Tynewydd is a village located in the County Borough of

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, ...

, south

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. With

Treherbert Treherbert () is a village and community (Wales), community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Glamorgan. Treherbert is the upper mo ...

Blaencwm Blaencwm () is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Two collieries were opened here during the Industrial Revolution, the Dunraven Colliery in 1865 and the Glenrhondda Colliery i ...

Blaenrhondda Blaenrhondda is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaenrhondda is a village and is part of the community of Treherbert. History The earliest evidence of people inhabiting th ...

and Pen-yr-englyn it is part of a

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 Treherbert. The village lies in the former industrial coal mining area at the head of Rhondda Fawr, the larger of the

Rhondda Valleys Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( ), 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 (, 'large') and the ...

History

It is believed that the village was named after 'Tynewydd' (built 1652) a

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from lumber, timber and ...

in nearby Blaenrhondda. The area was sparsely populated before the 18th century, but after the successful mining of the South Wales coalfield the area experienced a population boom in the late 19th century. In 1865 Ebenezer Lewis, the owner of the Bwllfa Dare Colliery in

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 ...

, purchased the lease of mineral property at Tynewydd on the east side of the

River Rhondda The River Rhondda () is a river in South Wales with two major tributaries, ''Rhondda Fawr'' (meaning ''big Rhondda'') and ''Rhondda Fach'' (meaning ''little Rhondda''). Description The river has two major Tributary, tributaries, the ''Rhondd ...

. An old level on the hillside was reopened and a shaft was sunk to exploit the lower levels. This mine was named Tynewydd Colliery (not to be confused with Tynewydd Colliery in nearby

Porth Porth () is a town and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. Lying in the Rhondda Valley, it is regarded as the gateway connecting the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach va ...

, site of an 1877 disaster) and in 1868 ownership was transferred to Rhondda Merthyr Colliery Company for £50,000. The mine remained profitable until 1879 when a geological fault affected production. In 1887 the mine was purchased by Messrs L and H Gueret, and efficient production was re-established. Despite producing 100,000 tons of coal in 1910 by 1911 it had closed.

Transport

The village is connected to the national rail transport network by

Treherbert railway station Treherbert railway station serves the village of Treherbert in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is the northern terminus of the Rhondda Line. History A station was first opened on this site by the Taff Vale Railway on 12 January 1863, and was the c ...

, northern terminus of the Rhondda Line, originally 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 ...

line connecting the

Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the main objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but at ...

with the Rhondda Fawr collieries. The station is north-west of

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 ...

. The Rhondda Fawr line was extended from Dinas to Treherbert in 1856 and passenger services to Treherbert began in 1863.

References

Bibliography

Heroic Endeavour, by Major D.V. Henderson, pub. Hayward & Sons, 1988,

External links

Photo of Craig-Y-Ddellw Mountain, Tynewydd, c. 1955, at Francis Frith Photos website
accessed 16 December 2010

accessed 16 December 2010 {{authority control Villages in Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Valley