Editing Pontneddfechan (section)

==History==
District industrial activities started with a 21-year lease of an area from the [[John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute|Marquess of Bute]] by the [[Quaker]] entrepreneur [[William Weston Young]], for mining [[silica]] rock round Craig-y-Ddinas from 1822 onwards. The [[silica]] was extracted for [[firebricks]] at the ''Dinas Firebrick Co.'' in Pont Walby. In 1843, Young's lease ran out and the then ''Riddles, Young & Co.'' [[firebrick]] makers moved to new premises on The Green, [[Neath]]. The stone sleepers for the [[silica]] mine tramway can still be seen in the path of the waterfall walk.

In 1857, the Vale of Neath Powder Co. built a "gunpowder manufactory", having obtained "a licence to erect their mills over a space of two miles including the Upper and Lower Cilliepste Falls".<ref>''The Cambrian Newspaper'', 10 April 1857.</ref> The site on the Mellte was chosen for remoteness and the availability of water power and timber for producing charcoal, an ingredient of [[gunpowder]]. An inclined tramway wfrom a siding on the Vale of Neath Railway near Pen-cae-drain, brought in [[sulphur]] and [[saltpetre]], the other ingredients. The buildings were linked by a horse-drawn tramway, whose horses wore copper horseshoes to reduce the likelihood of sparks.<ref>[http://www.fforestfawrgeopark.org.uk/understanding/archaeology-and-industrial-heritage/legacies-of-the-industrial-age/the-gunpowder-works/ The Gunpowder Works.]</ref> In 1862, Curtis & Harvey took over the site, later merging with [[Nobel Industries (Scotland)|Nobel's Explosives Co]].<ref name=pritchard>Pritchard, Tom, Evans, Jack and Johnson, Sidney (1985). ''The Old Gunpowder Factory at Glynneath''. Merthyr Tydfil: Merthyr Tydfil & District Naturalists' Society [1998 reprint].</ref> and being absorbed by [[Imperial Chemical Industries]] in 1926. It then closed in 1931, but the site is still known locally as the Gunpowder Works. It is administered by the National Park Authority and has a network of footpaths.

The Welsh-language poet [[Evan Bevan]] died at Pontneddfechan in 1866.<ref>{{Cite DWB |title=Bevan, Evan (1803 - 1866), poet |id=s-BEVA-EVA-1803 |accessdate=12 April 2016}}</ref>