Penderyn () is a rural village in the

Cynon Valley Cynon Valley () is a former coal mining valley in Wales. It lies between Rhondda and the Merthyr Valley and takes its name from the River Cynon. Aberdare is located in the north of the valley and Mountain Ash in the south. From 1974 to 19 ...

Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff () and Ely valleys, ...

, Wales, located near

Hirwaun Hirwaun (, ; ) is a village and Community (Wales), community at the north end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is NW of the town of Aberdare, and comes under the Aberdare post town. At the United Ki ...

Location

The village lies on the A4059 road between Hirwaun and

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

and is the last settlement on that road in the county of

before the border with

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

to the north. The village sits just within the southern boundary of the

Brecon Beacons National Park Brecon Beacons National Park, officially named Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (), is a National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Wales. It is named after the Brecon Beacons (), the mountain range at its centre. The national park ...

. The River Cynon passes through the area. There are four disused churches and chapels in Penderyn: Jerusalem Chapel (

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 ...

, now a house), Siloam Chapel (

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

, a

grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

), Soar Chapel (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, now an antiques shop) and St Cynog's Church (

Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...

). Penderyn is the home of Penderyn Whisky, whose distillery is located opposite the local school. The award-winning

single malt whisky Single malt whisky is malt whisky from a single Distillation, distillery. Single malts are typically associated with single malt Scotch, though they are also produced in various other countries. Under the United Kingdom's Scotch Whisky Regulat ...

was launched in 2004 and was the first distilled in Wales for over 100 years.

Etymology

Penderyn contains two Welsh words: * ''pen'', meaning "head" or "end" * ''deryn'', a contracted form of ''aderyn'', meaning "bird"

History

Welsh historian David Watkin Jones (

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh language, Welsh term bardd ('poet') originally referred to the Welsh poets of the M ...

'Dafydd Morganwg') documented in his 1874 ''Hanes Morganwg'' (''History of Glamorgan'') that, in 1666, one "Mayber" built a small charcoal-fired furnace near Llygad Cynon, the source of the River Cynon, in an uninhabited place in the parish of Penderyn (''ym mhlwyf Penderyn''). There was no iron ore in the vicinity of the furnace. Consequently, supplies of it needed to be obtained from elsewhere. However, the furnace was successful: it produced on average a ton of iron a week, which was taken to

for finishing (

forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

), where it would have enjoyed "the advantage of proximity to English markets". At some point Penderyn became an agricultural village, which supplied the ever-growing needs of the nearby local market town of

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; ) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and River Cynon, Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tydf ...

. Until the county's inclusion in Powys in 1974 the village was in the county of

Brecknockshire Brecknockshire ( or ), also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon, was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was created in 1 ...

Governance

Penderyn is in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

of Hirwaun and, at the lowest tier of local government, is represented by Hirwaun & Penderyn Community Council. Penderyn is one of two

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ''ward (subnational entity), ward'' is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil pa ...

in the community, electing 4 members to the community council. For elections to

Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council () is the governing body for Rhondda Cynon Taf, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council headquarters are at the Llys Cadwyn development in Pontypridd. History The council was established on 1 Ap ...

, Penderyn is covered by the 'Hirwaun, Penderyn and Rhigos' electoral district.

Notable people

* Gwyn Morgan (born 1954), Welsh-language writer, lives in Penderyn * David Wynne (1900–1983), composer, born in Penderyn * (David Davies, 1853–1937), author of * Lewis Lewis (Lewsyn yr Heliwr),

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she ...

for his part in the Merthyr Rising of 1831 Dic Penderyn (Richard Lewis, 1807/8–1831), the central figure of the Merthyr Rising of 1831, was not from the village but was from

Aberavon Aberavon () is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Por ...

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Penderyn and surrounding area
Villages in Rhondda Cynon Taf Brecon Beacons Fforest Fawr Wards of Rhondda Cynon Taf {{RhonddaCynonTaf-geo-stub