Rhondda Cynon Taff

With the closure of the coal mines, the mainstay of the economy since the 19th century, the area has turned to other forms of employment. The manufacture of metal goods and of vehicles is of importance, as are the service industries, including hotels, catering, and distribution. There is also some light manufacturing. The chainworks established at Pontypridd in 1816 made the gigantic ships' chains for famous liners such as the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. The town was badly hit by the depression of the 1930s; as part of an effort to regenerate the area, large industrial estates have been built and new industries brought in. Pontypridd is now an important service centre for the county borough.

There is evidence in the area of prehistoric settlement. Iron Age inhabitants of the area put up considerable resistance to the Roman invasion in the latter part of the 1st century ad. The Normans came in their turn to conquer the territory in the late 11th century, and built their castles in an effort to subdue the local people. The Industrial Revolution transformed the previously remote agricultural region. The iron industry flourished and once the extensive coal reserves of south Wales were recognized in the mid-19th century—the Treherbert mines were opened in 1855—coal became supreme. The industry was stimulated by the construction of railways to link the mines with the ports of Cardiff, Barry, and Port Talbot. The Rhondda Valley (properly the twin river valleys of the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach) was the most famous of all coal-producing areas, and its population soared, increasing from 542 in 1801 to 113,00 in 1901, as miners and their families moved in. The early 20th century saw a drop in the demand for coal and a simultaneous drop in prices, a trend that has continued to the present day as the lucrative late 19th-century coal market dwindled and coal suppliers faced stiff competition from abroad. Subsequently the economy of the area declined sharply, and the collieries have shut. Local unemployment is high, despite government schemes and initiatives aimed at attracting light industry to the area. Depopulation has been rapid and widespread. The area is presently much more residential than industrialized.