In the wake of colliery closures and deindustrialisation, Pontypridd came to symbolise the painful transition for many in the South Wales Valleys. From the nineteenth- and twentieth century with heavy industry as the core of the economy to a post-industrial, service-driven world in which the walk down the hill in hobnailed boots has been replaced by the daily commute alone in the car or on the bus and train into Cardiff and beyond. The post-war aspiration once evident in the Taff Vale Shopping Centre descended, by the 1980s and 1990s, into a run-down, smelly and dirty building that was avoided by local people and visitors alike.
Pontypridd, as with so much of the former coalfield, faces a great many challenges in the twenty-first century. Town-centre regeneration programmes and the renovation of historic buildings will provide the fresh face that is badly needed but cannot mask the greatest problem of all – finding new industries to replace those that, for a century and half, provided a purpose to the many thousands who made Pontypridd their home
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WI Scrapbook, programmes WomensArchiveWales
Stairs at Pantyrhwch, Llanwnnen, Ceredigion RCAHMW
Workers repairing the Eryri Engine,Snowdon Railway LLGC
ST BEUNO'S CHURCH, CLYNNOG FAWR RCAHMW
Picture of 'Welsh lady', 1913 WomensArchiveWales
LLANIDAN HOUSE OR HALL, PARK, GROUNDS AND GARDENS RCAHMW
PLAS BERW (NEW HOUSE), GAERWEN RCAHMW
Introduction to new developments at Ebbw Vale Ross
Grosmont Castle taken in 1952 RCAHMW
School note book, Dr Williams School, Dolgellau WomensArchiveWales
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