Editing Pontneddfechan

{{Short description|Village in Brecknockshire, Wales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2015}}
{{infobox UK place
| static_image = 
| static_image_caption = 
| coordinates = {{coord|51.7554|-3.5878|display=inline,title}}
| country = Wales
| community_wales = Ystradfellte
| welsh_name = 
| constituency_welsh_assembly = [[Brecon and Radnorshire (Senedd constituency)]]
| map_type = 
| official_name = Pontneddfechan
| population = 340
| population_ref = 
| unitary_wales = [[Powys]]
| lieutenancy_wales = [[West Glamorgan]]
| constituency_westminster = [[Brecon and Radnorshire (UK Parliament constituency)]]
| post_town = NEATH
| postcode_district = SA11
| postcode_area = SA
| dial_code = 01639
| os_grid_reference = SN905075
}}
{{langnf|cy|'''Pontneddfechan'''|bridge over the Little Neath|italic=no|paren=left}}; {{IPA|cy|pɔntˌniðˈvɔːn|pron}}; also known as '''Pontneathvaughan''') is a village in [[Powys]], Wales. It is the southernmost village in the [[Historic counties of Wales|historic county]] of [[Brecknockshire]], within the [[Vale of Neath]] and in the community of [[Ystradfellte]]. It stands at the [[confluence]] of the rivers [[River Mellte|Mellte]] and [[Nedd Fechan]] ("Neath Vaughan") and gives access to a series of [[waterfall]]s that adorn the upper [[River Neath|Neath]] valley. [[Dinas Rock]] is a quarried [[limestone]] promontory east of the village, popular with visitors.

==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>

==See also==
*[[Dyffrynnoedd Nedd a Mellte, a Moel Penderyn]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Map sources==
*{{oscoor gbx|SN901076}}

==External links==
*[https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2732064 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Pontneddfechan and surrounding area]
*[http://www.cefnpennar.com/pontneddfechan Ebenezer Calvinist Methodist Chapel memorial transcripts]

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[[Category:Vale of Neath]]
[[Category:Villages in Powys]]