Penygraig

Coordinates: 51°36′48″N 3°27′10″W / 51.6133°N 3.4528°W / 51.6133; -3.4528

Penygraig (Head of the Rock) is a village and community in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. As a community Penygraig contains the neighbouring districts of Dinas, Edmondstown, Penrhiwfer and Williamstown.

Early history

The original settlement which in now Penygraig was called Ffrwd Amos, though as with the rest of the Rhondda before industrialisation the only settlements were farmsteads. In 1832, Soar, one of the first baptist chapels in the Rhondda was built at Penygraig by preacher David Williams.

Industrial Penygraig

Coal mining began in Penygraig in 1857 when Thomas Ellis sank a drift mine. In 1858 Moses Rowlands and Richard Jenkins discovered a seam at Penygraig and would later form the Penygraig Coal Company. The Company sank the first deep pit in the village, The Penygraig Colliery; after which the village would be named. After the Penygraig Colliery showed a successful profit the Naval Colliery Company opened a second deep pit, The Pandy, which reached the steam coal seam in 1879. The Pandy was then sold to the New Naval Colliery Company after three disasters, which then opened three more deep mines The Ely, the Nantgwyn and the Anthony Pits. The New Naval company would then become part of the Cambrian Combine, owned by Viscount Rhondda. The Ely Colliery would be the centre of the Cambrian Combine dispute, which in turn would lead to the Tonypandy Riot.

Penygraig (Llanelli)

Coordinates: 51°40′44″N 4°06′32″W / 51.679°N 4.109°W / 51.679; -4.109

Pen Y Graig is a small neighbourhood between Llwynhendy, Bynea and Bryn, within Llanelli Rural Community. It consists of a council estate and some private residences. It was built on top of the Genwen Quarry which to this day still remains as an area where the local youngsters congrigate to make fires, camp and generally have a laugh. The quarry is soon to be refurbished and turned into a nature reserve.

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