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Description
Photography by John Ball - 12 July 2002 (with a Sony Mavica MVC-FD91 digital camera)
Image 1:
Bilingual road-sign on the outskirts of Mountain Ash on the A4059 road from Cardiff.
This former coal-mining town in the parish of Llanwonno is the second largest community in the Cynon Valley.
By the mid 19th century, it was apparent that the Cynon Valley was rich in mineral wealth, sometimes known as "black gold". Extensive labour was required to work the coal seams and men came from all parts to mine the black gold. A number of them were former farm workers attracted by the higher wages paid by the Coalmasters.
Where the colliery shafts were sunk, villages grew with rows of stone-built terrace houses topped with Welsh slate roofs. The stone was in plentiful supply as evidenced by the number of redundant quarries dotted about the Cynon Valley. Coal was King, and by 1851 the Vale of Neath Railway had completed a rail link to Aberdare, a new outlet for the mass of coal that was being exported out of the Cynon Valley. The two main collieries in Mountain Ash were Deep Duffryn Colliery (closed 1980) whose first shaft was sunk in 1850, and Navigation Colliery (closed 1940) whose first shaft was sunk in 1855.
Sadly, the cultural reputation once earned by Mountain Ash through its celebrated choral and music festivals has long evaporated. There is an outdoor market every Friday, but the highlight in the town's calendar is undoubtedly the Nos Galan road races, run through the streets on 31st December every year. The races commemorate the legendary early 18th-century athlete Guto Nythbran who is buried in the churchyard of St Gwynno's, the remotely situated parish church, reached by a mountain road leading westward from the town.
This Images of Wales feature is a photographic record of my visit to Mountain Ash on 12th July 2002 while undertaking a photocommission for a client in the USA.
Image 2:
Mountain Ash in the Cynon Valley, viewed from the south.
Mountain Ash is split into two by the river Cynon flowing down the valley. On the east side of the river are the communities of Caegarw and Newtown. On the west side is Mountain Ash town centre, and to the south the community of Miskin.
River Cynon
Image 3:
Stone bridge carrying the road linking the two parts of Mountain Ash over the Cynon.
The bridge also traverses a railway line on west bank of the river (left) and the track-bed of a former railway line on the east bank (right).
Image 4:
River Cynon, looking downstream from the road bridge. Note the railway line (right) and track-bed of old railway line (left).
Caegarw
Image 5:
River Cynon looking upstream from the Caegarw side of the road bridge.
Image 6:
On the east side of the river is the Aberdare Hotel, in Ffrwd Crescent, Caegarw.
Image 7:
Jeffrey's Arms public house in Jeffrey Street, Caegarw.
Image 8:
New Harp Hotel, Jeffrey Street, Caegarw.
Image 9:
Bethania Welsh Congregational chapel in Philip Street, Caegarw.
Image 10:
Mountain Ash Town Hall in Ffrwd Crescent, Caegarw. Mountain Ash Town Hall in its present form was built in 1904 at a cost of £5000 and was used as the headquarters of Mountain Ash Urban District Council until 1974. The building is used today by the Leisure Department of Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council. The town hall was built on the site of the former Workmen's Hall built in 1864 at a cost of £1000 and demolished in 1904. It was the first public institution in the town and was known as the Mount Hall. It had reading rooms, library, smoking and refreshment rooms. Public meetings and lectures were held there with the concert hall accommodating up to 500 people.
Newtown
Image 11:
View west towards Miskin and Mountain Ash from top of Strand Street, Newtown. The fir tree plantation on the distant hillside is at Darranlas.
Image 12:
Terraces of miners' cottages in Miskin, viewed from the bottom of Strand Street. The exposed rock-face of a disused quarry is just visible, top left.
Continue the exploration of Mountain Ash on Page 2
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