“...A bustling, traditional market town, a place of curiosities and characters...”

Nestling at the foot of steep, wooded slopes where the River Rhondda joins the River Taff, Pontypridd is a bustling, traditional market town, a place of curiosities and characters, which also happens to be home to the 16,000 students of the University of Glamorgan. During the19th Century, Pontypridd was a boomtown of coal mining and heavy industry with Brown Lenox chains, Trefforest tinplate and Nantgarw china. The town also has strong traditions of sport and culture. Pontypridd Rugby Club is famous the world over, and record points scorer Neil Jenkins has been lovingingly reproduced in the World of Groggs Pottery and Shop, along with celebrities past and present. Excellent indoor and outdoor facilities exist at the Hawthorn leisure complex. Opera stars Stuart Burrows and Sir Geraint Evans and pop star Tom Jones were all born in the surrounding villages, whilst the Welsh National anthem Hen Wlad fy Nhadau(Land of my Fathers) was composed here in 1856 by Evan James and his son James James – there is a fine memorial to them in Ynysangharad War Memorial Park by sculptor Goscombe John.

A hithau’n gorwedd yn glyd wrth draed llechweddau coedioglle mae Afon Rhondda’n ymuno ag Afon Taf, mae Pontypridd yndref farchnad draddodiadol, brysur, lle sy’n ennyn chwilfrydedd, llawn cymeriadau. Dyma, hefyd, gartref i 16,000 o fyfyrwyr Prifysgol Morgannwg. Yn ystod y 19eg. ganrif roedd Pontypridd yn ferw, yn ganolfani ddiwydiannau trymion a chloddio am lo a Brown Lenox ynenwog am ei gadwyni ar gyfer angorau llongau a phontydd acroedd gwaith tun yn Nhrefforest a chrochendy yn Nantgarw. Mae i’r dref draddodiad cryf ym meysydd chwaraeon adiwylliant. Mae Clwb Rygbi Pontypridd a’r cyn chwaraewr Neil Jenkins, sy’n dal record y byd am nifer y pwyntiau a sgoriodd, ynenwog ledled y byd ac mae cyfleusterau dan do ac awyr agoredo’r radd flaenaf yn perthyn i gyfadeiladau hamdden pentre’r Ddraenen-wen. Mewn pentrefi cyfagos y ganed Stuart Burrows a Syr Geraint Evans, sêr byd opera a chanu clasurol a Tom Jones, un o sêr bydcanu poblogaidd. Yma, ym 1856, y cyfansoddodd Evan James a’ifab, James James, ein Hanthem Genedlaethol – ac maecofgolofn hardd, o waith y cerflunydd Syr Goscombe John, iddynnhw ym Mharc Ynysangharad.