Tonypandy

Tonypandy is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. A former industrial coal mining town, today Tonypandy is best known as the site of the 1910 Tonypandy Riot.

History

The Tonypandy area contains several prehistoric sites, the main one being Mynydd y Gelli. Located to the north-west of the town, the remains of an Iron Age settlement Hen Dre'r Gelli lies on the slopes of Mynydd Y Gelli hill between Tonypandy and Gelli. Near the same location are several Bronze Age cairns.

Tonypandy is also the site of one of the only two permanent Middle Ages fortifications found within the Rhondda Valley. Named Ynysygrug, it was a lesser motte and bailey earthwork defence. The fortification appears to have consisted of a wooden tower surrounded by a small fortified courtyard. Placed around the 12th or early 13th century, the remains of the fortification were mostly destroyed when the town's railway was constructed in the 1800s. Over the past two hundred years, the fortification had been wrongly thought to be the burial place of Rhys ap Tewdwr or a druidic worship site.

The regional library service recounts that the name 'Tonypandy' means the meadow of the fulling mill which was established there in 1838. "E. D. Lewis in his work The Rhondda Valleys provides us with an outline history of the mill that once stood in Tonypandy, and from which the town took its name".

Amenities

It is one of the principal shopping areas in the Rhondda and has many shops to cater for all needs. A 30,000 sq ft Asda has recently opened on the site of the old Scotch Colliery, creating 300 jobs.

The town is served by Tonypandy railway station.

Sports and recreation

Tonypandy has a King George's Field, the Athletics Ground, in memorial to King George V

Notable people

• Brothers Donald Houston and Glyn Houston - both were actors
• Willie Llewellyn, Welsh national rugby captain and three times Triple Crown winner
• Gordon Mills, songwriter and music manager
• Stuart Richardson, bassist for Welsh rock band Lostprophets
• George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy was raised in nearby Trealaw
• Terry Walton, the allotment doctor on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2

Fictional characters linked to Tonypandy

• Fireman Sam - although not from Tonypandy, his fictional hometown of 'Pontypandy' is an amalgamation of nearby Pontypridd, and Tonypandy.

External links

• http://www.britinfo.net/index_Tonypandy.htm

References