Ton Pentre

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Ton Pentre is a village near Treorchy in Rhondda Cynon Taff, south Wales. It is, perhaps, best known for an incident in 1924, when The Duke of York (later George VI of the United Kingdom) played a round of golf with Frank Hodges.

The old district of Ystradyfodwg was named after the church at Ton Pentre.

[edit] Socio-Economic History

Ton Pentre (as with much of the Rhondda valleys) was technically only a hamlet before the onset of the industrial revolution. When it became viable to mine anthracite coal in deep shaft pits in the mid 1800s, many pits were sunk in the Rhondda valley, one of which was located in Ton Pentre - The Maindy Colliery. It was the individual collieries that were at the heart of the separate 'villages' that emerged on the valley floor as they were the major employers in the area. At the height of the industry Ton Pentre would have been home to a few thousand people living in high density terraced houses that spanned the whole valley.

The village itself has seen a marked decline in commerce and industry associated with the area since the demise of the coal industry in the 1980s. This has also been a contributory factor in the social deprivation that has stricken the area and leaves South Wales with high unemployment, substance addiction problems and the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe.

However, recent regeneration is changing the fortunes of the area. The influence of the M4 corridor and the economic boom in Cardiff has meant that the Rhondda valleys are increasingly becoming commuter zones for the Cardiff and Swansea districts.

[edit] Famous Pentrians

Jamie Chapman spent many weekends in Pentre and Ton Pentre during the Mining boom. Known affectionately as 'fluff' or 'carney' Jamie went on to greater fame in Cardiff. It was here that he made a telling contribution to the development of the Torchwood Institute on which the current BBC TV show is based.