THE HISTORY OF CARDIFF'S SUBURBS

PENTYRCH
Incorporating the village of Gwaelod Y Garth

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Monastic Colony

Pentyrch has been inhabited for over three millennia, since Neolithic and Bronze Age farmers scratched a living from the light upland soil.

St Catwg (aka Cadoc), one of the most famous of the Welsh saints, founded a monastic colony in Pentyrch, which was set around a spring known as Ffynnon Catwg (Catwg's well).

MAGNIFY — Map of Pentyrch in 1886.
Source: OS

mapofpentyrch — Map of Pentyrch in 1886.
Source: OS

St. Catwg

The well's associated stream is named Nant Gwladys or Gwladys stream, after St Catwgs mother.

St. Catwg chose to build his church near the well which was for hundreds of years the only source of water in the village.

The church of St Catwg has been rebuilt from time to time and the present Victorian Gothic church replaced a simple structure consisting of a nave and chancel.

Ironworks

The area's potential for coal and iron extraction began to be exploited from the 17th century onwards.

Although this emerging industry resulted in workers cottages being constructed on the rural settlements of Gwaleod y Garth and Radyr during the 19th century, Pentyrch managed to retain its character as a rural settlement.

Drift mines provided high-quality steam coal, nearby quarries produced limestone and there was an abundance of timber. Iron ore was transported to the furnaces by mules and donkeys from the mines in Little Garth and Fforest Goch.

Following a merger with the Melingriffith Company in Whitchurch, production dramatically increased during the mid 1800's.

However, the Pentryrch works declined as it lacked the ability to compete with steel being produced by the Dowlais Iron Company in Merthyr Tydfil, as well as the steelworks in Tremorfa.

Both these companies were using the Bessemer process (an inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel) but by 1888, the furnaces at Pentyrch were closed down.

Gwaelod y Garth

As the population increased, most of the miners and iron workers lived in or around Gwaelod y Garth (English: below the Garth) which was formerly known as Lower Pentyrch, while the farming community centred around the old village and Creigiau.

It is believed that the reason for renaming the village was to distinguish between the two independent chapels, one being in present day Pentyrch, the other being Bethlehem Chapel in what was then Lower Pentyrch.

Community Development

Pentyrch Village Hall was built in 1976, an ambitious project achieved by the efforts of local residents. The Hall still belongs to the community, and is a registered charity.

When Pentyrch became the city's newest suburb in 1996, the district had a higher proportion of Welsh speakers than elsewhere in Cardiff, and the City boundaries reached to the edge of the coalfield on which Pentyrch's prosperity was based.