Quakers Yard railway station

Quakers Yard Welsh: Mynwent y Crynwyr
Quakers Yard railway station in 2024
General information
Location	Quakers Yard, Treharris, Merthyr Tydfil Wales
Coordinates	51°39′37″N3°19′23″W / 51.6604°N 3.3231°W / 51.6604; -3.3231
Grid reference	ST085965
Managed by	Transport for Wales
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	QYD
Classification	DfT category F2
Key dates
5 January 1858	Opened
Passengers
2018/19	65,798

Quaker's Yard Area
Legend
to Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Vale to Aberdare to Merthyr Quakers' Yard and Merthyr Joint Railway Quakers Yard Low Level Quakers Yard High Level to Nelson Abercynon to Cardiff

Today the station is situated below the Taff Vale estate where bespoke detached properties have been built on the high level line area and also on the incline that existed from the lower level which ran towards Treharris. The derelict upper level was partitioned when the Taff Vale estate was built. The land to the east below Edwardsville cemetery was earmarked for business units - but was eventually sold off to Bailey Homes house builders - mainly detached houses were built and named Forest Grove. A small senior citizen sheltered bungalow complex buffers this site with the Taff Vale site.

Quakers Yard station provides access to and from the Taff Trail cycle route. The beauty spot at Pontygwaith Bridge over the River Taff lies about 1 mile north on the trail. Arriva Trains Wales allow cyclists on local trains with some restrictions on timing. Access to the Taff Trail is via a foot crossing over the railway line a short distance north of the railway platform.

This section of the Taff Trail includes the original stone sleepers from Edwardsville towards Pontygwaith and beyond towards Mount Pleasant, where Richard Trevithick ran the first ever steam locomotive to run on rails and the first to carry passengers in 1804.^{[ citation needed ]}

Services

Trains run every half-hour each way, north to Merthyr Tydfil and south to Pontypridd & Cardiff Central. Southbound trains continue alternately to Barry Island and Bridgend via the Vale of Glamorgan Line. On Sundays there is a two-hourly service each way to Merthyr & Bridgend. ^[3]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Abercynon		Transport for Wales Merthyr Line		Merthyr Vale

Edwardsville

Edwardsville is the name given to the small urban area that grew up around the Quakers Yard station. The railway pre-dated the villages of both Edwardsville and Treharris. ^{[lower-roman 1]} Although not close to Quakers Yard village, this was the only local placename of any note at the time. ^{[lower-roman 2]}

The Edwardsville area began as a public house and a few houses on the road along the valley to Merthyr. The Great Western Hotel, still exists just above the railway station, with strong links to the railways obvious by its name. Around 1900 the area acquired its name from the landlord of this pub, Edmund Edwards.

Mrs C M Williams of Grove House, Edwardsville, wrote: ^[4]

My late father, Mr A Clarke, was in the meeting held in the Long Room of the Great Western Hotel when Edwardsville was given its name. It was called this after the late Mr Edmund Edwards, who was chairman of the meeting and the proprietor of the Great Western Hotel. He later became the owner of many properties.

The suffix ‘-ville’ was popular for new placenames around this time, particularly those largely built by speculative builders or landlords. It suggested both a pastoral ‘village’ and also a then-fashionably French aspect of 'ville' (town). ^[5] Edwardsville expanded on both sides of the road and soon had a board school and chapel.

On 27 October 1913, much destruction was caused in Edwardsville when it was hit by a tornado. The roofs of many houses, the school and chapel were destroyed. Three people were killed and over a hundred injured. ^[6] Damage was caused over a wide area, with chimneys also demolished as far down the valley as Pontypridd. This toll remains Britain's highest for a tornado.

Recently Edwardsville has expanded below the main road, with new houses filling the space of the previous high-level station.

Edwardsville is part of the Treharris community, as is Quakers Yard. Boosted by the pit, Treharris has grown to be larger than both.

Notes

1. Treharris, lit. 'Harris' town' in Welsh takes its name from Harris's Navigation Pits, which were sunk in 1872.
2. Quakers Yard's placename dates from around 1700

References

1. Hutton, John (2006). The Taff Vale Railway, vol. 1. Silver Link. ISBN   978-1-85794-249-1.
2. Page, James. (1988), Forgotten Railways: Volume 8 - South Wales (2nd Ed), David & Charles Publishers, Newton Abbott, ISBN   0-946537-44-5, p.37
3. GB National Rail Timetable 2015-2016 Edition, Table 130 (Network Rail)
4. "Edwardsville". Old Merthy Tydfil.
5. Jones, Howard C. (1976). Place Names in Glamorgan. Starling Press. p. 25. ISBN   0903434180.
6. "Edwardsville tornado". Old Merthy Tydfil.

External links

• Website about Edwardsville
• Train times and station information for Quakers Yard railway station from National Rail