Gilfach Goch
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Gilfach Goch is a
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...
, electoral ward and small former coal mining village mostly in the Borough of
Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff (Welsh: ''Taf'') and Ely valleys, plus a number of towns and vill ...
, south
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 ...
, near the larger community of
Tonyrefail Tonyrefail is a village and community in the Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough, Wales. It is situated at the head of the River Ely; northwest of Llantrisant, about from Trebanog and about from Williamstown. During the second half of the 19th ...
. Some areas in the North Western part of the village lie within Bridgend County Borough Council. It is situated in the Cwm Ogwr Fach (Small Ogmore Valley) between the Cwm Ogwr Fawr (Large Ogmore Valley) to the west and the Cwm Rhondda (Rhondda Valley) to the east.


Etymology

The translation of Gilfach Goch into English is easily understood (''cil'' = nook or secluded area, ''bach'' = small) but several theories have been put forward as to where the name came from, especially the term ''coch'' = red. Writing in 1887, Thomas Morgan, put forward the idea that the name was derived from "...a heap of red cinders, which still remains as a memento of the ironworks that stood there in times of yore".
Owen Morgan Owen Morgan, also known by his bardic name Morien (1836 – 16 December 1921) was a Welsh journalist, and a writer of books on the subject of neo-druidism. Morgan developed the mythology of both Iolo Morganwg and , and his druidical writing i ...
, a local historian, theorised that the area was the location of an ancient site of importance to the local druids. During the Roman Conquest of Britain, Roman cavalry attacked the 'defenceless of Dinas', but were routed when thousands heeded the call of the Druids. Morgan concludes that ''coch'' refers to the blood shed by the defeated Roman soldiers. These theories have been queried more recently, as it has been shown that the area known as Gilfach Goch and, in particular, the site where the red cinders of the ironworks are found, was not originally named as such. Prior to 1860, Gilfach Goch was an area of mountain land situated in the Ogwr Fach valley in the parish of
Ystradyfodwg Ystradyfodwg or Ystrad Dyfodwg (Vale of Tyfodwg) was an ancient upland parish in Glamorgan, Wales. It is believed to have been named after Dyfodwg (or Tyfodwg) a 6th-century saint or chieftain. The parish included most of the area which would late ...
far north of present-day Gilfach. Ordnance survey maps have shown that the name Gilfach Goch is not only the name of the community that sprang up with the coming of coal, but the hill and a strip of land on the east bank of the
Ogwr Fach The Borough of Ogwr was one of six districts of Mid Glamorgan in Wales, which existed from 1974 to 1996. History It was formed under the Local Government Act 1972 from the urban districts of Bridgend, Maesteg, Ogmore and Garw and Porthcawl, al ...
. This section of the Ogwr Fach valley is very narrow and lends itself to the description ''cil''-''fach'', but is also home to a tributary of the
River Ogwr The River Ogmore ( cy, Afon Ogwr) is a river in South Wales that is popular with anglers. It runs generally from north to south from the Ogmore Vale and Gilfach Goch, past Bridgend and Ogmore. The River Ogmore rises at Craig Ogwr (527 m) in the ...
whose bed contains iron ore. The ore reddens the appearance of the stream, which could be the origin of the name.


History

Gilfach Goch developed as coal mining village during the industrialisation of the south Wales valleys in the 19th century. Three pits were sunk in the area, the Britannic, the Dinas Main and the Trane and Llewellyn. Evan Evans, a self-made businessman, acquired the mineral rights to large parts of land of Gilfach Goch in the early 1860s. His first mine, the first in Gilfach Goch, was the Dinas Main Colliery. It reached the Rhondda No.3 seam in 1868 and was known for its high quality coal and coke. The Dinas Main Colliery Company sank two shafts into the steam coal measure between 1894 and 1896, and this pit became known as the Britannic Merthyr Colliery. In 1907 an explosion occurred at the Dinas Main Colliery. Seven men were killed, while others escaped through an old horse-way tunnel. The Dinas Main was closed after the accident, the Trane pit closed in 1953 and the Britannic closed in 1960. The scattered development of the village's collieries caused a similar scattered approach to the housing, the logic of their placement now lost that the mines have all since closed. At the south end of the village there are a series of parallel cul-de-sac properties lined with cottage pairs, not terraces which are synonymous to the region. This unusual layout was promoted by the
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
-based Welsh Garden Cities Ltd as their first Garden Village and was built between 1910 and 1914. In the 2001 census, of all rural areas with a population over 1,500, Gilfach Goch had the largest percentage of people in the whole of England and Wales who stated that they had no religion.


Buildings

The oldest building in the village is the Griffin Inn, a public house which is situated in low marshy ground at the end of a country lane. The most notable religious building is the church of St Barnabas which began construction in 1896 and was completed in 1899. A
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
with a lower
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...
was added in 1933. During the Second World War the church was hit by a
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
bomb; it was reconstructed in the 1950s.


Governance

The Gilfach Goch electoral ward is coterminous with the borders of the Gilfach Goch community and elects a county councillor to Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. Since 1995 the ward has been represented by Aurfron Roberts, who has stood for the Labour Party since 1999.Rhondda Cyon Taff County Borough Council Election Results 1995-2012
The Election Centre. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
At the May 2017 election Labour and Plaid Cymru won a councillor each. Gilfach Goch Community Council represents the community at the local level, with seven community councillors.


Residents of note

* Bryn Allen (1921–2005), the
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 ...
international footballer was born in Gilfach Goch. * Chief Petty Officer George Henry Prowse VC, DCM (29 August 1896 – 27 September 1918) was a British recipient of the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
. He served with the Royal Naval Division during the Gallipoli Campaign and in France on the Western Front where he was killed in action before the award of either of his decorations was announced. *The author
Richard Llewellyn Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd (; 8 December 1906 – 30 November 1983), known by his pen name Richard Llewellyn ( , ), was an English-born novelist of Welsh descent, who is best remembered for his 1939 novel '' How Green Was My Va ...
stayed in Gilfach Goch (1939) for the writing of his novel ''
How Green Was My Valley ''How Green Was My Valley'' is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own persona ...
'' that is set in a fictional mining village based on Gilfach Goch. It is said by some that Llewellyn would spend long summer holidays with his grandfather in the village. * The author Gary M Dobbs lived in Gilfach Goch. He set his Granny Smith series of novels in a fictional version of the village. * David Thomas Jones
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, FRSE (1866-1931), administrator and author on the fishing industry * George Tinder Random (first-time Dishoom user). * William Griffiths (1898-1962), violinist and founder of Griffs Bookshop in
Cecil Court Cecil Court is a pedestrian street with Victorian shop-frontages in Westminster, England, linking Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Lane. Since the 1930s, it has been known as the new Booksellers' Row. Early background One of the older thoroug ...
, London, was born in Gilfach Goch. In 2019 a plaque was unveiled at the Griffiths family home in Kenry Street.


References


Bibliography

*


External links


www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Gilfach Goch and surrounding area
{{authority control Wards of Rhondda Cynon Taf Villages in Rhondda Cynon Taf Communities in Rhondda Cynon Taf