Pentyrch (sometimes ; ) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

located on the western outskirts of

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, the capital city of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The village gives its name to a Cardiff local authority electoral ward, Pentyrch, which covers the village and immediate surrounding area. The Pentyrch community includes the neighbouring village of

Creigiau Creigiau is a dormitory settlement in the north-west of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The village currently has about 1,500 houses and a population of approximately 5,000 people. Prior to 2022 The Cardiff electoral ward covering the village w ...

and

Gwaelod y Garth ; ) is a village in the community of Pentyrch, Cardiff in Wales. Location Gwaelod-y-garth is located in Taff Valley at the foot of Garth Hill, north of central Cardiff and south of Pontypridd. The castle of Castell Coch is within reach of ...

. People living in Pentyrch are commonly known as "Pentyrchians". On 26 February 2016, multiple witnesses reported seeing

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

Geography

The village is situated approximately 6 miles north-west from Cardiff city centre, next to the

Garth Mountain Garth Hill (usually called The Garth, or Garth Mountain; ) is a hill located in between the communities of Llantwit Fardre and Pentyrch in Wales. The Garth can be seen from nearly the whole of the city of Cardiff and the Taff Valley, and on a su ...

, high above the

River Taff The River Taff () is a river in Wales. It rises in the Brecon Beacons as two rivers, the Taf Fechan ("little Taff") and the Taf Fawr ("great Taff") before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. At Cardiff, it empties into the Bristol Chan ...

. The village can be reached from junction 32 of the M4 Motorway, then

A470 The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigate th ...

, then via Heol Goch, a hill flanked by a quarry and nature reserve. Alternatively, Church Road provides access from Llantrisant Road near

St Fagans St Fagans ( ; ) is a village and Community (Wales), community in the west of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is home to the St Fagans National History Museum. History The name of the area invokes Saint Fagan (Saint), Fagan, according ...

. Other approaches are from

and

Gwaelod-y-Garth ; ) is a village in the Community (Wales), community of Pentyrch, Cardiff in Wales. Location Gwaelod-y-garth is located in River Taff, Taff Valley at the foot of Garth Hill, north of central Cardiff and south of Pontypridd. The castle of Ca ...

. There was a separate location, Pentyrch Crossing, a flat railway crossing believed to have been removed in the 1960s, between Morganstown and the River Taff.

Demographics

At th
2001 census
Pentyrch contained 3,535 individuals, in 1,358 households.

Governance

Pentyrch became the newest addition to the Cardiff

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

in 1996. The electoral ward of Pentyrch & St Fagans elects three councillors to

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff () is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Administrative divisions of Wales, principal areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

. It falls within the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff West and is represented by the Labour Party in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

and the

Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

. In October 2021 Cardiff Council accepted a number of ward change proposals made by the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales. These included the merger of Creigiau/St Fagans with the Pentyrch ward to form a new ward of "Pentyrch and St Fagans". This would take effect from the 2022 council election. The ward is bounded by

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, ...

to the north; and by the wards of

Whitchurch & Tongwynlais Whitchurch & Tongwynlais () is an electoral ward of Cardiff, Wales. It covers some or all of the following areas: Coryton, Tongwynlais and Whitchurch in the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff North. It is bounded by Caerphilly county bor ...

to the east; Radyr & Morganstown to the southeast; Fairwater to the south and Ely to the southwest.

Local elections

Pentyrch was represented by Conservative councillor Craig Williams on Cardiff Council until he stepped down in 2015, following his election to Parliament for Cardiff North. He was defeated two years later in the 2017 General Election by the Labour Party's Anna McMorrin. Craig Williams was one of the Conservative members involved in a well publicised scandal, alleged to have placed a bet on the date of the 2024 General Election, just three days before it was announced. A by-election for the Pentyrch ward took place on Tuesday 30 June 2015 which, despite a 27% swing to Plaid Cymru's Hywel Wigley, resulted in a narrow win for Conservative candidate Gavin Hill-John by 18 votes. At the Cardiff Council election on 4 May 2017 Cllr Hill-John successfully defended his seat, increasing the margin between himself and Hywel Wigley to 215 votes. The turnout was 56%. At the 2022 City of Cardiff Council election on 5 May 2022, under the new ward boundary, two Common Ground Alliance councillors (a Plaid Cymru, Green Party alliance) were elected with 1,289 and 1,241 votes, while a Conservative councillor was elected with 1,170. Turnout was 46.5%. The Common Ground Alliance won the new third seat created by the boundary change, took the vote swing in one of the existing seats and the Conservative group held a seat.

Community Council

The Pentyrch Community Council has thirteen elected (or co-opted) members, representing the villages of Pentyrch, Creigiau (including Capel Llanilltern) and

(the three community wards) on a ratio of 6:5:2. Elections are held every five years.

2017 Community Council Election

Ten candidates (6 Independent, 3 Welsh Labour, 1 Plaid Cymru) stood for election during the 2017 Cardiff Council election. All candidates were therefore elected unopposed. The following by-elections took place between May 2017 and the next election in 2022. Political affiliation recorded as 'Welsh Conservative' on the Pentyrch Community Council website (March 2020). Political affiliation recorded as 'Welsh Conservative' on the Pentyrch Community Council website (March 2020).

2022 Community Council Election

The next election is due to be held in May 2022.

Amenities

Acapela Studio, a concert hall and recording studio, is owned by harpist

Catrin Finch Catrin Ana Finch is a Welsh people, Welsh harpist, arranger and composer. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004 and is visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music ...

and music and television producer Hywel Wigley. Acapela studio has hosted a series of Welsh acts such as

Gruff Rhys Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys (; born 18 July 1970) is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He forme ...

Cerys Matthews Cerys Elizabeth Matthews (; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the " Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s. Matthews now ...

and

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

as well as local and international music acts. Many programmes for

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

are filmed there. The building itself is converted from the former presbyterian Capel Horeb. Opposite Acapela is the Lewis Arms public house. Housing is split between older housing and large post-1970s developments. The older buildings in the village are reached by forking left after entering the village, travelling down to the King's Arms pub, and St. Catwg's Church, at the lowest point of the village. Along with St. Catwg's Church and its lychgate, the King's Arms is a Grade II

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Originally a seventeenth-century copyhold farm called Cae Golman, the King's Arms became established as a public house in the eighteenth century. The bar has a fireplace with a chamfered beam, dated 1711. Sport in the village is centred on the

Pentyrch Pentyrch (sometimes ; ) is a village and community located on the western outskirts of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The village gives its name to a Cardiff local authority electoral ward, Pentyrch, which covers the village and immediate ...

Rugby Football Club. There is also a cricket pitch and other facilities at the club. Pentyrch Rangers football club is based in the village. The club has nearly 200 registered players and runs 10 junior and mini football teams in the Cardiff and District League. Other amenities include a village hall and primary school. Craig-y-parc House, in wooded grounds outside the village, is a former country house, now a residential school for children and young adult with disabilities. Designed by Charles Edward Mallows for the colliery owner Thomas Evans, and built between 1914 and 1918, it is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Notable people

Lucie Jones Lucie Bethan Jones (born 20 March 1991) is a Welsh singer, musical theatre actress, and model. Jones first came to prominence while competing on series 6 of '' The X Factor UK'' in 2009, where she was the fifth contestant eliminated. She repr ...

, singer and model * Robin Sowden-Taylor, rugby player, raised in Pentyrch * Craig Williams MP, lives in Pentyrch and served as Cardiff City Councillor for Pentyrch ward from 2008 to 2015

References

External links

Pentyrch.org.uk web site

The Pentyrch and District Local History Society

Census information (2001)

further mapped census data
* {{authority control Communities in Cardiff Villages in Cardiff Former electoral wards of Cardiff