He township of Trehafod lies on the border between the Rhondda and Taff Ely,
or as the 1926 Kelly's
Industrial Directory describes it as being ‘partly in the Parish of Pontypridd
and partly Ystradyfodwg'
The 1847 tithe map of the area shows a number of farms on the area that was to
become Trehafod, these were named, Hafod Uchaf, Hafod Genol and Hafod Fawr. It
was from these farms that Trehafod was to take its name. Hafod is a Welsh word
that can mean both, a summer dwelling or upland farm. The mineral rights of these
lands were first leased as early as 1809. In addition to these farms the 1847
tithe map also shows a single cottage in the area and a tramroad and railway.
It was this accessibility to this lower part of the Valley
that provided the impetus for the earliest mining exploration
in this area. As such, pre-1850 a number of small levels
and shallow pits were sunk here to the bituminous coal levels
for the small, but expanding ‘sale coal' markets. Thus in
1809 Jeremiah Homfrey opened the first Hafod Level, and in
1835 William Crawshay opened the Gwaun Yr Eirw level nearby.
The first workers were predominantly ex agricultural labourers
from the surrounding countryside. Then in 1850 Edward Mills
sank the Coedcae Colliery and two brothers David and John
Thomas sank the Hafod Colliery
However these were small concerns, and the Coedcae
and Hafod Collieries suffered major problems. It was with
the subsequent purchase of these concerns by W.T. Lewis,
later Lord Merthyr, and the sinking of the Trefor and Bertie
pits across the river that Trehafod as a major coal producer
really came into being. Although Lewis continued to mine
bituminous coal from the Coedcae Pit, under the name of
Coad Cae Coal Company, it was the sinking of the Hafod,
Trefor and Bertie pits to the rich steam coal measures
that made Trehafod. These three steam coal pits became, ‘the
nucleus of one of the greatest mining concerns in Britain',
employing at its peak nearly 5,000 men and producing nearly
one million tons of coal annually
Hafod and Coedcae Collieries
In common with most mining villages Trehafod boasted
its own church, Saint Barnabus' originally Bryn Eirw Mission,
chapels including Welsh Baptist, Calvinistic, Welsh Congregational
and Wesleyan.
As well as it own thriving shopping centre, its proximity
to the ‘metropolis'
that was Pontypridd meant that residents of Trehafod were well served in terms
of cultural, educational, religious and other opportunities.
In July 1889 Trehafod became the terminus of the newly laid ‘Barry railway and
Docks' railway line that connected The Rhondda Valley to new docks at Barry,
an attempt by the Rhondda Coal owners to break the monopoly of The Taff Vale
Railway and Bute's Cardiff Docks on the transportation of Rhondda Coal.
