- Penygraig
infobox UK place
latitude =51.6133
longitude =-3.4528
population= 5877 (2001) [ [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=3&b=6078467&c=pen-y-graig&d=14&e=16&g=419385&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1216323846828&enc=1 National Office for Statistics] ]
country = Wales
static_
static_image_caption=
welsh_name=
constituency_welsh_assembly= Rhondda
map_type=
official_name= Pen-y-graig
unitary_wales=Rhondda Cynon Taff
lieutenancy_wales=Mid Glamorgan
constituency_westminster= Rhondda
post_town= TONYPANDY
postcode_district = CF40
postcode_area= CF
dial_code= 01443
os_grid_reference= SS995915
OldMapsYear=
OldMapsEasting=
OldMapsNorthing=
OldMapsCounty=Penygraig (Head of the Rock) is a village and community in the Rhondda Valley in the
county borough ofRhondda Cynon Taff , within the historic county boundaries ofGlamorgan ,Wales . As a community Penygraig contains the neighbouring districts ofDinas ,Edmondstown ,Penpisgah and Williamstown.Early History
The original settlement which in now Penygraig was called Ffrwd Amos, though as with the rest of the Rhondda before industrialisation the only settlements were farmsteads. In 1832, Soar, one of the first baptist chapels in the Rhondda was built at Penygraig by preacher David Williams. [Davis, Paul R. 'Historic Rhondda' Hackman (1989) pg.32 ISBN 0950855624]
Industrial Penygraig
Coal mining began in Penygraig in 1857 when Thomas Ellis sank a drift mine. In 1958 Moses Rowlands and Richard Jenkins discovered a seam at Penygraig and would later form the Penygraig Coal Company. The Company sank the first deep pit in the village, The Penygraig Colliery; after which the village would be named. After the Penygraig Colliery showed a successful profit the Naval Colliery Company opened a second deep pit, The Pandy, which reached the steam coal seam in 1879. The Pandy was then sold to the New Naval Colliery Company after three disasters, which then opened three more deep mines The Ely, the Nantgwyn and the Anthony Pits. The New Naval company would then become part of the Cambrian Combine, owned by
Viscount Rhondda . The Ely Colliery would be the centre of the Cambrian Combine dispute, which in turn would lead to theTonypandy Riot . ["The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales". John Davies,Nigel Jenkins , Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg560 ISBN 9780708319536]The National Colliery pit disasters
The first of three disasters to occur at the Naval Colliery happened on December 4 1875 when a flood broke through into the mine, resulting in two miners drowning and the lives of many others placed at risk. Then on December 10 1880 a gas explosion took the lives of 101 miners out of the 106 who were working in the mine at the time. This was followed on January 27, 1884 when another explosion led to the death of fourteen men. [ [http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/deathrolls/Naval.htm Welsh Coal Mines website: Naval death toll figures] ] These disasters are likely factors in the Naval Colliery Company selling the mine in 1887.
port and leisure
Penygraig is home to
rugby union teamPenygraig RFC .External links
* [http://webapps.rhondda-cynon-taf.gov.uk/heritagetrail/rhondda/penygraig/penygraig.htm Rhondda Cynon Taff Library Services, Heritage Trail:Penygraig]
References
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