Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf

Mountain Ash derives its English name from a public house in Commercial Street. The pub name matches the presence of rowan or mountain ash trees on local hillsides. The Welsh name Aberpennar refers to the junction of the Pennar river with the Cynon. An earlier form of the tributary name, Pennardd, may have derived from its source on the nearby Cefn Pennar ridge.[2]

Unlike other villages in the South Wales Valleys, it was undisturbed until the construction of the Aberdare Canal in 1818, which became disused in the early 1920s and was filled in to form New Cardiff Road in 1933.[3]

The population of 1,614 in 1841 rose to 11,463 in 1871 with the opening of local collieries. The 1851 census shows the construction of Duffryn Street and Navigation Street. By 1859 there were 12 public houses, among the earliest being the Bruce Arms, the Junction Inn and the New Inn. By 1920, Kelly's Directory lists over 200 businesses in the village.[3]

The coal industry began to decline after the First World War, but after the Second, manufacturing was introduced to offset the serious fall in local employment. By the end of the 20th century the last mines had closed and so had many of the factories. The economic hardships were only mitigated partly by new light industry and service activities.

Mountain Ash, along with the rest of the Cynon Valley and the other South Wales Valleys, was predominantly Welsh-speaking until the 19th century.

On 1 December 2016, under The Rhondda Cynon Taf (Communities) Order 2016, the community was split into Mountain Ash East and Mountain Ash West,[4] co-terminous with the electoral wards of the same names.

Bethania Chapel

The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Lourdes

There were numerous nonconformist chapels in Mountain Ash, of which only one Welsh-language chapel remains Bethania (Independent). Bethlehem (Calvinistic Methodist) closed, as did an Independent chapel at Bethel, Miskin.

Like other communities in the Cynon Valley, Mountain Ash was affected by the Religious Revival of 1904–1905. One striking event took place on a Friday evening in late January, when a procession paraded through the main streets before a revivalist meeting at Bethania Chapel addressed by the Rev. Penar Griffiths.[5]

The town is served by Mountain Ash railway station on the Aberdare branch of the Merthyr Line of the Transport for Wales rail network. The village of Fernhill and Penrhiwceiber is also served by the Aberdare line. Bus services are operated by Stagecoach in South Wales.

NCB Mountain Ash Railway

The ex-GWR Pannier Tank No.7754, in preservation at the Llangollen Railway. Through operating on the NCB Mountain Ash railway, it became the last British mainline-built operating steam locomotive in the UK, until it ceased operations in 1975.

An early British railway line had developed from the industrial development within the South Wales Valleys, which with its core around Mountain Ash became known as the Mountain Ash Railway (MAR). Having developed from an early tramway, it became in the 1970s the last steam-hauled line in the UK. Developed by Powell Duffryn as it consolidated various industrial assets, the railway started from Afon Cynon at the Penrikyber Colliery, headed north past a coal-stocking area at Pontcynon, then past an interchange yard known as Lansdale Yard, and through the former Nixon's Navigation colliery - home of the railway's central workshops, locomotive sheds and weighbridge - and on north past Duffryn Colliery, terminating at the Abercwmboi Phurnacite plant. The railway's main access to the UK rail network was at the Vale of Neath Railway's station at Mountain Ash (Cardiff Road) railway station, but it also had access to the competing, dominant Taff Vale Railway.

Early locomotives were drawn from all major UK industrial locomotive makers, but like many industrial railways after World War Two, the operational fleet was based on a core of group of Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0STs. In 1959 the National Coal Board (NCB) acquired ex-GWR Pannier Tank No.7754. Although rather too heavy to work on the relatively light-rail of the MAR - whose poor maintenance resulted in regular spreading of the rails, it became a favourite with MAR crews after a refit in the late 1960s. It eventually became the last British mainline-built operating steam locomotive in the UK, until 1975, after a cylinder valve crack.[6] The NCB were persuaded to donate the locomotive to National Museum Wales, which has since loaned it indefinitely to the Llangollen Railway. The MAR closed in the mid-1980s after the miners' strike.

Mountain Ash is served by Mountain Ash Comprehensive School for pupils aged 11–18, on the site of the former estate of Lord Aberdare. The main house, Dyffryn House, was still used by the school until its demolition in the 1990s. Opposite the site is the hospital Ysbyty Cwm Cynon, which replaced the old Mountain Ash General Hospital in 2012.[7]

Local primary schools include Our Lady's RC Primary School, Caegarw Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Caegarw), Glenboi Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Glen-boi), Darranlas Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Darren-las), Miskin Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Meisgyn), Penguelan Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Pengeulan) and Penrhiwceiber Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Penrhiwceibr).

Guto Nyth Brân statue, Oxford Street

Mountain Ash has a rugby union team called Mountain Ash RFC. Rugby league club South Wales Scorpions also plays its home matches in Mountain Ash.

Nos Galan (Welsh: Rasys Enwog Nos Galen) is an annual 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) road running race, run on New Year's Eve to commemorate the first race of Guto Nyth Bran. Started in 1958, it now attracts 800+ runners and 10,000 people to the associated street entertainment.[8]

In 1974, Mountain Ash RFC Singers male voice choir was formed from a group of ex-players. Mountain Ash hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1905 and 1946.

Mountain Ash served as the inspiration for the fictional town of Aberowen in Fall of Giants and the rest of the Century Trilogy written by Ken Follett.[9] The town also appears in the Danny Wallace's 2005 memoir Yes Man.

See also Category:People from Mountain Ash, Wales

• Mark Brake (born 1958), author, broadcaster and communicator of science
• Guto Nyth Brân (1700–1737), legendary Welsh athlete, once reputed to be the Fastest Man On Earth
• Howard Collins (born 1949), prominent karate instructor
• Pennar Davies (1911–1996), Congregational minister and author
• Natalie Lewis (born 1982), middle-distance runner
• Stuart Manley (born 1979), professional golfer
• Elaine Morgan (1920–2013), BAFTA award-winning author
• Haydn Morris (born 1928), international rugby union wing three-quarter
• Harri Webb (1920–1994), poet and librarian
• Richard "Dickie" Williams (1925–1997), rugby league footballer
• Mark Williams (living), world champion outdoor bowls

• www.geograph.co.uk: photos of Mountain Ash and surrounding area