| Rhymney Valley Welsh: Cwm Rhymni | |
|---|---|
 | |
| History | |
| • Created | 1 April 1974 |
| • Abolished | 31 March 1996 |
| • Succeeded by | Caerphilly County Borough |
| Status | District |
| • HQ | Ystrad Mynach |
 | |
Rhymney Valley (Welsh : Cwm Rhymni) was one of six local government districts in Mid Glamorgan from 1974 to 1996.
The district was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered parts of six former districts which were abolished at the same time, and was initially arranged into nine communities based on the former districts:
‡Formerly a parish in Cardiff Rural District
Bedwas and Machen, New Tredegar, and Rhymney had been in the administrative county of Monmouthshire prior to the reforms, whilst the other communities had all been in Glamorgan. The Rhymney River was the historic boundary between the two counties. Mid Glamorgan County Council provided county-level services to the district. [1] [2]
The communities within the district were reorganised in 1985, which saw the small communities of Llanfedw and Rhydygwern abolished (both being absorbed into Rudry), and the creation of new communities of Aber Valley, Bargoed, Darran Valley, Llanbradach, Maesycwmmer, Nelson, and Penyrheol. [3] [4]
In 1996 the district was abolished, merging with neighbouring Islwyn to become the new unitary Caerphilly County Borough. [5]
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority before coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council from 1974 until its abolition in 1996 was held by the following parties: [6]
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 1974–1976 | |
| No overall control | 1976–1979 | |
| Labour | 1979–1996 | |
The district council inherited the municipal bus fleets of Bedwas and Machen, Caerphilly and Gelligaer urban district councils. The united operation was given a dark brown, cream and gold livery, and ran operations throughout the valley and into Merthyr Tydfil and Newport.
With bus deregulation in 1986 the buses passed to Inter Valley Link Limited, owned by the district council at "arms length". Competition was very strong in the South Wales Valleys, and Inter Valley Link was sold to National Welsh Omnibus Services on 21 March 1989. National Welsh subsequently went into receivership in 1991.
The council inherited various offices from its predecessor authorities. It consolidated its premises in 1983 at Ystrad Fawr House at Ystrad Mynach, a Victorian house which had previously served as offices for the National Coal Board. [7] [8] [9] Ystrad Fawr continued to be used by the successor Caerphilly County Borough Council until 2008 when it was demolished to make way for the Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr hospital.
Caerphilly is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley.
Mid Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996 it was also an administrative county with a county council.
Caerphilly County Borough is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It is governed by Caerphilly County Borough Council.
The Rhymney Railway was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 1858, and a limited passenger service was operated in addition.
Ystrad Mynach is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough, within the ancient county of Glamorgan, Wales, and is 5 mi (8.0 km) north of the town of Caerphilly. The urban area has a population of 19,204, and stands in the Rhymney Valley. Before the Industrial Revolution and the coming of coal mining in the South Wales Coalfield the valley was rural and farmed. It lies in the community of Gelligaer.
The South Wales Valleys are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run north–south, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys", they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the west to Monmouthshire in the east; to the edge of the pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain near the cities of Swansea, Cardiff, and Newport.
The Rhymney River is a river in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales, flowing through Cardiff into the Severn Estuary. The river formed the boundary between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire until in 1887, the parishes east of the river, Rumney and St Mellons, were transferred from the jurisdiction of Newport, to Cardiff in Glamorgan.
Hengoed is a village on the west side of the Rhymney Valley - between Ystrad Mynach to the south and Cefn Hengoed to the north. Across the valley it looks towards Maesycwmmer. The village is in the county borough of Caerphilly, in the traditional county of Glamorgan, Wales. The name literally means 'old wood' in the Welsh language. The electoral ward of Hengoed includes the villages of Hengoed and Cefn Hengoed and a part of Tir-y-Berth in the north west. The ward population was recorded at 5,548 in the 2011 census, an increase of 10% over the previous 10 years, due in part to several new-build housing developments in the ward between 2001 and 2011.
Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen is a community and an electoral ward in the county borough of Caerphilly, constituting the villages of Machen, Trethomas, Bedwas, and Upper and Lower Graig-y-Rhacca. It lies in the Caerphilly Basin in the shadow of Mynydd y Grug and Mynydd Machen. All villages in the area grew as a result of the coal mining industry, which carries its legacy on today.
Nelson is a village and community in the County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales. It sits five miles north of Caerphilly and ten miles north of Cardiff, at the lower end of the Taff Bargoed Valley, and lies adjacent to Treharris, Trelewis and Quakers Yard.
Bedwellty is a small village in Caerphilly County Borough in south Wales. The village stands on a ridge of high ground between the Rhymney and Sirhowy valleys. The village comprises a parish church, public house and a few houses. The ancient parish of Bedwellty lay in Monmouthshire and covered a large area. Several industrial and mining towns grew up within the parish boundary, including Ebbw Vale, Rhymney, and Tredegar. These gradually gained administrative independence from Bedwellty between the 1870s and 1890s. A Bedwellty Local Government District was established for the rest of the parish in 1891, becoming an urban district in 1894.
Gelligaer is a community in the County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales, in the Rhymney River valley. As well as the village of Gelligaer, the community also includes the small towns of Hengoed and Ystrad Mynach. The population of the community at the 2011 census was 18,408.
Caerphilly County Borough Council is the governing body for Caerphilly County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The last full council elections took place 5 May 2022.
National Welsh Omnibus Services was a bus company which operated in south-east Wales and in the Forest of Dean area of Gloucestershire from 1978 to 1992. It used the trading name National Welsh and its Welsh equivalent Cymru Cenedlaethol.
Trelewis is a small village in the Taff Bargoed Valley of south-east Wales, currently located in the southern part of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough. It is a former mining village and together with nearby Bedlinog was until 1974 part of the Gelligaer Urban District Council area of the county of Glamorgan. The villages name means 'Lewis Town' and was named after the Lewis family who owned a farm on the area where the village is now built.
 Council elections in the preserved county of Mid Glamorgan | |
|---|---|
| Bridgend | |
| Merthyr Tydfil | |
| Rhondda Cynon Taf | |
| Mid Glamorgan County Council | |
| Cynon Valley | |
| Ogwr | |
| Rhondda | |
| Rhymney Valley | |
| Taff-Ely | |