A History of Aberdare : a concise account

by Edwin Greening
Published originally in 1967

Introduction
 

Edwin Greening’s concise account of the History of Aberdare was written over fifty years ago. It is relatively unknown and not easily accessible and for this reason the Society decided to make it available on this website. Being a brief history it is obvious that there are omissions. For example, large sections of life, especially of earliest times, are either covered rather briefly or are not mentioned; this is also the case in relation to the 19th and 20th centuries.

Some of the content of the first chapter, with respect to information about the geological history of the area, has now been superseded by more modern knowledge, for example, the improvements in plate tectonic theory of the 1950s and 60s. Consequently those sections should be read with due caution. We have therefore published an updated separate account of the geological development of Cynon Valley written by Dr David E. Roberts. This can be found in the ‘Historical Notes’ section of this website.

Inevitably the story of the valley comes to an end in 1967, consequently it does not cover Aberdare’s history of the latter years of the twentieth century.

Much of Edwin Greening’s writings about the iron and coal industries have been updated by other titles published by us and by others — Cynon Coal being an obvious example, as is Ken Collins' & Steven Graham’s History of the Aberdare Valley Ironworks. Details of religious buildings appear in two books, Chapels of the Cynon Valley and Churches of the Cynon Valley both by Alan Vernon Jones. Elfed Davies has recently published a book on the Co-operative Societies, and lastly there is the splendid Environmental Studies in the Cynon Valley edited by John Yockney and published by Mid Glamorgan County Council, (1984).

Nevertheless despite its limitations, and as there is no convenient and concise history of Aberdare in print, it was thought that Edwin’s text as it stands should be made available.

This work by Edwin Greening was a thesis presented at Caerleon College. It was all his own work and the Society takes no responsibility for its content.

Steven Graham
Joint Editor
Cynon Valley History Society