The A4061 is the main road linking Bridgend with Hirwaun via the Ogmore and Rhondda Valleys in South Wales. [1] It is a mix of streets connecting former mining communities, and mountain passes built as relief work for unemployed miners.
The road was originally a dead-end from Bridgend along the Ogmore Valley built in the 19th century, but concerns over travel difficulties, environment and post-World War I unemployment in the Rhondda led to a series of mountain roads being planned. The road was initially extended over the Bwlch-y-Clawdd towards Treorchy in 1928. A further section, from Treherbert northward to Hirwaun, opened the following year. As well as improving communications and transport, the A4061 allowed locals to visit the mountain summits easily for leisure purposes. Ice cream vans have been a regular feature at the two summits, Bwlch-y-Clawdd and Rhigos, since the 1930s.
The A4061 has been praised for its engineering and scenery, including a feature in National Geographic , and formed part of the Olympic Torch route in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.
The A4061 is about 25 miles (40 km) from south to north, but its winding sections make it longer in road miles. It has four main sections, which from south to north are:
The road meets the M4 (the motorway that runs across South Wales) at Sarn Park services; it also meets the A4107 mountain road to Abergwynfi, the A4058 Rhondda Fawr valley road to Porth and Pontypridd and the Heads of the Valleys Road. The two mountain sections feature numerous hairpin bends, [3] [4] [5] and the section along the Bwlch-y-Clawdd is sited on top of a perfect geological fault. [6]
Settlements served by the road include (from south to north) Bridgend, Sarn, Bryncethin, Blackmill, Lewistown, Ogmore Vale, Price Town, Nantymoel, Treorchy, Ynyswen, Penyrenglyn, Treherbert and Hirwaun. The road also connects Bridgend, Treorchy, Ynyswen and Treherbert railway stations. [7]
The area was rural and sparsely populated until the mid 19th century, when the discovery of coal led to a major industrial boom. The geography of narrow river valleys sandwiched between mountains meant that land space was at a premium, with roads and railways running along limited land space. [8] With relatively little sunlight reaching the valley floors, the local climate in the valleys was depressing. Visiting a town in a neighbouring valley, only a few miles away as the crow flies, could involve a 30-to-40-mile (50-to-65-kilometre) round trip. [9] The A4061 was typical of this, and around 1900 it was a dead end road from Bridgend to Nantymoel, requiring a detour via the Ogwr Fach Valley and Tonyrefail to reach the Rhondda Valley. [10]
The downturn of the coal mining industry after World War I hit the Rhondda particularly hard due to its isolation and lack of access, with high unemployment by the 1920s. [11] In 1924 a series of new mountain roads, to connect isolated valleys, was proposed, including a new through route from Bridgend to Hirwaun via the Rhondda. [12] As well as providing unemployment relief and connecting communities, Glamorgan County Council hoped the better access to the mountain summits would provide recreation, which Lord Temple described as "a playground for all time for those people". [9] The Leader of the Opposition and Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald was particularly keen for the road to be built, knowing it would be good for local economy as well as communications, and he was keen to find ways of moving the economy of South Wales valleys away from the monoculture of coal mining. [13] In addition to the A4061, the A4107 to Abergwnfi and a mountain road from Llyn Fawr to Maerdy in the Rhondda Fach valley were planned as part of the same project. [14] The total estimated cost of the mountain roads, including neighbouring routes was around £400,000 (equivalent to £24,271,000in 2021), of which 75% was to be paid by central Government and 25% by Glamorgan County Council. [15]
The road schemes were designed by Ministry of Transport engineer and surveyor George Macpherson, [16] with a standard planned width of 20 feet (6.1 m), with an additional 5 feet (1.5 m) on one side for pedestrians. [14] The workforce was drawn largely from unemployed miners, and the mountain sections were quickly built. [7] About halfway through construction, funding was withdrawn and work halted, though pressure in Parliament, particularly from MacDonald and Sir William Jenkins, ensured there would be a commitment to finish the road in 1928. [13] [17] By 1929, £356,431 (now 23,053,000) had been spent on constructing 32.29 miles (51.97 km) of new road (including the A4107 and all connecting links). [14] The Bwlch-y-Clawdd section opened at the end of 1928, [7] while the Rhigos Road section, from Treherbert to Hirwaun, delayed by financial constraints, opened on 4 November 1929. [18] Herbert Morrison, Minister of Transport, visited the works in 1930 and was impressed by the progress and effort expended in the project. [19] The link road from Llyn Fawr to Maerdy was never built. [14]
The landscape at the northern end of the A4061 has been extensively used for open cast mining, which remains an active industry. [20]
In 2013, a large sink hole appeared on the Rhigos Mountain Road section. The road was shut for several days for repairs. [21] In 2016, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council announced a £1.25 million resurfacing package for the A4061 between Treherbert and Hirwaun. The road was closed for three weeks while the council laid around 6,000 tonnes of tarmac. [22] [23] In August 2018, the Rhigos and Bwlch sections were both closed because of a burst water main and essential remedial works respectively. [24]
The Paran Baptist Chapel was built at the junction of what is now the A4061 and A4093 at Blackmill. It was originally constructed in 1819, and expanded several times throughout the 19th century. It is now a Grade II listed building. [25]
The Bwlch-y-Clawdd Road is well known for an ice cream van parked at the summit, with sheep regularly roaming the local area. [4] [26] Ice cream has a strong connection with the Rhondda following immigration to the valley by Italians during the 19th century, and the same family has been selling ice cream from the summit since the 1930s. [7] [27] In June 2001, National Geographic used a photograph of the summit as the centrepiece for an article on Wales. [7]
The A4061 has been celebrated as one of the most ambitious road projects in Wales. Author Mike Parker has described the road as "the most famous of the miners' mountain passes." [7] On a clear day it is possible to see the Bristol Channel, Exmoor and the Brecon Beacons from the summit. [28] In 2006, a BBC News report described the road as the fifth bendiest in Britain. [29] [30]
In May 2012, as part of the preparation for the London Olympics, the Olympic torch was carried along the A4061 from Treorchy to Bridgend. [31]
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 1996, Cynon Valley was a local government district.
Treorchy is a town and community in Wales. Once a mining town, it retains such characteristics. Situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Fawr valley. Treorchy is also one of the 16 communities of the Rhondda. It includes the villages of Cwmparc and Ynyswen.
The River Ogmore 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 in the Ogmore Valley as the Ogwr Fawr before it links with the Ogwr Fach at Blackmill. The River Llynfi, the River Garw and finally the River Ewenny in its estuary are all tributaries of the Ogmore which flows into the sea between Ogmore-by-Sea and the Merthyr Mawr sand-dunes.
Ogmore is a constituency created in 1918 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Chris Elmore of the Labour Party.
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 and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley – so that the singular "Rhondda Valley" and the plural are both commonly used. The area forms part of the South Wales Valleys. From 1897 until 1996 there was a local government district of Rhondda. The former district at its abolition comprised sixteen communities. Since 1996 these sixteen communities of the Rhondda have been part of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough. The area of the former district is still used as the Rhondda Senedd constituency and Westminster constituency, having an estimated population in 2020 of 69,506. It is most noted for its historical coalmining industry, which peaked between 1840 and 1925. The valleys produced a strong Nonconformist movement manifest in the Baptist chapels that moulded Rhondda values in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also known for its male voice choirs and in sport and politics.
Ystradyfodwg or Ystrad Dyfodwg was an ancient upland parish in Glamorgan, Wales. It is believed to have been named after Dyfodwg a 6th-century saint or chieftain. The parish included most of the area which would later be known as Rhondda named for the parish rivers, Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach.
Treherbert is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historically part of Glamorgan, Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its economic peak between 1850 and 1920. Treherbert is the upper most community of the Rhondda Fawr and encompasses the districts of Blaencwm, Blaenrhondda, Tynewydd and Pen-yr-englyn.
Rhigos is a small village on the saddle of higher ground between the Vale of Neath and the Cynon Valley. It was part of the old Neath Rural district Council under Glamorgan until 1974. The village then came under the jurisdiction of The Cynon Valley Borough which subsequently became Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales in 1996. It lies just off the old Aberdare road that was the main link between Aberdare and Glynneath, before the A465 road was extended in the 1960s. The hamlets of Cefn Rhigos and Cwm-Hwnt lie to the west of the main village.
Craig y Llyn is a mountain situated to the south of the village of Rhigos in the Cynon Valley on the south side of the upper Vale of Neath and north of the Rhondda Valleys in South Wales; it is the highest point in the ancient kingdom and, later, county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), and the southern Welsh coalfield plateau.
In 1861 the Llynvi Valley Railway was opened in Glamorganshire, Wales, to convey mineral products to the Bristol Channel at Porthcawl. It adopted an earlier tramroad, the Duffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway. The Llynvi and Ogmore Railway was opened in 1865, and the two companies amalgamated to form the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway in 1866. At first Porthcawl harbour was an important destination for onward transport, but this soon declined.
The A4107 road is an A road in Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. It begins in Port Talbot and heads up the Afan Valley in a north easterly direction. It then continues over the moors eastwards until it connects with the A4061 road south west of Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley.
Croeserw is a village of approximately 1,380 inhabitants in Gwynfi and Croeserw, Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales.
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 in 1911. Both had closed by 1966 and the sites have since been landscaped, leaving little trace of their industrial past. It is in the historic county of Glamorgan.
Nant-y-moel or Nantymoel[nant ə mɔi̯l] is a village and includes the formerly separate village of Pricetown in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore, and is one of the constituent villages of the Ogmore Valley. It is bordered by the village of Wyndham to the south and by the Bwlch y Clawdd mountain to the north.
Ogmore Valley is a community in the Bridgend County Borough, Mid Glamorgan, Wales. Made up of the villages of Nantymoel, Ogmore Vale, Price Town and Wyndham, its population at the time of the 2001 census was 7,800, increasing to 7,954 at the 2011 Census. The ribbon housing of the valley follows the Ogwr Fawr tributary which rises at Craig Ogwr and joins the Ogwr Fach at Blackmill. Villages include Nantymoel, Price Town, Wyndham, Ogmore Vale, Lewistown, Pant-yr-awel and Blackmill.
Wyndham is a small village in the County Borough of Bridgend, Wales built alongside the Ogwr Fawr tributary of the River Ogmore. The village is part of the community of the Ogmore Valley and is south of Nantymoel and north west of Ogmore Vale. The village grew out of the industrialisation of the valley in the 19th century, when coal mines were sunk in the area. The village is also nearby the local industrial estate Penllwyngwent in Ogmore Vale. Wyndham also has a convenience store called "Patel's Minimarket" which is a small minimarket near the main road. Opposite the convenience store is a youth club called the "Wyndham Boys and Girls Club" which has been open for nearly 80 years. At the end of Wyndham, there is a pub called the "Wyndham Arms". Nearby, between Wyndham and Ogmore Vale, there is a Primary School called Ogmore Vale Primary School. In Wyndham, there is a Christian Church which is called St David's Church owned by Father Julien. Wyndham has access to a cycle track. Wyndham has panoramic views of the Bwlch. It has easy access the A4061. The party Labour has held Wyndham for many years and is now led by the leader Huw Irranca-Davies
Foel Chwern is a Round cairn on the edge of the high plateau east of the Neath valley, and near the summit of Craig y Llyn. The headwaters of the River Rhondda are to the south-west. It is a burial monument dating to the Bronze Age, and is sited on the edge of a steep scarp slope, with a wide field of view to the north. The long distance footpath Coed Morgannwg Way runs close by the cairn. Conifer plantations of the Rheola Forest surround the site.
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