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153-581: Rhondda / ˈ r ɒ n ð ə / , or the Rhondda Valley ( Welsh : Cwm Rhondda [kʊm ˈr̥ɔnða] ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales , historically in the county of Glamorgan . It takes its name from the River Rhondda , and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ( mawr , 'large') and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley ( bach , 'small') – so that

306-562: A druidic sacred mound. Iolo Morganwg erroneously believed it to be the burial mound of king Rhys ap Tewdwr . The earliest Christian monument in the Rhondda is the shrine of St Mary at Penrhys , whose holy well was mentioned by Rhisiart ap Rhys in the 15th century. In the mid-16th century the Rhondda, then known as the Vale of Rotheney, belonged to the large but sparsely inhabited parish of Ystradyfodwg , St Tyfodwg's Vale. It

459-495: A 17th-century house thought to have given its name to the neighbouring village of Tynewydd and of Tyntyle in Ystrad dated around 1600. There were few industrial buildings before 1850; those of note include a 17th-century blast furnace at Pontygwaith which gave the village its name. and a fulling mill established by Harri David in 1738, which in turn gave its name to Tonypandy . Corn mills existed sparsely throughout

612-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under

765-594: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified

918-522: A base of double-wall construction or larger boulders with single-wall construction above. They appear to be rickety, with many holes, which deters livestock (and people) from attempting to cross them. These dykes are principally found in locations with exceptionally high winds, where a solid wall might be at risk of being unsettled by the buffeting. The porous nature of the wall significantly reduces wind force but takes greater skill to construct. They are also found in grazing areas where they are used to maximize

1071-663: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had

1224-530: A decline in the popularity of 'The Fed' and greater emphasis on solving problems by political and parliamentary means. With the Great Depression , employment in the Rhondda Valleys continued to fall. This in turn led to a decline in public and social services, as people struggled to pay rates and rents. One outcome of the lack of funds was a fall in health provisions, which in Rhondda lead to

1377-414: A great many are still in use and maintained. New ones are often built in gardens and nature conservation areas. Dry stone retaining structures continue to be a subject of research. In northeastern Somalia , on the coastal plain 20 km (12 mi) to Aluula 's east are found ruins of an ancient monument in a platform style. The structure is formed by a rectangular dry stone wall that is low in height;

1530-511: A group of ruinous drystone roundhouses and enclosures, thought to have been a sheep-farming community. The most certain example of a Roman site in the area is found above Blaenllechau in Ferndale . The settlement is one of a group of earthworks and indicates the presence of the Roman army during the 1st century AD. It was thought to be a military site or marching camp . The 5th century saw

1683-670: A large financial interest in the Cardiff Docks which would export the coal. The trustees sank the Bute Merthyr Colliery in October 1851, at the top of the Rhondda Fawr in what would become Treherbert . The Bute Merthyr began producing coal in 1855, as the first working steam-coal colliery in the Rhondda. Along with the sinking of the first colliery at the head of the Rhondda, a second issue, transportation,

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1836-515: A population at the 2011 census of 62,545. The ONS separately defines a Ferndale built-up area covering much of the upper Rhondda Fach valley, with a population in 2011 of 7,338. Until 1984, Rhondda constituted a single community . In 1984 it was divided into 16 communities: The larger of the two valleys, the Rhondda Fawr, extends from Porth and rises through the valley up to Blaenrhondda , near Treherbert . The settlements making up

1989-481: A shortage of medical and nursing staff, a failure to provide adequate sewage works, and a rise in deaths from tuberculosis . By 1932 the long-term unemployment figure in the Rhondda was put at 63 per cent, and in Ferndale at almost 73 per cent. With little other employment available in the Rhondda, the only solution appeared to be emigration. Between 1924 and 1939, 50,000 people left the Rhondda. During this time life

2142-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into

2295-499: A temporary campsite in the vicinity. The first structural relic of prehistoric man was excavated in 1973 at Cefn Glas near the watershed of the Rhondda Fach river. The remains of a rectangular hut with traces of drystone wall foundations and postholes was discovered; while radiocarbon dating of charcoal found at the site dated the structure as late Neolithic . Although little evidence of settlement has been found in

2448-405: A trend towards concentration of ownership, reducing some of the economic risks involved in coal mining: unstable coal prices, inflated acquisitions, geological difficulties, and large-scale accidents. The emerging companies were formed by the individuals and families who sank the original collieries, but by the start of the 20th century they were no more than principal shareholders. The firms included

2601-444: A type of single wall in which the wall consists primarily of large boulders, around which smaller stones are placed. Single walls work best with large, flatter stones. Ideally, the largest stones are being placed at the bottom and the whole wall tapers toward the top. Sometimes a row of capstones completes the top of a wall, with the long rectangular side of each capstone perpendicular to the wall alignment. Galloway dykes consist of

2754-414: Is Ynysygrug , close to what is now Tonypandy town centre. Little remains of this motte-and-bailey earthwork defence, as much was destroyed when Tonypandy railway station was built in the 19th century. Ynysygrug is dated around the 12th or early 13th century and has been misidentified by several historians, notably Owen Morgan in his History of Pontypridd and Rhondda Valleys , who recorded it as

2907-664: Is Daorson , in Bosnia , built around a prehistoric central fortified settlement or acropolis (existed there c. 17–16th C. BCE to the end of the Bronze Age , c. 9–8th C. BCE), and surrounded by cyclopean walls (similar to Mycenae ) dated to the 4th C. BCE. In Belize , the Mayan ruins at Lubaantun illustrate use of dry stone construction in architecture of the 8th and 9th centuries AD. Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe , Africa,

3060-1041: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave

3213-537: Is a conurbation of numerous smaller settlements along the valleys. The Royal Mail treats five of the settlements as post towns : Ferndale , Pentre , Porth , Tonypandy , and Treorchy , all of which come under the CF postcode area . The Office for National Statistics (ONS) deems most of the settlements in the Rhondda Fawr valley and lower Rhondda Fach valley to form part of the Tonypandy built-up area , with

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3366-491: Is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully selected interlocking stones. Dry stone construction is best known in the context of stone walls , traditionally used for the boundaries of fields and churchyards , or as retaining walls for terracing, but dry stone shelters, houses and other structures also exist. The term tends not to be used for

3519-444: Is a mention by John Leland , who stated, "Castelle Nose is but a high stony creg in the top of an hille". The castle comprises a scarp and ditch forming a raised platform and on the north face is a ruined dry-stone building. Its location and form do not appear to be Norman and it is thought to have been built by the Welsh as a border defence, which would date it before 1247, when Richard de Clare seized Glynrhondda . The second castle

3672-405: Is almost always used. One type of wall is called a "double" wall and is constructed by placing two rows of stones along the boundary to be walled. The foundation stones are ideally set into the ground so as to rest firmly on the subsoil . The rows are composed of large flattish stones, diminishing in size as the wall rises. Smaller stones may be used as chocks in areas where the natural stone shape

3825-589: Is an acropolis-like large city complex constructed in dry stone from the 11th to the 15th centuries AD. It is the largest of structures of similar construction throughout the area. Terminology varies regionally. When used as field boundaries, dry stone structures are more commonly known as dykes in Scotland , where professional dry stone wall builders are referred to as 'dykers'. Dry stone walls are characteristic of upland areas of Britain and Ireland where rock outcrops naturally or large stones exist in quantity in

3978-672: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Drystone wall Dry stone , sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane ,

4131-688: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to

4284-527: Is more rounded. The walls are built up to the desired height layer-by-layer ( course by course ) and, at intervals, large tie-stones or through stones are placed which span both faces of the wall and sometimes project. These have the effect of bonding what would otherwise be two thin walls leaning against each other, greatly increasing the strength of the wall. Diminishing the width of the wall as it gets higher, as traditionally done in Britain, also strengthens

4437-497: Is offset by their sturdiness and consequent long, low-maintenance lifetimes. As a result of the increasing appreciation of the landscape and heritage value of dry stone walls, wallers remain in demand, as do the walls themselves. A nationally recognised certification scheme is operated in the UK by the Dry Stone Walling Association, with four grades from Initial to Master Craftsman. Notable examples include

4590-519: Is often blamed on the forcible ejection of the Irish who lived in Treherbert during three days of rioting in 1857. The population of the valleys peaked in 1924 at over 167,900 inhabitants. The mass immigration in the period was almost entirely from other parts of Wales and from England. A notable exception was a group of Italian immigrants, originally from northern Italy round the town of Bardi . In

4743-511: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain

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4896-732: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows

5049-500: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in

5202-410: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in

5355-531: The Depression , when the Rhondda experienced a massive increase in unemployment. The situation worsened in 1926, when in response to coalowners reducing pay and lengthening working hours of miners, the TUC called a general strike in defence of the miners locked out following A. J. Cook 's call "not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day". The TUC called off the strike just nine days later, without resolving

5508-538: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol

5661-657: The Glamorganshire Canal to the port at Cardiff. The lack of transportation links was one of the main problems that curtailed exploitation of the Rhondda Valley coalfields, along with the belief that they lay too deep for economic working. It was therefore seen as an expensive risk. Exploration of the Rhondda was undertaken by the Bute Trustees, agents of the third Marquess of Bute , who not only owned large tracts of valley farmland but also possessed

5814-637: The Liburnian era. Notable examples include the island of Baljenac, which has 23 kilometres (14 mi) of dry stone walls despite being only 14 hectares (35 acres) in area, and the vineyards of Primošten . In Peru in the 15th century AD, the Inca made use of otherwise unusable slopes by building dry stone walls to create terraces . They also employed this mode of construction for freestanding walls. Their ashlar type construction in Machu Picchu uses

5967-773: The Mourne Wall , a 22-mile (35 km) wall in the Mourne Mountains in County Down , Northern Ireland , and the wall around the Ottenby nature reserve, built by Charles X Gustav in the mid-17th century in Öland , Sweden. While the dry stone technique is most commonly used for the construction of double-wall stone walls and single-wall retaining terracing, dry stone sculptures, buildings, fortifications, bridges, and other structures also exist. Traditional turf-roofed Highland blackhouses were constructed using

6120-568: The Neolithic Age. In County Mayo , Ireland, an entire field system made from dry stone walls, since covered in peat, has been carbon-dated to 3800 BC. These are near contemporary with the, dry stone constructed, neolithic village of Skara Brae , and the Chambered cairn of Scotland . The cyclopean walls of the acropolis of Mycenae , Greece, have been dated to 1350 BC and those of Tiryns slightly earlier. Similar example

6273-698: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and

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6426-640: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has

6579-545: The United States they are common in areas with rocky soils, such as New England , New York , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania . They are a notable characteristic of the bluegrass region of central Kentucky , the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri , as well as Virginia , where they are usually referred to as rock fences or stone fences , and the Napa Valley in north central California . The technique of construction

6732-480: The early Middle Ages , Glynrhondda was a commote of the cantref of Penychen in the kingdom of Morgannwg , a sparsely populated agricultural area. The spelling of the commote varied widely, as the Cardiff Records show: Many sources state the meaning of Rhondda as "noisy", though this is a simplified translation without research. Sir Ifor Williams , in his work Enwau Lleoedd , suggests that

6885-518: The withdrawal of Imperial Roman support from Britain, and succeeding centuries saw the emergence of national identity and of kingdoms. The area which would become the Rhondda lay within Glywysing , which incorporated the modern area of Glamorgan and was ruled by a dynasty founded by Glywys . This dynasty was replaced by another founded by Meurig ap Tewdrig , whose descendant Morgan ap Owain would give Glamorgan its Welsh name Morgannwg . With

7038-594: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for

7191-399: The 1860s, the Rhondda saw rapid growth. During the 1860s and the 1870s, 20 Rhondda Valley collieries opened, with the leading owner in the Rhondda Fach being David Davis of Aberdare, and David Davies in the Rhondda Fawr . In 1865, the coal output from the Rhondda Valley was roughly one-quarter of that of Aberdare; ten years later the Rhondda was producing over two million tons more than

7344-596: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in

7497-641: The 1920s, when David Jones, Town Clerk of the Rhondda Urban Council, gained government support for so doing. Arrivals included Alfred Polikoff's clothing factory, Messrs Jacob Beatus manufacturing cardboard boxes, and Electrical and Musical Industries Ltd . After the Second World War, 23 firms were set up in the Rhondda Valleys, 18 of them sponsored by the Board of Trade . Most had periods of growth followed by collapse, notably Thorn EMI in

7650-525: The 1970s and Burberry in the 2000s. The Rhondda Heritage Park , a museum marking Rhondda's industrial past, lies just south of Porth in the former Lewis Merthyr Colliery at Trehafod . There is one tier of local government covering the Rhondda: Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council . Although the Rhondda is divided into 16 communities , none of them have community councils. Historically, Rhondda

7803-536: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,

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7956-632: The Aberdare valleys. These figures would later be dwarfed by massive excavation rates in the last quarter of the 19th century and up to the First World War . In 1913, Rhondda Valley output was 9.6 million tons. By 1893, there were more than 75 collieries in the Rhondda Valleys. Initially most were owned by a small group of individuals, but the trend changed towards the start of the 20th century, as companies began buying up existing collieries. The widespread adoption of limited liability status began

8109-486: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for

8262-433: The British coal mines in 1947, but subsequent decades saw continual output reductions. From 15,000 miners in 1947, Rhondda had just a single pit within the valleys producing coal in 1984, located at Maerdy . The decline in coal mining after World War II was a countrywide issue, but South Wales and Rhondda were more gravely affected than other areas. Oil had superseded coal as the fuel of choice in many industries and there

8415-621: The Dark Ages are rare in the Glamorgan area and secular monuments still rarer. The few sites found have been located in the Bro , or lowlands, leaving historians to believe the Blaenau were sparsely inhabited, maybe only visited seasonally by pastoralists . A few earthwork dykes are the only structural relics in the Rhondda area from this period. No carved stones or crosses exist to indicate

8568-422: The Davies's Ocean Coal Company, Archibald Hood 's Glamorgan Coal Company and David Davis & Son. During the early to mid-19th century, the Rhondda valleys were inhabited by small farming settlements. In 1841 the parish of Ystradyfodwg, which would later constitute most of the Rhondda Borough, recorded a population of less than a thousand. With the discovery of massive deposits of high quality, accessible coal in

8721-434: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published

8874-478: The Neolithic settlement at Cefn Glas , there are three certain pre-medieval settlement sites in the valley – Maendy Camp, Hen Dre'r Gelli and Hen Dre'r Mynydd . The earliest of these is Maendy Camp, a hillfort whose remains lie between Ton Pentre and Cwmparc . Although its defences would have been slight, the camp made good use of the natural slopes and rock outcrops to its north-east face. It consisted of two earthworks: an inner and outer enclosure. When

9027-440: The Rhondda Senedd constituency and Westminster constituency , having an estimated population in 2020 of 69,506. It is most noted for its historical coalmining industry, which peaked between 1840 and 1925. The valleys produced a strong Nonconformist movement manifest in the Baptist chapels that moulded Rhondda values in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also known for its male voice choirs and in sport and politics. In

9180-449: The Rhondda Fawr are: The Rhondda Fach is celebrated in the 1971 David Alexander song "If I could see the Rhondda"; the valley includes Wattstown, Ynyshir , Pontygwaith , Ferndale, Tylorstown and Maerdy . The settlements that make up the Rhondda Fach are as follows: The commote of Glynrhondda was coterminous with the earlier parish of Ystradyfodwg, but little is known of the Celtic saint Tyfodwg , or Dyfodwg , after whom

9333-403: The Rhondda Valley. The most notorious form of colliery disaster was the gas explosion , caused by a buildup either of methane gas or coal dust . As mines became deeper and ventilation harder to control, the risk increased. The worst single incident in the Rhondda was the 1867 Ferndale disaster , when an explosion took 178 lives. However, the major disasters accounted for only about a fifth of

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9486-434: The Rhondda for the Neolithic to Bronze Age periods, several cairns and cists have appeared throughout the length of both valleys. The best example of a round-cairn was found at Crug yr Afan , near the summit of Graig Fawr , west of Cwmparc . It consisted of an earthen mound with a surrounding ditch 28 metres in circumference and over 2 metres tall (91.9 ft × 6.6 ft). Although most cairns discovered in

9639-410: The South West, places such as Gloucester and Devon, and by the 1900s people came from North Wales, the lead-mining area of Anglesey and the depressed slate -quarrying villages of Bethesda , Ffestiniog and Dinorwig . Although there are records of Scottish workers, mainly centred on Archibald Hood's Llwynypia mines, there were only small numbers of Irish, less than 1,000 by 1911. This absence

9792-432: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,

9945-436: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither

10098-421: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of

10251-445: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer

10404-426: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to

10557-429: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of

10710-408: The area are round, a ring cairn or cairn circle exists on Gelli Mountain. Known as the Rhondda Stonehenge, it consists of ten upright stones no more than 60 cm (24 in) in height, encircling a central cist. All the cairns found within the Rhondda are located on high ground, many on ridgeways, and may have been used as waypoints. In 1912, a hoard of 24 late Bronze Age weapons and tools

10863-405: The area fell under royal control. Little evidence exists of settlements within the Rhondda in the Norman period. Unlike the communal dwellings of the Iron Age, the remains of medieval buildings discovered in the area follow a pattern similar to modern farmsteads, with separate holdings spaced out around the hillsides. The evidence of medieval Welsh farmers comes from remains of their buildings, with

11016-413: The base width. Different regions have made minor modifications to the general method of construction—sometimes because of limitations of building material available, but also to create a look that is distinctive for that area. Whichever method is used to build a dry stone wall, considerable skill is required. Correcting any mistakes invariably means disassembling down to the level of the error. Selection of

11169-460: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of

11322-424: The classic Inca architectural style of polished dry stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions are so perfect that not even a knife fits between the stones. The structures have persisted in the high earthquake region because of the flexibility of the walls, and because in their double wall architecture,

11475-520: The coming of the Norman overlords after the 1066 Battle of Hastings , south-east Wales was divided into five cantrefi . The Rhondda lay within Penychen , a narrow strip running between modern-day Glyn Neath and the coast between Cardiff and Aberthaw . Each cantref was further divided into commotes , with Penychen made up of five such commotes, one being Glynrhondda . Relics of

11628-501: The coping stones on a final layer of flat stones slightly wider than the top of the wall proper ( coverbands ). In addition to gates, a wall may contain smaller purposely built gaps for the passage or control of wildlife and livestock such as sheep. The smaller holes usually no more than 200 millimetres (8 in) in height are called "Bolt Holes" or "Smoots". Larger ones may be between 450 and 600 mm (18 and 24 in) in height, which are called "Cripple Holes". Boulder walls are

11781-423: The correct stone for every position in the wall makes an enormous difference to the lifetime of the finished product, and a skilled waller will take time making the selection. As with many older crafts, skilled wallers, today, are few in number. With the advent of modern wire fencing, fields can be fenced with much less time and expense using wire than using stone walls; however, the initial expense of building dykes

11934-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within

12087-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of

12240-479: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over

12393-592: The design of dwellings. Many new farm buildings were simple structures of two or three small rooms, but of a much sturdier, more permanent quality than the medieval platform houses. A popular style was the Dartmoor longhouse , which combined the house and cowshed into one building. By 1840, the Rhondda had at least 160 farms, but most were destroyed with the growth of the mining industry. Of the few survivors, those of note include Tynewydd ('New House') in Tynewydd ,

12546-472: The double-wall dry stone method. When buildings are constructed using this method, the middle of the wall is generally filled with earth or sand in order to eliminate draughts. During the Iron Age, and perhaps earlier, the technique also was used to build fortifications such as the walls of Eketorp Castle ( Öland , Sweden ), Maiden Castle, North Yorkshire , Reeth , Dunlough Castle in southwest Ireland and

12699-574: The earliest English immigrants. From a mere 951 in 1851, the population of Ystradyfodwg parish grew to 16,914 in 1871. By 1901 the Rhondda Urban District had a population of 113,735. As more and more coal mines were sunk the population grew to fill the jobs needed to extract the coal. In the 1860s and 1870s the majority came from neighbouring Welsh counties, but with the improving rail transportation and cheaper transport, immigrants came from further afield. The 1890s recorded workers from

12852-481: The entirety of the Rhondda within it. Although neighbouring areas such as Merthyr and Aberdare had already sunk coal mines, it was not until Walter Coffin initiated the Dinas Lower Colliery in 1812 that coal was exported from the Rhondda Valleys on any commercial scale. This was originally taken by packhorse , before the extension of Dr. Griffiths' private tramline, to Pontypridd and then by

13005-483: The fate of the mines in the Rhondda, and as demand fell from both, the effect was further contraction. In addition, exports to other areas of Europe such as France, Italy and the Low Countries experienced sharp decline: from 33 per cent of output around the start of the 20th century to some 5 per cent by 1980. Other major factors in the decline of coal related to massive under-investment in the Rhondda mines over

13158-428: The first café there in the early 1890s. In the early 21st century several of the Rhondda's original bracchis were still open for business. At the start of the First World War , the economic prospects in South Wales were good. Although production fell after the 1913 high, demand was still strong enough to push the coalfields to their limit. In February 1917 coal mining came under government control and demand increased as

13311-582: The first syllable rhawdd is a form of the Welsh adrawdd or adrodd , as in 'recite, relate, recount', similar to the Old Irish rád ; 'speech'. The suggestion is that the river is speaking aloud, a comparison to the English expression "a babbling brook". With the increase in population from the mid-19th century the area was officially recognised as the Ystradyfodwg Local Government District in 1877, but

13464-491: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of

13617-435: The foundations of platform houses being discovered spaced out through both valleys. When the sites of several platform houses at Gelligaer Common were excavated in the 1930s, potsherds from the 13th to 14th centuries were discovered. The Rhondda also has remains of two medieval castles. The older is Castell Nos , located at the head of the Rhondda Fach overlooking Maerdy . The only recorded evidence of Castell Nos

13770-499: The ground was not thereunto apt". The English cartographer John Speed described cattle rearing as the "best means unto wealth that the Shire doth afford". As there was no fair held in the Rhondda, the beasts were taken to neighbouring markets at Neath , Merthyr , Llantrisant , Ynysybwl and Llandaff . However, to be self-supporting, farmers in the area grew crops such as oats, corn and barley in small quantities. Crops were grown in

13923-469: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval

14076-476: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to

14229-456: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period

14382-595: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for

14535-506: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to

14688-555: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c.  600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )

14841-470: The late 19th century, they were forced out of London by over-saturation of the market, and instead set up a network of cafés, ice cream parlours and fish & chip shops throughout South Wales. These became iconic landmarks in the villages they served and they and subsequent generations became Welsh Italians . Peculiar to the Rhondda was that shops run by Italian immigrants were known as bracchis , believed to have been named after Angelo Bracchi, who opened

14994-582: The later Middle Ages now gained momentum and farms once owned by individual farmers passed to groups of wealthy landowners. By the 19th century, most Rhondda farms and estates were owned by absentee landlords such as the Marquis of Bute , Earl of Dunraven, Crawshay Bailey of Merthyr and the De Winton family of Brecon . The Acts of Union in the mid-16th century and the English Civil War in

15147-550: The lower part of the Rhondda on narrow meadows adjoining riversides, though during the Napoleonic Wars scarce supplies forced cultivation of upland areas such as Carn-y-wiwer and Penrhys . Merrick described the diet of the upland inhabitants as consisting of "bread made of wheat... and ale and bear" [ sic ] and over 200 years later Benjamin Malkin showed how little the diet had changed when he wrote that

15300-506: The lowlands. In the early 12th century Norman expansion continued, with castles being founded around Neath , Kenfig and Coity . In the same period Bishop Urban set up the Diocese of Llandaff under which Glynrhondda belonged to the large parish of Llantrisant . After the death of William, Lord of Glamorgan , his extensive holdings were eventually granted to Gilbert de Clare in 1217. The subjugation of Glamorgan, begun by Fitzhamon,

15453-584: The many historic styles which used precisely-shaped stone, but did not use mortar, for example the Greek temple and Inca architecture . The art of dry stone walling was inscribed in 2018 on the UNESCO representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity , for dry stone walls in countries such as France , Greece , Italy , Slovenia , Croatia , Switzerland and Spain . Some dry stone wall constructions in north-west Europe have been dated back to

15606-511: The mid-17th century brought much rebuilding in the Kingdom of England , to which Wales was now annexed. This appears in the structures built in the Rhondda Valley. The fluctuating economy of the late Tudor period resulted in farmers taking in more land, creating higher levels of surplus goods and so producing higher profits. These were reflected in new farmhouses built in the Rhondda and for the first time an emphasis on domestic comfort apparent in

15759-463: The mid-19th century, the valleys experienced a large influx of financial immigrants. The first came to the lower Rhondda villages of Dinas , Eirw and Cymmer . Special sinkers came from Llansamlet , while the first miners were from Penderyn , Cwmgwrach and neighbouring areas of Llantrisant and Llanharan . The 1851 Census lists apprenticed paupers from Temple Cloud in Somerset , some of

15912-479: The miners' cut in wages. The miners disagreed and stayed on strike for a further seven months until they were starved into surrender. The Rhondda saw many schemes set up by miners to aid their plight, such as soup kitchens and fêtes and "joy" days to support them, while in Maerdy the local miners set up a rationing system. By the time the miners returned to work, there was little desire for further action, which saw

16065-501: The mines in the valleys was massive investment by the NCB, but its "Plan for Coal" paper drawn up in 1950 was overly optimistic about future demand, which was drastically reduced after an industrial recession in 1956 and with increased availability of oil. British and Welsh employment bodies funded and subsidised external businesses to locate replacement ventures in the valleys. The first attempt to bring in business unconnected to coal began in

16218-622: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in

16371-645: The monopoly included the opening of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway between 1885 and 1895, which linked Blaenrhondda at the head of the Rhondda Fawr to the Prince of Wales Dock . To achieve this the Rhondda Tunnel was dug through Mynydd Blaengwynfy to Blaengwynfi – at the time the longest railway tunnel in Wales. Initially the shallower pits at Aberdare proved a bigger attraction to prospective mine owners, but once Aberdare became fully worked by

16524-444: The mountain river of Vydra) are often lined by dry stone walls built of field-stones removed from the arable or cultural land. They serve both as cattle/sheep fences and the lot's borders. Sometimes also the dry stone terracing is apparent, often combined with parts of stone masonry (house foundations and shed walls) that are held together by a clay and pine needle "composite" mortar . The dry stone walling tradition of Croatia

16677-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,

16830-406: The overall fatalities. The list below shows mining accidents involving the loss of five or more lives in a single incident. The coalmining industry of the Rhondda was artificially buoyed in the war years and there were expectations of a return to the pre-1939 industrial collapse after the end of the Second World War. There was a sense of salvation when the government announced the nationalisation of

16983-489: The parish boundaries were adjusted to match the urban district. The parish and urban district of Ystradyfodwg were both officially renamed Rhondda in 1897. Rhondda Urban District was made a municipal borough in 1955, and then reconstituted as a district within the new county of Mid Glamorgan in 1974. In 1996 Mid Glamorgan County Council was abolished and Rhondda merged with the neighbouring districts of Cynon Valley and Taff-Ely to become Rhondda Cynon Taf . Rhondda

17136-583: The parish is named. He is thought to have lived around AD 600. Although the parish bears his name, there are now no religious monuments or places of worship named after him within the Rhondda boundaries, although two churches outside the area are named after him: Y Tre Sant in Llantrisant and Saint Tyfodwg's in Ogmore Vale . Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )

17289-627: The parish, which lay to the north of the hills at the top of the Rhondda Fawr valley. The local government district was enlarged in 1879 to also cover parts of Llanwonno and Llantrisant parishes, which had the effect of bringing the Porth area within the Ystradyfodwg Local Government District. In 1894 the local government district became the Ystradyfodwg Urban District and

17442-473: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to

17595-551: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,

17748-436: The people still ate "oatmeal bread, with a relish of miserable cheese; and the beer, where they have any, is worse than none". In the first half of the 17th century, rising costs of consumable goods and successive bad harvests brought economic change in Glamorgan. Those wealthy enough could seize chances created by the unsettled conditions and set about enlarging and enclosing farmlands. The enclosure of freehold lands begun in

17901-460: The plateau above the valleys. Many other Mesolithic items have appeared in the Rhondda, mainly in the upper areas around Blaenrhondda , Blaencwm and Maerdy , and relating to hunting, fishing and foraging, which suggests seasonal nomadic activity. Though no definite Mesolithic settlements have been located, the concentration of finds at the Craig y Llyn escarpment suggests the presence of

18054-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase

18207-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over

18360-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by

18513-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in

18666-487: The presence of a Christian shrine. In the Early Middle Ages , communities were split between bondmen, who lived in small villages centred on a court or llys of the local ruler to whom they paid dues, and freemen, with higher status, who lived in scattered homesteads. The most important village was the mayor's settlement or maerdref . Maerdy in the Rhondda Fach has been identified as such, mainly on

18819-448: The previous decades. Most mines in the valleys had been sunk between the 1850s and 1880s, so that they were far smaller than most modern mines. The Rhondda mines were comparatively antiquated in their methods of ventilation, coal-preparation and power supply. In 1945, the British coal industry was cutting 72 per cent of its output mechanically, whereas in South Wales the figure was just 22 per cent. The only way to ensure financial survival of

18972-539: The railway had reached the furthest areas of the Fach and Fawr valleys at Maerdy and Treherbert. For the first time, the Rhondda Valley was linked by a major transportation route to the rest of Wales and exploitation of its coalfields could begin. The TVR line dominated coal transportation through the Rhondda's industrial history. Its monopoly was a bone of contention: the absence of rivals precluded colliery owners from negotiating lower haulage rates. Attempts were made to break

19125-493: The rampart of the Long Scar Dyke. Many of the dry-stone walls that exist today in Scotland can be dated to the 14th century or earlier when they were built to divide fields and retain livestock. Some extremely well built examples are found on the lands of Muchalls Castle . Dry stone walls can be built against embankments or even vertical terraces. If they are subjected to lateral earth pressure, they are retaining walls of

19278-542: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of

19431-651: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in

19584-476: The singular "Rhondda Valley" and the plural are both commonly used. The area forms part of the South Wales Valleys . From 1897 until 1996 there was a local government district of Rhondda . The former district at its abolition comprised 16 communities . Since 1996 these 16 communities of the Rhondda have been part of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough . The area of the former district is still used as

19737-595: The site was excavated in 1901, several archaeological finds led to the camp being misidentified as Bronze Age. These finds, mainly pottery and flint knives, were excavated from a burial cairn discovered within the outer enclosure, but the site has since been classified as from the Iron Age . The settlement at Hen Dre'r Mynydd in Blaenrhondda was dated around the Roman period, when fragments of wheel-made Romano-British pottery were discovered. The site consists of

19890-649: The soil. They are especially abundant in the West of Ireland, particularly Connemara . They may also be found throughout the Mediterranean , including retaining walls used for terracing. Such constructions are common where large stones are plentiful (for example, in The Burren ) or conditions are too harsh for hedges capable of retaining livestock to be grown as reliable field boundaries. Many thousands of kilometres of such walls exist, most of them centuries old. In

20043-456: The space in between is filled with rubble and manually covered with small stones. Relatively large standing stones are also positioned on the edifice's corners. Near the platform are graves, which are outlined in stones. Measuring 24 by 17 m (79 by 56 ft), the structure is the largest of a string of ancient platform and enclosed platform monuments exclusive to far northeastern Somalia. In Great Britain, Ireland, France and Switzerland, it

20196-467: The strength of the name, though the village did not survive past the Middle Ages. The largest concentration of dwellings from the period, mainly platform houses, have been found around Gelli and Ystrad in the Rhondda Fawr . During the late 11th century, the Norman lord, Robert Fitzhamon entered Morgannwg in an attempt to gain control of the area, building many earth and timber castles in

20349-407: The two portions of the walls incline into each other. The style and method of construction of a wall will vary, depending on the type of stone available, its intended use and local tradition. Many older walls were constructed from stones and boulders cleared from the fields during preparation for agriculture ( field stones ) although some used stone quarried nearby. For modern walls, quarried stone

20502-424: The two river valleys of the Rhondda with narrow, steep-sided slopes which would dictate the layout of settlements from early to modern times. The earliest evidence of man's presence in these upper areas of Glamorgan was found in 1963 at Craig y Llyn . A small chipped stone tool found at the site, recorded as possibly being of Creswellian type or at least from the early Mesolithic period, places human activity on

20655-434: The type gravity wall. The weight of the stones resists the pressure from the retained soil, including any surcharges, and the friction between the stones causes most of them to act as if they were a monolithic gravity wall of the same weight. Dry stone retaining walls were once built in great numbers for agricultural terracing and also to carry paths, roads and railways. Although dry stone is seldom used for these purposes today,

20808-526: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from

20961-459: The utility of the available stones (where ploughing was not turning up ever more stones). Another variation is the Cornish hedge or Welsh clawdd , which is a stone-clad earth bank topped by turf, scrub, or trees and characterised by a strict inward-curved batter (the slope of the "hedge"). As with many other varieties of wall, the height is the same as the width of the base, and the top is half

21114-440: The valleys, as did early coal pits, two being recorded as opening in 1612 at Rhigos and Cwmparc , though they would have been open-cast, not deep mined. The South Wales coalfield is the largest continuous coalfield in Britain, extending some 113 kilometres (70 mi) from Pontypool in the east to St Brides Bay in the West, covering almost 2,600 square kilometres (1,000 sq mi). This took in most of Glamorgan and

21267-415: The wall considerably. The voids between the facing stones are carefully packed with smaller stones ( filling , hearting ). The final layer on the top of the wall also consists of large stones, called capstones , coping stones or copes . As with the tie stones, the capstones span the entire width of the wall and prevent it breaking apart. In some areas, such as South Wales, there is a tradition of placing

21420-465: The war intensified, ensuring a market for sufficient supplies. After the war the picture began to change. Initially the British coal industry was buoyed by a series of fortuitous economic events, such as the American coal miners' strike , and by 1924 unemployment for miners was below the national average. But the belief that the mining industry would experience a permanent demand for coal was shattered by

21573-570: Was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2018, alongside those of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. In Croatia, dry stone walls ( suhozidi ) were built for a variety of reasons: to clear the earth of stone for crops; to delineate land ownership; or for shelter against the bora wind. Some walls date back to

21726-674: Was brought to America primarily by English and Scots-Irish immigrants. The technique was also taken to Australia (principally western Victoria , some parts of Tasmania , and some parts of New South Wales , particularly around Kiama ) and New Zealand (especially Otago ). Similar walls also are found in the Swiss–Italian border region, where they are often used to enclose the open space under large natural boulders or outcrops. The higher-lying rock-rich fields and pastures in Bohemia 's south-western border range of Šumava (e.g. around

21879-622: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to

22032-454: Was completed by the powerful De Clare family. Although Gilbert de Clare had now become one of the great Marcher Lords, the territory was far from settled. Hywel ap Maredudd , lord of Meisgyn captured his cousin Morgan ap Cadwallon and annexed Glynrhondda in an attempt to reunify the commotes under a single native ruler. This conflict was unresolved by the time of De Clare's death and

22185-530: Was difficult for communities built solely around a singular industry, especially as most families were on a single wage. The start of the Second World War saw a turnaround in the employment figures, and by 1944 unemployment figures in the Rhondda ranged from 1 per cent in Treorchy to 3.7 per cent at Tonypandy. The possibility of serious injury or death was an everyday risk for the mine workers of

22338-463: Was discovered during construction work at the Llyn Fawr reservoir, at the source of the Rhondda Fawr . The items did not originate from the Rhondda and are thought to have been left at the site as a votive offering. Of particular interest are fragments of an iron sword, the earliest iron object to be found in Wales, and the only C-type Hallstatt sword recorded in Britain. With the exception of

22491-532: Was divided administratively into three hamlets : the upper or Rhigos hamlet to the north, the middle or Penrhys hamlet, and the lower or Clydach hamlet. Through the post-medieval period the Rhondda was heavily wooded and its main economic staple the rearing of sheep, horses and cattle. The historian Rice Merrick, in describing the upland area of the Vale of Glamorgan, noted there "was always great breeding of cattle, horses and sheep; but in elder time therein grew but small store of corn, for in most places there

22644-526: Was mostly covered by the parish of Ystradyfodwg . The small village of Ystradyfodwg was centred on its parish church of St John the Baptist, with the old village being absorbed into the urban area of Ton Pentre as it grew during the industrial revolution. In 1877 most of the parish of Ystradyfodwg was made a local government district , governed by a local board, excluding only the Rhigos area of

22797-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through

22950-502: Was political pressure behind the oil supply. From the few industries still reliant on coal, the demand was for high quality, especially coking coal for the steel industry. By then, 50 per cent of Glamorgan coal was supplied to steelworks , with the second biggest market being domestic heating: the "smokeless" fuel of the Rhondda became once again fashionable after publication of the Clean Air Act 1956 . These two markets controlled

23103-450: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern

23256-578: Was renamed in 1897 as the Rhondda Urban District after the River Rhondda. The Rhondda Valley is located in the upland, or Blaenau , area of Glamorgan . The landscape of the Rhondda was formed by glacial action during the last ice age , as slow-moving glaciers gouged out the deep valleys that exist today. With the retreat of the ice sheet, around 8000 BC, the valleys were further modified by stream and river action. This left

23409-601: Was tackled with the extension of the Taff Vale Railway (TVR); royal assent was given in 1836. The original line was laid from Cardiff to Abercynon , and by 1841 a branch was opened to link Cardiff with Dinas via Pontypridd. This allowed easier transportation for Walter Coffin's Dinas mine, an unsurprising addition, as Coffin was a director of the TVR. In 1849 the TVR extended into the Rhondda Fach and, by 1856,

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