tony added that the society is currently in discussions with a company the possibilities of extending the tunnel to do this. Stanleytown is named after a pub, the Stanley Hotel, though who the pub is named after – well, that’s another matter.By the 1990s the local authorities had begun a relocation programme for Penrhys, with many buildings demolished once the tenants had been relocated. By the early 21st century much of the village had been demolished, leaving around 300 buildings remaining.

Wales in the Twentieth Century World: Family on the Dole 1919–1939; Mid Glamorgan County Council Education Department (1994) pp. 3–4. Wherever you go in the Rhondda you are traditionally assured a warm welcome. The people of the Valleys are known for their positive outlook, even in times of hardship. Wales is a bilingual principality so visitors may find themselves being greeted in either Welsh or English. Welsh is the oldest living language in Europe and it is visible on highway signs, in shop windows and in print. Many schoolchildren in the Rhondda area attend schools where Welsh is the language of instructionRhondda Cynon Taff library services – Maerdy History". Archived from the original on 4 October 2008.