Abercynon
| Abercynon | |
|---|---|
 Thorn Hotel, Abercynon |
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 Abercynon
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| Abercynon shown within Rhondda Cynon Taf | |
| Population | 6,390 (2011) |
| Community |
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| Principal area | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Mountain Ash |
| Postcode district | CF45 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | |
| Welsh Assembly | |
Abercynon (Welsh pronunciation: [abɛrˈkənɔn]), is a village and community in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village itself, as well as the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to the south, Navigation Park to the east, and Glancynon to the north.
The population of Abercynon was recorded as 6,428 in the 2001 Census, decreasing to 6,390 at the 2011 Census, despite more than a hundred additional households built over this period (from 2,582 in 2011 to 2,694 by 2011). The electoral ward of Abercynon includes both the community of Abercynon, but also takes into account the nearby villages of Pontcynon, Ynysboeth and Tyntetown further north.
Abercynon is approximately sixteen miles north of Cardiff and approximately forty miles from Swansea. The rivers Taff and Cynon converge at Watersmeet near Martin's Terrace. Abercynon used to have many churches, chapels and pubs. There are now only five public houses left - The Thorn Hotel, The Royal Oak, The Navigation, Brownies Bar and the Carne Park Hotel. The only churches still left are St. Donat's Church in Wales, its daughter church, St. Gwynno's, St. Thomas' Roman Catholic Church and the Methodist church in Martin's Lane.
There is a Church in Wales church of St Gwynno and a Roman Catholic church of St Thomas.
Abercynon had a number of nonconformist chapels in the twentieth century, including Bethania (Independent), Calfaria (Baptist) and Tabernacle (Calvinistic Methodist).
The village was the terminus of the world's first steam railway journey when on 21 February 1804 the inventor Richard Trevithick drove a steam locomotive hauling both iron and passengers travelled from the Penydarren ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil to the basin of the Glamorganshire Canal at Abercynon. There are memorials to Trevithick's journey at Penydarren and outside the fire station at Abercynon.
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