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Vaynor
Vaynor (, ) is a village and community (formerly a parish) in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales, United Kingdom. The population of the community at the 2011 census was 3,551. Location It is about four miles north of the town of Merthyr Tydfil and is within the borders of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The community includes the three villages of Cefn-coed-y-cymmer, Trefechan and Pontsticill as well as Pontsarn and Vaynor. To the west are Nant Glais Caves. It also includes the southern section of Pontsticill Reservoir and the eastern end of Llwyn-On Reservoir. History Until 1974, the village was a civil parish in the Vaynor and Penderyn Rural District of Brecknockshire. From 1974 to 1996, it was part of Merthyr Tydfil district in Mid Glamorgan. It is notable for its connections with the Ironmaster Robert Crawshay, owner of the world's first ironworks at Cyfarthfa, who is buried in Vaynor churchyard. Governance Between 1973 and 1996 Vaynor was an electora ...
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Quarries Of Vaynor
The Quarries of Vaynor refer to the limestone quarries around Vaynor, a village in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales. Vaynor lies north of the A465 road and Merthyr Tydfil town. There are many limestone quarries in the area and the remains are still visible along the trails and on the hillsides. The limestone quarried there has been used for centuries for buildings and bridges and also to burn and make lime for agricultural use. Ruins of limekilns are scattered around the hillsides. History Limestone for iron furnaces The first limestone extracted at Vaynor other than for lime-burning was by William Crawshay I, William Crawshay, who owned the land. He began quarrying there to provide limestone for his ironworks. It was used to purify the iron ore. William Crawshay II the "Iron King" employed 5,000 people in his Cyfarthfa Ironworks in the 1830s. Its industry consumed 91,440 tonnes of iron ore, 20.320 tonnes of coal and 40,640 tonnes of lime annually. The frightful poverty and d ...
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Brecknockshire
Brecknockshire ( or ), also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon, was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was created in 1536 under the Laws in Wales Act 1535, and from 1889 it was an History of local government in Wales, administrative county with a county council; the administrative county was abolished in 1974. The county was named after the medieval Welsh territory of Brycheiniog, which was Anglicisation of names, anglicised to "Brecknock" and also gave its name to the county town of Brecon. The former county's area is mountainous and primarily rural. Geography Brecknockshire was bounded to the north by Radnorshire, to the east by Herefordshire and Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, to the south by Monmouthshire and Glamorgan, and to the west by Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, Cardiganshire. The county is predominantly rural and mountainous. The B ...
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Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. In , it had an estimated population of , making it the smallest local authority in Wales by population. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from Merthyr Tydfil, the town with the same name. The county borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly County Borough to the east, and Powys to the north. The area was awarded county borough status in 1908 until the original county borough was abolished in 1974. In 1996, Merthyr Tydfil became a principal area and one that is styled as a "county borough" in recognition of its historical status. History Pre-industrial Merthyr What is now Merthyr Tydfil town centre was originally little more than a village. An ironworks existed in the parish in the Elizabeth ...
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Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council () is the governing body for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The parish of Merthyr Tydfil was governed by a local board from 1850 until 1894, when it was replaced by an urban district council. The urban district was incorporated as a borough in 1905, creating the first Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council. In 1908 it became a county borough, making it independent from Glamorgan County Council. It retained county borough status until 1974, when there were significant changes to local government under the Local Government Act 1972. From 1974 until 1996, Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council was a lower-tier district council, with Mid Glamorgan County Council providing county-level services in the area. Since the abolition of Mid Glamorgan County Council in 1996, Merthyr Tydfil has again been a county borough. Political control The council had been under no overall control since the 2022 election, with the i ...
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Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin : a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr. Noted for its industrial past, Merthyr was known as the 'Iron Capital of the World' in the early 19th century, due to the scale of its iron production. The world's first steam-powered railway journey happened in Merthyr in 1804, travelling from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Glamorganshire Canal on the Merthyr Tramroad. The 1851 census found Wales to be the world's first industrialised nation, as more people were employed in ...
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Nant Glais Caves
The Nant Glais Caves are a collection of six caves located near Vaynor in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, South Wales. The largest cave, Ogof Rhyd Sych, measures around 2000m long. The site has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Geography The caves are located in the Nant Glais Valley, to the west of the village of Vaynor in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Merthyr Tydfil County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. In , it had an estimated population of , making it the smallest local authority in Wales by population. It is located in .... There are six caves at the site. The two largest, Ogof y Ci and Ogof Rhyd Sych, measure approximately and in length respectively. Ogof y Ci has numerous offshoots on the southern edge for the passage of stream water, although they are all too narrow to be viewed. The northern side splits into two passages with one connecting the passage of water to the larger ...
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Pontsticill
Pontsticill is a village within the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. It lies within the valley of the Taf Fechan on the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The village lies within the community of Vaynor in an area that was, until the local government re-organisation of 1974, within the historic county of Brecknockshire. Pontsticill is closely associated with the Brecon Mountain Railway, a tourist railway which runs along the former Brecon and Merthyr Railway line. Immediately to the north of the village is the Pontsticill Reservoir which was completed in 1927. The village name originates from the Welsh words ''pont'' and ''sticill'' and signifies a 'bridge near a stile'. Pontsticill Reservoir Pontsticill Reservoir, originally Taff Fechan Reservoir, was opened in 1927 to supply water to much of the South Wales Valleys. The 110 ft high embankment holds 15,400 megalitres of water. The reservoir is popular with sailors, anglers and picni ...
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Mid Glamorgan
Mid Glamorgan () is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996 it was also an administrative county with a county council. Mid Glamorgan was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It consisted of part of the former administrative county of Glamorgan and the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, along with the parishes of Penderyn and Vaynor from Brecknockshire and the urban districts of Bedwas and Machen, Rhymney and part of Bedwellty, from Monmouthshire. It was divided into six districts: * Cynon Valley *Ogwr *Merthyr Tydfil *Rhondda * Rhymney Valley * Taff-Ely Mid Glamorgan and its component districts were abolished in 1996 and the area split into the unitary authorities of Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and part of Caerphilly as a result of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. The communities of Wick, St Brides Major, Ewenny (from the Ogwr district) became part of the Vale of Glamorgan county borough, while Pentyrch (from the Taff-E ...
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Cefn-coed-y-cymmer
Cefn-coed-y-cymmer () is a small community on the northwestern edge of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales. It is situated in the neck of land between the rivers Taf Fawr and Taf Fechan at their confluence (Welsh: 'cymer'). The village lies within the community of Vaynor. Immediately to the north of the village is the hill of Cefn Cil Sanws on the southern slopes of which is Merthyr Tydfil Golf Club. The village is bounded both to the north and the west by the Brecon Beacons National Park. Notable features of the village are the A465 road, A465 ''Heads of the Valleys Road'' and the impressive curving Cefn Coed Viaduct. The viaduct, which spans the Taf Fawr river, came into being as part of the Merthyr- Pontsticill junction line. This additional line extended the Brecon and Merthyr Railway and was only agreed following a special Act of Parliament in July 1862 to allow its construction. The Cefn Coed Cemetery with its Jewish burial ground is listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register o ...
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Ironmaster
An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large-scale entrepreneur and thus an important member of a community. He would have a large country house or mansion as his residence. The organization of operations surrounding the smelting, refining, and casting of iron was labour-intensive, and so there would be numerous workers reliant on the furnace works. There were ironmasters (possibly not called such) from the 17th century onward, but they became more prominent with the great expansion in the British iron industry during the Industrial Revolution. 17th-century ironmasters (examples) An early ironmaster was John Winter (Royalist), John Winter (about 1600–1676) who owned substantial holdings in the Forest of Dean. During the English Civil War he cast cannons for Charles I of England, ...
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Robert Crawshay
Robert Thompson Crawshay (3 March 1817 – 10 May 1879) was a British ironmaster. Life Crawshay, youngest son of William Crawshay by his second wife, Bella Thompson, was born at Cyfarthfa Ironworks. He was educated at Dr. Prichard's school at Llandaff, and from a very early age manifested interest in his father's ironworks, and spent much of his time among them. As years increased he determined to learn practically the business of an ironworker, and in turn assisted in the puddling, the battery, and the rolling mills; he carried this so far that he even exchanged his own diet for that of the workmen. On the death of his brother William by drowning at the old passage of the Severn he became acting manager of the ironworks, and at a later period when his brother Henry removed to Newnham he came into the working control of the entire establishment. On 15 May 1846 he married the 18 year old Rose Mary Yeates in Oxfordshire. She became the mistress of the 72 roomed Cyfarthfa Castl ...
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Community (Wales)
A community () is a division of land that forms the lowest tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England but, unlike English parishes, communities cover the whole of Wales. There are 878 communities in Wales, with more than 730 having community and town councils. History Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes. These were abolished by section 20 (6) of the Local Government Act 1972, and replaced by communities by section 27 of the same Act. The Subdivisions of Wales#Principal areas, principal areas of Wales are divided entirely into communities. Unlike in England, where unparished areas exist, no part of Wales is outside a community, even in urban areas. Most, but not all, communities are administered by community councils, which are equivalent to English Parish councils in England, parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally ...
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