Cwmparc
Early legends tell of a medieval
park, or hunting preserve in the area called
Parc Cwm Brychiniog, which was subsequently
made into four farms in Tudor times, one of
which was called Parc Uchaf and another Parc
Isaf. Thus the area became known as Cwmparc
and its stream Nant Cwmparc [Cwm being the Welsh
for valley], with the development of the mining
village in the valley in the 19th Century the
village also became known as Cwmparc.
Details of the early history and development
of Cwmparc are contained within the booklet,
‘History of Cwmparc. King Coal Invades a Sylvan
Valley’ which was awarded the prize at Treorchy
Semi-National Eisteddfod in 1923. The author
describes Cwmparc in 1923 as ‘ a mining village
of considerable pretensions, aspiring almost
to the more dignified name of township’ with
a population of about five thousand. He describes
the Parc Colliery and further down the valley
The Dare, and the constant processions of coal-laden
trucks running down the railway that flanked
the Parc River.
The pioneer of Cwmparc’s development was David
Davies, Llandinam described as, ‘foremost of
Welsh industrial kings and founder of the renowned
Ocean Coal Company’, who had in 1862 negotiated
with Crawshay Bailey to commence coal mining
on the Tremains Estate. Sinking operations were
begun in August 1866 and by the end of that
year Parc Pit had produced its first output
of coal.
He describes how Railway Terrace was the first
of the new streets in Cwmparc to be built near
to the railway leading from the pithead. The
street was known euphemistically as ‘Tub Row’
because of the habit of the occupants for leaving
their tin bath tubs out on the pavements in
the evening, ‘thus setting a trap for, and imperilling
the life and limbs of unwary strangers on a
dark night’. As for the rest of the village
he describes how Parc Road, the main street,
‘ now more than half a mile long’, contained
the more ‘reputable’ buildings, such as the
Miners Institute, two hotels and three chapels.
He details how, with the influx of population,
housing in the early days of Cwmparc was a major
problem.
In particular he recalls one elderly resident’s
recollection of how when she came to Cwmparc
her family consisting of a mother, father and
four children managed to secure accommodation
in a shepherd’s cottage, Parc Bach. The extent
of the overcrowding can be seen when you realise
that the cottage already accommodated the shepherd,
his family and three other lodgers! With such
a demand it was not long before builders and
property speculators moved into the area, thus
in 1867 Cwmdare Street was completed and most
of Parc Street the following year. Tallis Street,
Barrett Street and Vicarage Row were soon to
follow erected by a local building club enterprise.
Tallis Street was named in honour of Mr A.S.
Tallis, manager of Dare Colliery and Barrett
Street in honour of a well-respected Scottish
doctor in the neighbourhood.
Thirteen years later in 1936 the author provided
an additional chapter to update his work. When
looking at the then current state of the village
there is quite a different tone from that taken
thirteen years previously. He describes the
industrial history of the village as being ‘overhung
with gloom’ and the district as being ‘haunted
by the spectre of unemployment’. The village’s
main employer, and indeed reason for being,
The Parc and The Dare pits had always worked
intermittently and had been ‘unable to absorb
all the eager claimants for work’. There had
been moments of industrial strife, notably the
1926 general strike and the ‘stay in’ strikes
of 1935.
In 1954 the National Coal Board merged the two
pits, and finally in 1966 after a hundred years
of production the Parc and Dare pit closed for
the last time, leaving Cwmparc’s ‘sylvan’ valley
to revert in some measure back to its original
beauty.
