Tonypandy

Coordinates: 51°37′20″N 3°27′04″W / 51.622325°N 3.451203°W / 51.622325; -3.451203

Tonypandy /tɒnəˈpændi/ is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. A former industrial coal mining town, today Tonypandy is best known as the site of the Tonypandy Riots.

History

Pre-industrial history

The Tonypandy area contains several prehistoric sites, the main one being Mynydd y Gelli. Located to the north-west of the town, the remains of an Iron Age settlement Hen Dre'r Gelli lies on the slopes of Mynydd Y Gelli hill between Tonypandy and Gelli. Near the same location are several Bronze Age cairns.

Tonypandy is also the site of one of the only two permanent Middle Ages fortifications found within the Rhondda Valley. Named Ynysygrug, it was a lesser motte and bailey earthwork defence. The fortification appears to have consisted of a wooden tower surrounded by a small fortified courtyard. Placed around the 12th or early 13th century, the remains of the fortification were mostly destroyed when the town's railway was constructed in the 19th century. Over the past two hundred years, the fortification had been wrongly thought to be the burial place of Rhys ap Tewdwr or a druidic worship site.