Rhondda Valley

United Kingdom / Wales / Ferndale /
 valley, region, coal mine
Rhondda (Ron-da) Valley is a big valley in Wales. (ex)Epi-centre for the now non existant Welsh coal industry. Depressing and one of the poorest parts of Britain.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhondda_Valley
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°38'33"N   3°26'48"W
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Comments

  • Allow me to correct your pronounciation: the double 'd' (dd) in Welsh is said as a hard 'th' (as in 'the' and 'that'). Rhondda is therefore pronounced as 'rhontha', with the hard 'th' and an aspirated 'r'. There are two Rhondda valleys: Rhondda Fawr (big Rhondda) and Rhondda Fach (small Rhondda), which converge at Porth (Welsh for 'gate' or 'gateway'). The northern valley is Rhondda Fach; the southern Rhondda Fawr. Parts of the Rhondda area certainly are economically depressed with a large number of single parent families and high unemployment; however there are also areas of regeneration with new housing estates being built and small industrial and retail units opening. It's not all bad in the Rhondda, boyo :)
  • The mines have gone and been replaced by new Asian mega-corp overlords. I miss the sense of humour of the locals, cant beat it like.
  • Correction: the Welsh coal industry may be in decline, but it is far from non-existent. There are no deep mines left but several opencasts still work. Weekly, 12,000 tonnes of coal are sent from Welsh opencasts to Aberthaw Power Station alone.
  • Rhondda used to be such a wonderful place.
This article was last modified 2 years ago