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PONTYPRIDD, a small town in Lantwit-Vairdre and Llanwonno parishes, Glamorgan; on the river Taff. and on the Taff Vale railway, at the junction of the Rhondabranch to Treherbet, 13 miles N W by N of Cardiff. Itsname signifies "the bridge of the earthen hut, " and alludes to a mud house which stood on its site, and to afamous bridge constructed over the Taff, in 1755 and previous years, by the self-taught architect William Edwards, whose biography is narrated in the " Pursuit of Knowledge." The bridge stands on a site where the riveris broad and the banks are low; exhibits ingenuity ofcontrivance to overcome the disadvantageousness of the site; and is of one arch, 140 feet in span, 35 feet high, and 15 feet broad. The town has a head post-office, ‡ a railway-station with telegraph, two good inns, and a church in the Norman style, erected in 1838; and it carries on much trade in connexion with neighbouring iron-works and collieries. A poor-law district of Pontypriddwas formed in 1863, out of the district of Merthyr-Tydvil.
(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))
Linked entities: | |
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Feature Description: | "a small town" (ADL Feature Type: "cities") |
Administrative units: | Glamorgan AncC |
Place: | Pont Y Pridd |
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