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. The village is served by Ton Pentre railway station.
[edit] Socio-Economic History
Ton Pentre (as with the rest of the Rhondda Valley) 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 coal mining 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 after the UK miners' strike (1984-1985). This has also been a contributory factor in the social deprivation that has stricken the area and leaves the South Wales Valleys 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] Notable Historic Features
There is a bronze age hillfort located on the Bwlch mountain behind the village. The area has been inhabited for at least 3000 years, and bronze is still mined (opencast) nearby. Consultants from over at Tower Colliery have helped to expand mined production of 'Ton Bronze (t/m) ', and the Welsh Development Agency are helping with the branding and marketing abroad "Ton Bronze - Bronze from Ton".
The largest colliery in the area; Maindy Colliery, was established in Ton-Pentre when the first mine was sunk by David Davies (industrialist) & Partners in 1864. The mine was near closure in 1866 when the Six Feet seam was discovered. This sustained production of coal until 1948. During that period several seams of brass were discovered most notably the legendary 'three inch vein' and the lesser but equally important 'two and half inch vein'. However these were found to be beyond economic recovery, even during the explosion of Jazz in the early twenties. Local folklore tells that the original instruments for Rhondda's Cory Band were made from Maindy brass, which according to metallurgists at the time could be buffed to a very high shine, making it much prized amongst musicians and horse owners. It is unlikely that enough brass was ever recovered from the mine for this to be true. It is likely however that to this day significant reserves of brass still lie under the village of Ton-Pentre, whose mining could one day become economically viable.
