Gelli

The village of Gelli, similar to many of the villages of the Rhondda, takes its name from a farm that existed in the area. The English translation of Gelli could be taken as meaning a small wood, grove or copse. The 1847 tithe map of the area shows a rural area comprising scattered farmsteads such as Ty Isaf, Ynisgoy (Ynys Coy), and Bwllfa owned by landowners such as Crawshay Bailey and the Earl of Dunraven.

However archaeological excavations on the hillside above Gelli, particularly at Hen Dre’r Gelli, such as in May 1921 when three bronze age axes were discovered, indicate that this area of the Rhondda had inhabitants from the earliest times of Britain’s history. Remains suggest Bronze Age, Iron Age, Romano-British, as well as medieval activity associated with this area of the Rhondda.

Gelli’s origins as the mining village we know today date back to the sinking of the first pit in the area by Edmund Thomas and George Griffiths in the 1870s. John and Richard Cory, who traded as Messrs’ Cory Brothers and Company then purchased Gelli Colliery in 1874, deepening it to the steam coal measures in 1877. A gas explosion at the colliery in 1883 killed five and seriously injured twenty other miners at the pit. The colliery was subsequently sold to the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company one of the foremost colliery combines in Britain, who retained ownership until Nationalisation of Britain’s mines after the Second World War

It was at Gelli Colliery that the first Miners Federation of Great Britain Lodge was formed in the Rhondda. The first meeting of the lodge at the Gelli Hotel attracted less than fifty miners, but its popularity soon grew with many more joining the fledgling union despite strong opposition from the Cory Brothers. David Davies of Llandinam also sunk the Eastern Colliery at Gelli in 1877, which closed sixty years later in 1937.

Left: Gelli Colliery and surrounding area, circa 1930. In the shot you can make out Ystrad Road with Ystrad Library, Shady Road, Dorothy Street with old Gelli School, Princess Street, Ynysgau Street, Gelli Crossing, William Street with Nebo Chapel

Although not one of the Rhondda’s main shopping centres such as Pentre, Tonypandy or Treorchy the 1926 Kelly’s Industrial Directory of South Wales of Gelli gives an image of a busy, thriving mining community. As well as the usual shops, chapels etc. Gelli had its own County police Station where a sergeant and three constables were based, a public elementary school built in 1893 and subsequently expanded in 1894 and 1903, and its own park officially opened in 1919.

Gelli’s low-lying position alongside the River Rhondda made it particularly susceptible to flooding. In both 1960 and 1970 particularly severe weather led to many of the streets being inundated with several feet of water, leading the local authority to spend large amounts of money on a flood prevention scheme to prevent any further occurrences in the future.