Pontrhydyfen (or Pont-rhyd-y-fen) is a small village in the Afan Valley, in

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf ...

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, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

(). The village sits at the confluence of the

River Afan , name_etymology = , image = The_Afon_Afan,_Cymmer_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1001060.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Afan near Cymmer , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...

and the smaller Afon Pelenna, 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north of the larger village of

Cwmafan Cwmafan ( cy, Cwmafan; ), sometimes known as Cwmavon in English, is a large village and community in the Afan valley in Wales, lying within Neath Port Talbot County Borough. It had a population of 5,603 in 2001, increasing slightly to 5,615 at ...

and not far from the towns of

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

and Neath. The views from the village are dominated by the hills of Foel Fynyddau (370 m) to the west, Moel y Fen (260 m) to the south-east and Mynydd Pen-rhys (280 m) to the north. This former coal mining community is distinguished by two large 19th-century bridges that span the valley: a railway viaduct (''the red bridge'') and a former aqueduct, known in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

as ''Y Bont Fawr'' ("The Big Bridge"). The built-up area has a population of around 830. It is in the community of

Pelenna Pelenna is a community (civil parish) in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It largely covers the valleys of the rivers Pelenna and the Blaenpelenna, to the east of the town of Neath. The community includes the villages of Efail-fach, Tonmawr and Pont ...

Things to do / amenities

* Afan Forest Park * Mountain biking. Home to the nearby Afan Forest Park, the valley offers the best places for mountain biking in South Wales and is consistently ranked highly within the best in the UK.Proviz Sports. 2019. Top 15 Mountain Bike Trails in the UK 2020. NLINEAvailable at: https://www.provizsports.com/en-gb/blog/top-15-uk-mountain-bike-trails. ccessed 14 March 2020naturalresources.wales : Afan Forest Park Retrieved 13 March 2020
/ref> * Walking * Penrhys Trail * Pontrhydyfen Community Centre * Pontrhydyfen RFCPontrhydyfen RFC Website
/ref>

History

The industrial history of Oakwood began in the 1820s, when the first blast furnace was lighted for the Pontrhydyfen Iron WorksGrace's Guide: Pontrhydyfen/ Oakwood Iron Works. Retrieved 11 April 2020
/ref> and coalmaster John Reynolds built the aqueduct to power it.
/ref> By 1877 local Ordnance Survey maps show the site of the iron works as ruins,Ordnance Survey Map (1874–77). Retrieved 11 April 2020
/ref> but there are continued historical references to the two blast furnaces at Pontrhydyfen until 1902. * The Red Bridge / Viaduct. The nine-arch Pontrhydyfen viaduct built in 1898 was the last railway bridge built in the valley. * The Bont Fawr Aqueduct (aka The Big Bridge). Built by John Reynolds and completed in 1827, the four-arch aqueduct is 153 yards (140 m) long and over 75 feet (23 m) high. A watercourse some two miles long carried water from the Afan; it supplied the water which powered the giant waterwheels of the Oakwood / Pontrhydyfen Ironworks. Its use in supplying the waterwheels was relatively short-lived, and there is no record it being used for this purpose following the acquisition of the site by Governor and Company of Copper Miners in 1841.Wales Online – An iconic Welsh aqueduct has been painstakingly restored by Gemma Parry. Retrieved 9 April 2020
/ref> The Bont Fawr Aqueduct is 'one of the few surviving structures relating to the use of water power in the iron industry in the region' and is a Grade II* listed building. It remains in use today as a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, the canal which it once carried having been filled in. * Mining. George Yates' Map of the County Glamorgan shows Coal Pits just south of Oakwood on the West slopes of Moel y Fen and Mynydd Bychan by 1799.The National Library of Wales – George Yates' Map of the County Glamorgan (1799). Retrieved 12 April 2020
/ref> By 1875 maps show a range of collieries including: Craig (SS 788933), Graiglyn (SS 788935) & Wernavon (SS 791936) on the south-east slopes of Foel Fynddau, each serviced by tramways, and Craig-y-fedw (SS 787947) on the east slope of Mynydd HawdrefThe National Library of Scotland – Ordnance Survey Map of Glamorgan Sheet XXV. N.E. (Revised 1897). Retrieved 13 April 2020
/ref> and then by 1914 maps show Oakwood Colliery (SS 799941) just to the south-east of Rhyslyn Carpark.The National Library of Scotland – Ordnance Survey Map of Glamorgan Sheet XXV. N.E. (Revised 1914). Retrieved 13 April 2020
/ref> * Quarries. By 1897 maps show evidence of 3 quarries on Moel y Fen, 1 on Mynydd Hawdref (just west of Efail-fach), 2 on east slopes of Foel Fynyddau, 2 on the south slopes of Mynydd Pen-Rhys and 1 in the vicinity of Penhydd-fach.The National Library of Scotland – Ordnance Survey Map of Glamorgan Sheet XXV. N.E. (Revised 1914). Retrieved 14 April 2020
/ref> Pontrhydyfen Viaduct Aberdare Blog

Famous people

Pontrhydyfen was the birthplace of

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

,The Official Richard Burton Website. Commissioned by Onward Productions. Retrieved 1 April 2020
/ref>

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

and musical star

Ivor Emmanuel Ivor Lewis Emmanuel (7 November 1927 – 20 July 2007) was a Welsh musical theatre and television singer and actor. He is probably best remembered, however, for his appearance as "Private Owen" in the 1964 film '' Zulu'', in which his char ...

who was also in '' Zulu'',BBC's Phil Carradice (2013) The life and times of Ivor Emmanuel. Retrieved 1 April 2020
/ref> international

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

singer Rebecca Evans,BBC Website. Wales Music Biography Rebecca Evans. Retrieved 1 April 2020
/ref> singer and songwriter

Geraint Griffiths Geraint Griffiths (born 1949) is a Welsh singer-songwriter and actor. He works mainly in the Welsh language. Early life and education Born in Pontrhydyfen, Griffiths attended Pontrhydyfen Primary school and then moved across to Ysgol Gymraeg Po ...

,BBC Lleol. De Orllewin Cantorion Geraint Griffiths. Retrieved 1 April 2020
/ref> and

Mark Frankel. The Richard Burton Appreciation Society is based in the village.Facebook Group. The Richard Burton Appreciation Society. Retrieved 1 April 2020
/ref>

Points of interest

The hills surrounding the village are home to a number of mobile phone masts that are prominent markers on the horizon:OFCOM (2012) Sitefinder May 2012 dataset
/ref>

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Pontrhydyfen and surrounding area
{{authority control Villages in Neath Port Talbot Afan Valley