The village of Treorchy apparently takes its
name from the stream that flows from the
mountainside above the village into the River
Rhondda; on the 1875 Ordnance Survey map of
this area the stream is referred to as ‘ Nant
Orky’, and Treorchy itself is spelt Treorky.
The word Gorchi possibly comes from the welsh
word Gorchwy, suggesting a stream marking a
boundary. Prior to industrialisation the Tithe
maps of the area show an unpopulated area of
scattered farmhouses, such as Abergorchwy,
Tile-du, and Glyn Coli. The area was
predominantly meadows, pastures and woodland
and farmed by tenant farmers such as Walter
Edwards, Llewellyn Lewis and Mary Evans. Much
of the land, in common with most of the
Rhondda at that time, was owned by one of the
great families of Glamorgan with much of
Treorchy coming under the domain of the
Marquis of Bute Estate.
However in the 1850’s the nature of the area
began to change with the beginning of the
exploitation of the Upper Rhondda’s coal
seams. This process was begun in 1855 with the
opening of the Tylacoch Colliery followed in
1859 and 1860 by the Abergorchy and Glynoli
Levels and the Abergorchy Colliery in 1865.
Additionally the opening of the Parc and The
Dare collieries in the nearby village of
Cwmparc led to expansion of Treorchy with
thousands of immigrants flooding into the area
in search of work.
Hundreds of new houses were built to cater for
this influx, as well as chapels to cater for
their religious needs, and public houses and
shops soon sprang up. By the 1900’s Treorchy
was a major shopping and social centre within
the Rhondda.
Treorchy from its earliest days was renowned
as a cultural centre, and even today is home
to the world famous Treorchy Male Choir as
well as the Parc and Dare Theatre which hosts
numerous local amateur plays, musicals, operas
etc. as well as professional ones from all
over the world. In 1928 Treorchy was also the
venue chosen for the most prestigious event in
the welsh cultural calendar, that of the Welsh
National Eisteddfod, the only time it has ever
been held in the Rhondda.
With the decline of mining in the twentieth
century Treorchy was better placed than many
of the other villages in the Rhondda. Unlike
many of the other villages Treorchy hosted a
number of other industries, most notably the
factories of companies such as Polikoff’s , a
clothing manufacturer, as well as a factory of
the corporate giant EMI, and T.C.Jones part of
the 600 group a steel construction factory. As
such the desolation some villages underwent
with the cessation of large scale mining
operations, and the hardships and unemployment
this entailed, were in some measure avoided in
Treorchy.