Mount Pleasant is a small village in the south of

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Merthyr Tydfil County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. In , it had an estimated population of , making it the smallest local authority in Wales by population. It is located in ...

, Wales. It lies about south of

Merthyr Vale Merthyr Vale ( or ) is a linear village and community in the Welsh county borough of Merthyr Tydfil. Lying on the A4054 road it is on the east bank of the River Taff. The community includes the villages of Aberfan on the opposite side of the T ...

, along the

A4054 road A4 commonly refers to: * A4 paper, a paper size defined by the ISO 216 standard, measuring 210 × 297 mm A4 and variants may also refer to: Science and technology * British NVC community A4 (''Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloides' ...

(the former route of the

A470 The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigate th ...

to Cardiff) and between that road and the

River Taff The River Taff () is a river in Wales. It rises in the Brecon Beacons as two rivers, the Taf Fechan ("little Taff") and the Taf Fawr ("great Taff") before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. At Cardiff, it empties into the Bristol Chan ...

. The village is also known as "The Black Lion" after the old signal box, controlling passenger and coal lines from Merthyr Vale Colliery to

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

on the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stage ...

History

The village of Mount Pleasant emerged in the late 19th century during the expansion of coal mining in the area. The Merthyr Vale Colliery, established between 1869 and 1875 by industrialist John Nixon, played a pivotal role in the development of nearby communities, including Mount Pleasant,

Aberfan Aberfan () is a former coal mining village in the Taff Valley south of the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. On 21 October 1966, in the Aberfan disaster, a colliery spoil tip collapsed into homes and a school, killing 116 children and 28 adults. ...

, and

. These communities were constructed to house the growing workforce required for the

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. 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 extra ...

's operations. In 1876, the establishment of places of worship, such as Bethania Welsh Independent and Aberfan

Calvinistic Methodist The Presbyterian Church of Wales (), also known as the Calvinistic Methodist Church (), is a denomination of Protestant Christianity based in Wales. The Calvinistic Methodist movement has its origins in the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival ...

chapels, marked the growth of these settlements. Mount Pleasant is colloquially known as "The Black Lion," a name derived from the old signal box that once controlled the passenger and coal lines from Merthyr Vale Colliery to

on the

. This railway was instrumental in transporting coal from the colliery to broader markets, facilitating the economic growth of the region. On 7 July 1941, Mount Pleasant was the site of a tragic accident involving two

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...

fighters from the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

. During a training exercise, the aircraft collided mid-air, resulting in one crashing into a field and the other into a house at the end of South View in Mount Pleasant. The incident claimed the lives of five individuals, including both pilots and three civilians. A monument was later erected to honor the victims of this disaster. Mount Pleasant School, established in 1912, served the educational needs of the village's children for nearly a century before its closure in 2010.

External links

Old Merthyr Tydfil: Mount Pleasant
– Historical photographs {{authority control Villages in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough