Tondu Ironworks
| Tondu | |
|---|---|
 Tondu Wesley Methodist church |
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 Tondu
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| Tondu shown within Bridgend | |
| OS grid reference | SS893843 |
| Community | |
| Principal area | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BRIDGEND |
| Postcode district | CF32 |
| Dialling code | 01656 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | |
| Welsh Assembly | |
Tondu (English: Black Sward) is a village in Bridgend County Borough, Wales, located about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the town of Bridgend.
Tondu lies on the A4063 from Bridgend to Maesteg, and was established in the late 18th century as a coal mining village servicing the Parc Slip Colliery. In later years, an iron works was also established, and in the 19th century, a brick works was constructed using the clay from the carboniferous coal measures to make a variety of bricks, mostly for engineering. The brick works was demolished in 1977. The association with the coal industry was also reflected in the large area office of the National Coal Board in the village and a centre for the Mines Rescue Service.
The village has several railway lines and provided access to collieries in Wern-Tarw and the Ogmore and Garw valleys, along with maintenance facilities. All were closed to passenger traffic in the 1960s. They were used extensively by coal trains until the mine closures in the 1980s. The Wern-Tarw line was disused and lifted first, followed by the Ogmore line sometime afterwards. The Garw line is disused, but still extant. During the early 1990s the Bridgend to Maesteg line was re-opened to passenger traffic and provides a service to Cardiff. Occasional steel trains run via the Margam to Tondu and Tondu to Bridgend branch lines. The Margam line is now used by the new Parc Slip opencast mine for coal. The village is served by Tondu railway station.
The River Llynfi flows alongside Tondu on its way to its confluence with the River Ogmore. The Llynfi at this point has had a history of severe pollution. Historically, the pollution started with the coal industry. The coal seams in this part of the South Wales Valleys are quite wet and the coal itself is rich in pyrites and thus also rich in sulphur. Such mine waters have a very high burden of coal and rock solids and also contain heavy metals such as nickel, iron and copper in acidic solution. For many years the river also suffered from pollution from a paper mill at Maesteg
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Wikipedia