Trecynon

Last updated

Trecynon
Trecynon.jpg
Public Hall and Church, Trecynon
Rhondda Cynon Taf UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Trecynon
Location within Rhondda Cynon Taf
OS grid reference SN995035
Principal area
Preserved county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town ABERDARE
Postcode district CF44
Dialling code 01685
Police South Wales
Fire South Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Rhondda Cynon Taf
51°43′16″N3°27′23″W / 51.721187°N 3.456308°W / 51.721187; -3.456308

Trecynon is a village near Aberdare, situated in the Cynon Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It dates from the early nineteenth century and developed as a result of the opening of the Aberdare Ironworks at Llwydcoed in 1800. [1]

Contents

Toponymy

Trecynon was formerly known as Heol-y-Felin (English: The Mill Road), as the early conurbation was centred around the road leading to Llwydcoed Mill (the Heol-y-Felin road is known today in English as Mill Street). [2]

With the opening of the ironworks at Llwydcoed in 1800, the conurbation became an urbanised village, with housing and amenities (such as the 1855 Heolyfelin Chapel) built away from the Heol-y-Felin itself. As such, an eisteddfod competition was organised to decide a new name for the village, with the name Trecynon (English: Town on the Cynon) being declared the winner. [1] From around 1860, the new name was widely adopted by both Welsh and English speakers; although Thomas Morgan recorded the village as still being named Heolyfelin in the 1887, despite the Mill itself no longer being extant. [3]

History

The first buildings in Trecynon were Llwydcoed Mill, the Hen-Dy-Cwrdd in 1751 and a single solitary house built next to it. [1] Thomas Morgan states that first houses were built by Morgan Watkin in 1792, when the developing iron industry increased the demand for housing and the village of Heolyfelin began to grow. [4] In 1811, the Robertstown Tramway Bridge, was built over the river Cynon, linking Heolyfelin and Robertstown. It is the oldest of its kind in the world. [5]

By the 1860s, Heolyfelin had become one of the main population centres in the parish of Aberdare; Harriet Street, Ebenezer Street, Alma Street, Mount Pleasant Street and Margaret Street were all built in this period. [1] Such rapid and intensive development inevitably led to public health problems, as were revealed in 1853 when Thomas Webster Rammell prepared a report for the general Board of Health on the condition of public health in Aberdare. Heolyfelin was not considered the worst case in the district, by any means, but there were concerns. John Griffith, Vicar of Aberdare, reported that:

There is not, to my knowledge, a place in Aberdare more filthy than the neighbourhood of the Royal Oak in the same quarter of the town. Mill-Street proper is in a very bad state from the ash-heaps of rubbish and filth thrown into and lying on the centre of the road.

[1]

Likewise, local industrialist Rees Hopkin Rhys reported:

Many of the houses in this quarter are of a very inferior description, and these have no privy accommodation whatever. The new houses, here, as a rule, have one privy for two houses. [1]

Rammell's report led directly to the formation of the Aberdare Local Board of Health the following year. The Local Board, which later became the Aberdare Urban District Council, was responsible for a range of local improvements in Aberdare, including the opening of Aberdare Park in 1869.

Population continued to grow steadily in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as a result of the steam coal trade.

In August 1902, the foundation stone of the Trecynon Public Hall and Library was laid by Lord Windsor and D. A. Thomas, M.P. Funds for the construction of the Hall came from a variety of sources, including the Carnegie Fund and local coal-owners. [6] The hall was opened officially on 10 March 1903, when a grand concert was organised. [1]

The Coliseum Theatre was opened on 17 September 1938.

Industry

The Aberdare Ironworks at Llwydcoed was the main employer in the early industrial period. The Ironworks closed in 1875 and, thereafter, coal became the main source of employment.

Education

In 1848, the Aberdare British Schools (Ysgol-y-Comin) were built on an unenclosed area of Hirwaun Common; in 1896, the Aberdare Intermediate School was built on the Southern edge of Trecynon, to become Aberdare Boys County School from 1913.

The Aberdare College campus site of Coleg Morgannwg is situated within the northern part of the village, on Cwmdare Road.

Aberdare Boys Grammar School was opened in Trecynon in 1896 as Aberdare Intermediate School for both boys and girls; the girls transferred for their own new school at Plasdraw in 1913. The boys' school relocated to Cwmdare Road in 1964 and ceased to be a grammar school in 1978 when it became the new Aberdare Boys Comprehensive School, but changed its name to Aberdare High School in 2009; it closed in the summer of 2014.

Comin Infant school and Comin Junior School are located within the village; both school sites are physically connected.

Religion

St Fagan's Church Trecynon St Fagans Church by Aberdare Blog.jpg
St Fagan's Church

The earliest building in Trecynon was Hen Dy Cwrdd Chapel, the oldest Nonconformist chapel in the Cynon Valley. Hen Dy Cwrdd Chapel was founded in 1751 and rebuilt in 1862. The chapel had two notable ministers during the nineteenth century. Thomas Evans (Tomos Glyn Cothi), minister from 1811 until 1833, was a political radical who was a pioneer in the political reform movement. His replacement, John Jones, minister from 1833 until 1863, was also a radical and was one of the founders of the magazine Yr Ymofynnydd, in which he published his radical ideas. Unitarians cared less for their buildings than other nonconformist denominations who built increasingly grandiose edifices, such as Calfaria, Aberdare. When the new building was opened in 1862, John Jones refused to hold a special service of consecration, as he considered such a service was too suggestive of "popery". [1]

Although the building still survives, the chapel closed in the mid 1990s due to a declining congregation. It is hoped that an alternative use will be found for the chapel building in the future. No services are held at the chapel nowadays, but the building remains as a protected Grade II listed building. [7]

St Fagan's Church is one of the oldest churches in the Aberdare district and was built in 1854 when John Griffith was vicar of Aberdare. It was built to serve the needs of the growing Anglican congregation in the upper Cynon Valley. The church was paid for by Harriet Windsor-Clive, Baroness Windsor and, when the church burnt down in 1856, was rebuilt again at her expense. [8] [9]

Each of the major nonconformist denominations established chapels at Trecynon. Ebenezer was one of the oldest Independent chapels in the locality. Heolyfelin was established in 1855 as a branch of the Baptist church at Hirwaun. Carmel was a Calvinistic Methodist chapel, as was Bryn Seion in Mill Street,

Amenities

The most prominent local attraction and landmark is Aberdare Park, a popular public Victorian era park which was opened in 1869 on a 50-acre (200,000 m2) site.

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberdare</span> Town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirwaun</span> Human settlement in Wales

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llwydcoed</span> Human settlement in Wales

Llwydcoed is a small village and community north of the Cwm Cynon, near the town of Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, with a population of 1,302 as of 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caradog (Griffith Rhys Jones)</span> Welsh conductor

Griffith Rhys Jones, commonly known as Caradog, was a Welsh conductor of the famous 'Côr Mawr' of some 460 voices, which twice won first prize at The Crystal Palace choral competitions in London in 1872 and 1873.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberdare High School</span> School in Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Aberdare High School was a comprehensive school in Aberdare, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calfaria Chapel, Aberdare</span> Former chapel in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Aberdare, was one of the largest baptist churches in the South Wales Valleys and the oldest in the Aberdare valley. The chapel had an ornate interior, including a boarded ceiling with a deeply undercut rose, while the balcony balustrading had a cast iron front with an intricate foliage design. These features were common in the Welsh chapels of the late nineteenth century. The organ was installed in 1903 at a cost of £850. It was played for the last time in 2012 by Robert Nicholls, during a Radio Cymru broadcast shortly before the closure of the chapel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Williams (Carw Coch)</span> Welsh literary figure, born 1808

William Williams, known by his bardic name, Carw Coch, was a prominent literary figure in Aberdare, and south Wales generally, during the mid-nineteenth century, and an important figure in the development of the eisteddfod movement. His bardic name was derived from the Stag Inn, the public house that he ran at Trecynon, Aberdare.

Heolyfelin Chapel, Trecynon, Aberdare was a Welsh Baptist chapel established in 1855. Services were held in the Welsh language. The building seated 800. By December 2015 the chapel had closed and was for sale.

Owen Harris was a Liberal politician and municipal leader in Aberdare, South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebenezer Chapel, Trecynon</span> Former chapel in Trecynon, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Ebenezer, Trecynon was 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.

Horeb, Llwydcoed is an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Llwydcoed, Aberdare, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nebo Chapel, Hirwaun</span> Former chapel in Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Nebo, Hirwaun was an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Merthyr Road, Hirwaun, Aberdare, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elim Chapel, Cwmdare</span> Former chapel in Cwmdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Elim, Cwmdare was an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Cwmdare, Aberdare, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salem Chapel, Robertstown</span> Chapel in Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Salem, Robertstown is an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Bridge Street, Robertstown, Aberdare, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramoth Chapel</span> Chapel in Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Ramoth, Hirwaun originally a Baptist chapel in Davies Row, Hirwaun, Aberdare, Wales. Services at Ramoth were held in the Welsh language. Following renovation in 1982, the building continues to be used for Christian worship as an Assemblies of God fellowship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron Tram Bridge, Robertstown</span> Bridge in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

The Iron Tram Bridge, Robertstown is an early example of a "railway" bridge. It crosses the River Cynon between Trecynon and Robertstown. It carried the Llwydcoed Tramroad which ran from Hirwaun to the canal head at Cwmbach, south east of Aberdare. It was built by the Aberdare Canal & Navigation Company in 1811, and probably designed by George Overton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hen-Dy-Cwrdd</span>

Hen-Dy-Cwrdd is a disused Unitarian chapel in Trecynon, Aberdare, Wales. Services at the chapel were conducted in the Welsh language.

D. Jacob Davies was a Welsh Unitarian minister who became a prominent figure within Welsh public life and within his denomination in Wales and beyond.

Bethania, Cwmbach was a Baptist Chapel at Cwmbach in the Aberdare Valley in Wales. Badly damaged by an air raid attack in 1941 it was subsequently restored but closed in the 1980s. Services were held in the Welsh language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberdare West</span> Community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Aberdare West is a local government community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community was formed in 2016 when the former community of Aberdare was split into two. Neighbouring Aberdare East includes the main town of Aberdare.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Our Past". RCT Library Services. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  2. "Welsh Tithe Maps". National Library of Wales. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  3. Morgan, Thomas (1887). Handbook of the Origin of Place-names in Wales and Monmouthshire.
  4. Morgan, Thomas (1887). Handbook of the Origin of Place-names in Wales and Monmouthshire.
  5. Engineering timeline: Robertstown Tramway Bridge. Accessed 11 October 2013
  6. "Mr. Carnegie's gifts". The Times. No. 36857. London. 27 August 1902. p. 9.
  7. "Photos & Notes on Hen Dy Cwrdd". Aberdare Blog Gallery. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  8. "Death Of The Baroness Windsor", The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, 13 November 1869, p.5
  9. John Newman (1995), The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan, University of Wales Press, pp. 94, 133, ISBN   0-14-071056-6

Sources