Merthyr Vale
Merthyr Vale is a linear village in the Welsh county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan. Lying on the A4054 road it is on the east bank of the River Taff opposite Aberfan.Ynys OwenYnys Owen, which translates from Welsh to English as Owain’s riverside meadow, has been claimed by some to possibly commemorated Owain Glyn Dwr, whose followers were involved in an uprising around 1400. The area was referred to and written as Ynys Owen as early as 1630, noting that the narrow valley was heavily wooded, with various traditional Tyddyns (long-house farms) marking out the various rural farming territories.DevelopmentThere had been small scale coal extraction at Danyderi and Perthygleision, but in 1869 John Nixon started development of the Taff Colliery, later to be known as the Merthyr Vale Colliery. The village immediately grew up around the shaft development, as did the later communities of Aberfan, Nixonville and Mount Pleasant. Completed in 1875, when the first commercial coal was brought up, there was a celebration called in the local Windsor Hotel.