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Porth in the Parish of Llanwonno

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"CYMMER and PORTH, now separate ecclesiastical parishes, are townships forming part of the Urban District of Rhondda, in the hundred of Caerphilly; Cardiff petty sessional division, Pontypridd union, rural deanery of Rhondda and archdeaconry and diocese of Llandaff, 176 miles from London, 4 from Pontypridd, 16 from Cardiff, 16½ from Merthyr Tydfil and 6 from Llantrisant. Porth has a station on the Rhondda and Ferndale branches of the Great Western railway.
St. Paul's church, PORTH, erected in 1886, at a cost of £1500, is an edifice of stone, in the Early English style, ... in 1896 a new organ was erected at a costs of £250, and was enlarged in 1910: the church was 'enlarged in 1910 and now has 530 sittings. The register dates from 1886. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Llandaff and the Board of Patronage, and held since 1922 by the Rev. Horace Ivor Millard M.A. of the University College of Wales. The Cemetery at Porth is 30 acres in extent, with two mortuary chapels, and is under the control of the Rhondda Urban District Council. Porth Cottage Hospital, erected in 1895 at a cost of £3,600, and enlarged in 1908, is a building of stone, and contains five wards of 42 beds and 6 cots; visiting days, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Cymmer Colliery Workmen's Institute, Cymmer, erected in 1893, at a cost of about £2400, and enlarged in 1911, at a cost of about £2000, is a building of stone, containing a library of about 6,000 volumes, recreation and committee rooms, and reading room. Insole's Limited, the Cymmer Colliery, and other collieries in the neighbourhood give employment to the greater number of the inhabitants. The population in 1911 was 12,780" [Kelly's South Wales Directory 1923 (ArchiveCDBooks) - transcribed by Gareth Hicks]

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Archives & Libraries

Pontypridd Road
Porth
CF39 9PG

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Cemeteries

From Kelly's South Wales Directory 1923 (ArchiveCDBooks) - transcribed by Gareth Hicks

  • A cemetery of 25 acres, between Trealaw and Porth, was formed in 1879 at a cost of £14,000, for Rhondda, Llanwonno and Llantrisant. A cemetery of 15 acres was formed in 1871 at a cost of £7000, at Treorchy, and was enlarged in 1914 by the addition of 15 acres, for the parish of Rhondda; and there is also a cemetery of 5 acres at Mardy, formed in 1875, at a cost of £3600; each contains two mortuary chapels, and since April 1st, 1896, have been under the control of the Rhondda Urban District Council Burial Committee of 13 members.
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Church Records

or full and up-to-date details of their holdings see the sites of Glamorgan Record Office and/or West Glamorgan Archives

The church is dedicated to St. Paul, is in the Benefice of Porth St. Paul with Trealaw, and the diocese of Llandaff. Details of the present incumbent of this benefice can be found at the Church in Wales website. The church can be located at grid reference ST026916.

Anglican Parish Registers
BaptismsMarriagesBurialsBannsBishops Transcripts
No Registers have been deposited yet
Non Conformist Registers Held at the Glamorgan Record Office, Cardiff
ChapelBaptismsMarriagesBurialsOS Map Ref
Hannah Street, Tabernacle, Baptist-1972-1988-ST 02629129
Salem, Baptist-1962-1986-ST 02769117
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Description & Travel

Porth and Cymmer - on the Rhondda Cynon Taf Libraries Heritage Trail site

You can see pictures of Porth in the Parish of Llanwonno which are provided by:

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Directories

Transcript of name listing for Pontypridd, and district, from Commercial and Trade Directories, for the years:-

1880(Slaters Directory)
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Gazetteers

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference ST026913 (Lat/Lon: 51.612075, -3.408041), Porth in the Parish of Llanwonno which are provided by:

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Occupations

Various items - on the People's Collection Wales site

  • Workmen at Tymawr Colliery winding engine house, near Porth
  • Cymmer Colliery, Porth c1914

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

  • Cymmer Colliery "Pay ticket 1911; Circulars c.1937"
    "Cymmer Colliery is situated in Porth in the Lower Rhondda Valley. The mineral rights for the colliery was leased by George Insole and his son, James in September 1844. The same year they opened the South Cymmer Level to the No. 2 Rhondda Seam. This was followed by a the No. 1 (Old Pit) shaft in 1847. During the 1850s, Insole sank two further pits on Cymmer land; these were the Upper Cymmer Pit (1851) and the New Cymmer Pit (1855). In 1856, the Cymmer Colliery was the site of one of the worst mining disasters in Wales when 114 miners were killed.
    Insole and Son became a registered company in 1869. The Colliery remained an independant concern under the same family ownership until closure in 1940.
    Source: Ray Lawrence, The South Wales Coalfield Directory, Vol. 2 (1998 edn), p. 181"
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Schools

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

  • Rhondda County Intermediate/Grammar schools, Porth records " ......... comprising of admission registers, 1904-1915; sales account book, 1897-1915; scholarships and bursaries account book, 1899-1937; Rhondda County Boys school records, 1915-1958; Rhondda County Girls school records, 1915-1960; Porth County schools governors minutes, 1929-1951; Owen Vernon Jones, Porth County: The School and its Boys , (1991"
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Social Life & Customs

Porth Carnival, 1910 - on the People's Collection Wales site