Aberdare is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550. Aberdare is 4 miles (6 km) south-west of Merthyr Tydfil, 20 miles (32 km) north-west of Cardiff and 22 miles (35 km) east-north-east of Swansea. During the 19th century it became a thriving industrial settlement, which was also notable for the vitality of its cultural life and as an important publishing centre.
Merthyr Tydfil is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about 23 miles (37 km) north of Cardiff, Wales. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. Merthyr generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin martyrium: a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr.
Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Baronet, known as John Josiah Guest, was a Welsh engineer and entrepreneur.
Hirwaun is a village and community at the north end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is 4 miles (6 km) NW of the town of Aberdare, and comes under the Aberdare post town. At the 2001 census, Hirwaun had a population of 4,851. increasing at the 2011 census to 4,990. The village is on the Heads of the Valleys Road and at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Merthyr Tydfil was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan. From 1832 to 1868 it returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and in 1868 this was increased to two members. The two-member constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election.
Dowlais is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlais is notable within Wales and Britain for its historic association with ironworking; once employing, through the Dowlais Iron Company, roughly 5,000 people, the works being the largest in the world at one stage.
Canolfan Soar is a Grade II-listed community facility in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, that includes a theatre and other facilities. It was converted from the closed Grade II-listed, eighteenth-century, Zoar Chapel in the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough has been one of the 22 unitary authorities in Wales since 1 April 1996. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough today has a population of 60,183. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from Merthyr Tydfil town. The County Borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly county borough to the east, and Powys to the north.
The Reverend Benjamin Evans was a Welsh Baptist minister and author, who served as Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society in the late nineteenth century.
Siloa, Aberdare was the largest of the Welsh Independent, or Congregationalist, chapels in Aberdare. Services are held in the Welsh language. Established in 1844, Siloa is one of the few Welsh language chapels in the locality to remain open today. Siloa was notable for its long-serving ministers and in over a century there were only three pastorates, namely those of David Price (1843–78), D. Silyn Evans (1880–1930) and R. Ifor Parry (1933–64).
Nonconformity was a major religious movement in Wales from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The Welsh Methodist revival of the 18th century was one of the most significant religious and social movements in the modern history of Wales. The revival began within the Church of England in Wales, partly as a reaction to the neglect generally felt in Wales at the hands of absentee bishops and clergy. For two generations from the 1730s onwards the main Methodist leaders such as Howell Harris, Daniel Rowland and William Williams Pantycelyn remained within the Church of England, but the Welsh revival differed from the Methodist revival in England in that its theology was Calvinist rather than Arminian. Methodists in Wales gradually built up their own networks, structures, and meeting houses, which led, at the instigation of Thomas Charles, to the secession of 1811 and the formal establishment of the Calvinistic Methodist Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1823.
Ebenezer, Trecynon is an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Ebenezer Street, Trecynon, Aberdare, Wales. It was one of the earliest Independent chapels in the Cynon Valley and remained an active place of worship until 2009.
Elim, Cwmdare was an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Cwmdare, Aberdare, Wales.
Bethel, Gadlys was an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Railway Street, Gadlys, Aberdare, Wales.
Bethania, Abercynon was an Independent chapel in Mountain Ash Road, Abercynon, Glamorgan, Wales. Services at Bethania were conducted in the Welsh language.
Bethlehem, Mountain Ash was a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Pryce Street, Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, Wales. Services at Bethlehem were conducted in the Welsh language.
The Rev. Daniel Davies, D. D. was a Welsh Baptist preacher, also known as "Y Dyn Dall".
Evan Thomas Davies was a Welsh musician. His parents were George Davies, and Gwenllian, of Dowlais. His mother's family were descendants of songwriter R.S. Hughes. He received private musical tuition from organist Harry Evans. From 1903-17 Evan held the position of Organist of Pontmorlais Chapel, Merthyr Tydfil, and also worked as a singing teacher in Merthyr Tydfil secondary school (1904–20).
Bethesda, Merthyr Tydfil was one of the earliest chapels in the Welsh industrial town of Merthyr Tydfil. Services were held in the Welsh language.
The Old Iron Bridge of 1800, originally known simply as Merthyr Bridge before 1809, in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was a cast-iron bridge across the River Taff.
