Williamstown, Rhondda Cynon Taf

Williamstown
Welsh: Trewiliam
Williamstown
 Williamstown shown within Rhondda Cynon Taf
OS grid referenceST002907
Principal areaRhondda Cynon Taf
Ceremonial countyMid Glamorgan
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town TONYPANDY
Postcode district CF40
Dialling code 01443
Police South Wales
Fire South Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK ParliamentRhondda
Welsh AssemblyRhondda
List of places
UK
Wales
Rhondda Cynon Taf

Coordinates: 51°36′25″N 3°26′31″W / 51.606989°N 3.441819°W / 51.606989; -3.441819

Williamstown (Welsh: Trewiliam) is a village in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. Williamstown was founded in the 1870s, is located at the foot of Mynydd Dinas and is a district of neighbouring village Penygraig.

Early history

Before the Rhondda was industrialised in the mid to late 19th century, the area where Williamstown now resides, was made up of woodlands occupied by sparsely populated farmlands. Williamstown exhibits very little evidence of early habitation, a few Bronze Age cairns have been discovered on Mynydd Dinas, but most hafodi and farm houses tended to group around the River Rhondda located lower down the valley.

Much of the land in the Rhondda, once controlled by individual farmers, had been bought up by wealthy absentee landlords by the start of the 19th century. The land which would become Williamstown was bought by Walter Coffin, the pioneer of coal mining in the Rhondda, around the 1850s. In 1867 this land was inherited by the Williams family, through their father, a cousin of Coffin. The Williams family gave their name to the town that was built on their land and among the trustees of the family was Caroline Elizabeth Williams, Arthur John Williams and Morgan Bransby Williams.[1]

External links

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.