combines an eventful history

              with a grand scenic setting...”

Unlike other valley towns, Aberdare spreads across a broad vale with an open aspect. Home to over 35,000 people and known as the Queen of the Valleys, Aberdare is a busy shopping town which combines an eventful history with a grand scenic setting and an unusual cultural claim to fame as the cradle of the British film industry: it was here in Aberdare that William Haggar produced The Maid of Cefn Ydfa in 1901, followed by over forty melodramas and thrillers which, with violence and police chases were popular in Britain, Europe and America. The town centre is crowned by the 180-footspire of St Elvan’s Church. To one side is the landscaped area of the Rock Grounds, whilst on the other three sides are the main shopping areas, Canon Street, Cardiff Road and Victoria Square, which is dominated by a Cenotaph built by Sir Edwin Lutyens as the prototype for the one in London’s Whitehall. 

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Yn wahanol i drefi eraill y cymoedd, mae Aberdâr ar wasgar ar draws dyffryn llydan, agored. Ac iddi boblogaeth o 35,000 ac yn caelei chydnabod yn ‘Frenhines y Cymoedd’, mae Aberdâr yn dref siopa, brysur sy’n cyfuno hanes cyffrous â golygfeydd ardderchog ynghyd ag enw anarferol am ei rhan yn grudfa i ddiwydiant ffilmiau gwledydd Prydain. Yma, yn Aberdâr, y cynhyrchodd William Haggar ei ffilm ie Maidof Cefn Ydfa ym 1901. Wedi hynny, cynhyrchodd dros 40 o ffilmiau melodrama ac iasoer a fuoddyn boblogaidd yng ngwledydd Prydain, Ewrop a’r Amerig ar gorn y trais oedd ynddyn nhw a’r golygfeydd o blismyn yn cwrso dihirod. Yn goron ar y dref mae meindwr, 180 o droedfeddi o uchder, Eglwys Sant Elfan. Ar unochr mae llecyn wedi’i dirlunio sy’n cael ei adnabod dan yr enw Rock Grounds ac ar y tairochr arall y prif fannau siopa, Canon Street, Cardiff Road a Victoria Square. Y brif nodwedd yno ydy’r gofeb rhyfel a gafodd ei chodi gan Syr Edwin Lutyens, yn gynffurf i honno yn Whitehall, yn Llundain.