Hopkinstown () is a small village to the west of

Pontypridd Pontypridd ( , ), Colloquialism, colloquially referred to as ''Ponty'', is a town and a Community (Wales), community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, approximately 10 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. Geography Pontypridd comprises the ...

in the county borough of

Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff () and Ely valleys, ...

, Wales, alongside the

River Rhondda The River Rhondda () is a river in South Wales with two major tributaries, ''Rhondda Fawr'' (meaning ''big Rhondda'') and ''Rhondda Fach'' (meaning ''little Rhondda''). Description The river has two major Tributary, tributaries, the ''Rhondd ...

. Hopkinstown is a former coalmining and industrial community, now a district in the town of

within the Rhondda electoral ward. Neighbouring settlements are

Pwllgwaun Pwllgwaun (or Pwll-Gwaun) is a village and small suburb of Pontypridd within the 'Rhondda' electoral ward, bordered by Hopkinstown and Graigwen hill to the north and east, the hillsides of Maesycoed above, and is located along the banks of the ...

, Trehafod and Pantygraigwen, and the sub-districts of Troed-Rhiw-Trwyn and Gyfeillion.

Early and industrial history

The area where Hopkinstown is located was, as late as 1842, an undeveloped woodland known as the Ty Mawr Estate. Owned by Evan Hopkin, the area developed quickly, until around 1850 it was beginning to urbanise after the sinking of two collieries: Ty Mawr and Gyfeillion. Along with buildings to house the miners, Hopkinstown quickly acquired a chemical works, an iron foundry and coke ovens. The original village was a single row of houses along the Rhondda Road that followed the river. Not until the 1871 census was the name Hopkin's Town used to describe it. By 1891 the village had a population of over 1,500 and several streets of terraced houses had been built. Hopkinstown saw eight shafts sunk in the industrial period. John Calvert, an engineer from Yorkshire, had already sunk the Newbridge Colliery (later part of the Maritime Collieries, near Graig, Pontypridd), and in 1848 he funded the construction of the Gyfeillon Colliery. It passed to the Great Western Railway company, then reverted to Calvert before he sold it to the Great Western Colliery Company, which sank a total of six shafts known collectively as the Great Western Collieries. Two other mines in the area, not owned by the Great Western, were the Typica Pit at Troed-rhiw-trwyn, which was only open for five years between 1875 and 1879, and the Lan Colliery, the only pit in Hopkinstown south of the River Rhondda. In 1889 it was owned by William Davies of Pontypridd, employing only seven miners, and was closed in September 1907. On Tuesday 11 April 1893, fire broke out in the Great Western Mine colliery, trapping some 200 miners underground. Although the majority were rescued, the death-toll was 63 men and boys. On 23 January 1911 eleven people died in the Hopkinstown rail disaster, when a carriage carrying passengers collided with a stationary coal train on the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stage ...

line.

Notable residents

* Elaine Morgan (1920–2013), script-writer, populariser of science and feminist writer, was born in the village * Steve Cooper (1979-), football player and manager

External links

Rhondda Cynon Taff Library Service
Heritage Trail, Hopkinstown

References

{{authority control Villages in Rhondda Cynon Taf Pontypridd