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running S.E. and S.W. respectively till their junction at Porth, and thence the single valley for upwards of a mile farther down the boundary of the See also:

PONTYPRIDD

Pontypridd urban district at Trehafod. The valleys are narrow and tortuous, and their lateral boundaries are formed by steep hills varying in height from about 56o ft. on either See also:

side of Trehafod to 1340 ft. on the N.E. of Maerdy in the lesser Rhondda and 1742 ft. on the S.W. of Treherbert in the main valley, while the mountains at the upper end of the latter valley culminate in Carn Moesen (1950 ft.). The two valleys are separated by the steep See also:

ridge of Cefn-rhondda, which ranges from 600 ft. high above Porth to 1690 ft. near the upper end of the district. There are a few tributary valleys of which Cwmparc, Clydach Vale and Cymmer are the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief. Though the urban district See also:

MEASURES

measures 23,884 acres, the See also:

AREA

area built upon is generally a narrow See also:

STRIP

strip on either side of each See also:

RIVER

river except at Treorky and Ton, where the valley of the Rhondda Fawr opens out a little. In 1877 the See also:

ancient See also:

PARISH (Gr. irapouda, district, neighbourhood; 7r&poucos, one dwelling near or beside, from crap&, OtKOS, house; Lat. paroecur, Late Lat. parochia; cf. Fr. paroisse)

parish of Ystradyfodwg (with the omission of the township of Rhigos, which lies beyond the mountains to the See also:

north) was formed into an urban district bearing the parish name, the area having previously been part of a rural district under the Pontypridd rural sanitary authority. In See also:

OCTOBER

October 1879, portions of the parishes of Llanwonno and See also:

LLANTRISANT

Llantrisant, comprising over 5000 acres, were added to the urban area, the whole being consolidated in 1894 into one See also:

CIVIL

civil parish. In 1897, the name of the urban district was changed into Rhondda. The Taff Vale railway runs up each of the two valleys from a junction at Porth (16 m. N.W. of See also:

CARDIFF

Cardiff), and has five stations in the main valley and four in the lesser one. From Porth it runs to Pontypridd, whence there is communication with Cardiff, See also:

Barry and See also:

NEWPORT

Newport.

The Rhondda and See also:

SWANSEA

Swansea See also:

Bay railway (authorized in 1882, opened in 1890, and now worked by the See also:

GREAT

Great Western) connects the upper end of the main valley, where it has a station, Blaen-rhondda, with See also:

PORT

Port See also:

Talbot, See also:

NEATH (Welsh, Casten-Nedd)

Neath and Swansea (31 M. distant) by means of a See also:

LINE

line which has a See also:

TUNNEL (Fr. tonne!, later tonneau, a diminutive from Low Lat. tonna, tunna, a tun, cask)

tunnel 3443 yds. long. The district occupies almost the centre of the eastern division of the South Wales See also:

COAL

coal-See also:

field, and its coal, upon which the inhabitants are almost entirely dependent, is unsurpassed for its See also:

steam-raising properties. In See also:

COMMON

common with other See also:

East Glamorgan coal it became commercially known as Cardiff coal from the fact that Cardiff was at first its only port of shipment. The development of the Rhondda coal-field was later in date than those of See also:

Aberdare and Merthyr, and it received its chief impetus from the See also:

AMERICAN

American Civil See also:

War. Thus the See also:

POPULATION (Lat. populus, people; populare, to populate)

population of the parish (excluding Rhigos), which was 576 in 1811, 951 in 1851 and 3035 in 1861, increased to 16,914 in 1871. When the boundaries of the district were extended in 1879 the population of the enlarged area was calculated by the registrar-See also:

general to be 23,950 in 1871, but it reached 55,632 in 1881, and 113,735 in Igor, showing an increase of 104% in the previous twenty years. In 1901, 35.4% of the population of three years of See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age and upwards spoke See also:

ENGLISH

English only, 11.4% spoke Welsh only, the See also:

REMAINDER, REVERSION

remainder being bilingual, Ecclesiastically the parish of Ystradyfodwg was an ancient chapelry dependent on Llantrisant. The old parish See also:

church at Ton Pentre (in substitution for which a new church was built in 1893-94) served the whole parish till past the See also:

MIDDLE

middle of the 19th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century. Between 1879 and 1900 the ancient parish (excluding Rhigos) was divided into seven ecclesiastical parishes, the six new ones being Llwyn-y-pia (1879), Tylorstown (1887), Ynyshir (1887), Treherbert (1893), Cwmparc (1898) and Ferndale (1900). The additional area brought into the urban district in 1879 comprises two other ecclesiastical parishes, Cymmer and Porth (1894), and Dinas and Penygraig (1901). These nine parishes, comprised in the urban district, have twenty churches and eighteen See also:

MISSION

mission-rooms, with See also:

ACCOMMODATION (Lat. accommodare, to make fit, from ad, to, cum, with, and modus, measure)

accommodation for about 12,000 persons. This area, together with Pontypridd, Glyntaff and Llanwonno, See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form the rural deanery of Rhondda in the archdeaconry and See also:

DIOCESE (formed on Fr. diocese, in place of the Eng. form diocess—current until the 19th century—from Lat. dioecesis, med. Lat. variant diocesis, from Gr. Swucio•tc, " house-keeping," " administration," &miceas, " to keep house," " to govern ")

diocese of See also:

LLANDAFF

Llandaff.

There werr at the end of 1905 over one See also:

HUNDRED

hundred and fifty nonconformi9, chapels and mission rooms, with accommodation for over 85,000 persons, of which See also:

PROVISION (Lat. provisio)

provision nearly two-thirds was in chapels with Welsh services. There is a See also:

ROMAN

Roman See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic church at Tonypandy. The public buildings include the See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council See also:

house and offices of the district council, erected in 1883-84 for the See also:

LOCAL

local See also:

BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

board at Pentre, See also:

LIBRARIES

libraries and workmen's institutes at Ystrad (1895), and Cymmer (1893), Maerdy (19o5), Dinas (1893), and Ferndale public halls, the See also:

PROPERTY

property of a private See also:

COMPANY

company at Treherbert (1872), and Tonypandy (1891) and a See also:

COUNTY (through Norm. Fr. comae, cf. O. Fr. cunte, conk', Mod. Fr. comae, from Lat. comitatus, cf. Ital. comitato, Prov. comtat; see COUNT)

county intermediate school at Porth. By means of a tunnel about 2 too yds. long See also:

WATER

water is obtained for the greater part of the main valley from the See also:

lake of Llyn Fawr on the Neath side of the See also:

mountain range which shuts in the valley on the north. This lake has been converted into a storage See also:

RESERVOIR

reservoir of about 167 million gallons capacity. The See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of the district is supplied from the Pontypridd Water Company's See also:

WORKS

works above Maerdy in the lesser valley. The ancient parish (excluding Rhigos) was formed into a parliamentary See also:

CONSTITUENCY (from " constituent," that which forms a necessary part of a thing; Lat. constituere, to create)

constituency with one member in 1885. The See also:

PRESENT

present urban district substantially corresponds to the ancient territorial division of Glyn-rhondda, one of the four commotes of the cantred of Penychen, and subsequently, in See also:

Norman times, one of the twelve " members " of the lordship of Glamorgan. Its Welsh lords enjoyed a large measure of See also:

independence and had their own courts, in which Welsh See also:

law was administered down to 1535, when the lordship was fully incorporated in the county of Glamorgan. On the ridge of Cefn-rhondda between the two valleys was the Franciscan monastery of Penrhys, famous for its See also:

IMAGE (Lat. imago, perhaps from the same root as imitari, copy, imitate)

image of the Virgin and for its See also:

HOLY

holy well which attracted large pilgrimages. It was dissolved about 1415, probably owing to its having supported Glyndwr in his See also:

REBELLION

rebellion. See also:

EDWARD

Edward II. came here from Neath See also:

Abbey and was captured on the 16th of See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November 1326, either at Penrhys, or between it and Liantrisant.

(D. U.

End of Article: RHONDDA (formerly YSTRADYFODWG)

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