Troedrhiwfuwch
Troedrhiwfuwch, nicknamed Troedy locally, was a village in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales. It was located between Pontlottyn and Tirphil.
Like most villages in the South Wales Valleys, it grew due to coal mining. It was built in the 1850s to house the miners in the area. At its peak the village had a church, school, shops, pubs, and 94 houses, home to a population of around 600.[1][2]
The local council had feared for years about the geology of the area, and that a landslide from the mountain above could engulf the village. In 1985 all residents were forced to move out and most buildings were soon demolished. As of 2026, all that remains of the village is one house, the former post office, and a war memorial.[2]
Plans were passed for a church to be built in Troedrhiwfuwch in 1874, and St Teilo's Church was opened six years later in 1880, as a daughter church to St Tyfaelog's Church in Pontlottyn. It was an iron structure seating 120 people. A chancel made of stone was added in 1892. It was demolished with the rest of the village in 1985 and the war memorial is currently on the same site. The remains of the church are held at St Tyfaelog's.[3]
A short distance east of Troedrhiwfuwch was Sebastopol. It was a smaller settlement built around 1854-1858, probably named for the Siege of Sevastopol. From 1858 to 1912 it had a pub, the Sebastopol Arms. Sebastopol was also home to Troedrhiwfuwch Halt railway station, which was built to transport coal and was only open to the public for a few years before it closed on 21 February 1910.[4]
The name Troedrhiwfuwch means "the foot of the cow's slope" in Welsh.