Troedrhiwgwair, or Himalaya Range

Ten years ago twelve families, at the village of Troedrhiwgwair, near Tredegar, were in the middle of a fight, with the local authority, for their perceived right to remain in their homes. The local council considered there was a problem with the mountain behind the village, the villagers did not. Eventually, after an inquiry, held by a Welsh office inspector, in January 1988, residents were allowed to remain, and the empty and decaying properties were demolished.
The Public inquiry did, however, create a number of interesting questions about the origins of the village and its name, which at the time went unanswered.

Photograph of Troedrhiwgwair Village in 1902. Taken from Bedwellty Pits on the other side of the valley.

The 1881 census names the village as the Himalaya Range. Copies of birth certificates, from 1878 and 1877, also displays this name. By 1891, however, census information indicates the name had now changed to Troedrhiwgwair. Although further investigation is needed, I suspect the name alteration happened after the Local Government act of 1888, for England and Wales, in which great changes were made to the face of local government.

Sixty-six houses had been built in the village, called Hymalaya Range, by 1871, according to the census of that year. By the next census, ten years later, there was the full complement of 96 houses. As there is no mention of the village in the 1861 census information it can be deduced that the village was constructed between the two later dates. Powells "History of Tredegar", published at the begining of the century, tells us, "Great activity in building operations prevailed at Vale Terrace and Troedrhiw-y-gwair in 1863; several rows of houses had been completed in 1864, and nearly every house was inhabited ere the walls dry". How long it would take to build a village in those days I am not sure, but would guess that construction of village houses was taking place by 1865.

So, where did the name Troedrhiwgwair originate? In the welsh language Troed means foot and rhiw means slope. "Troedrhiw" also appears in the name of other welsh valleys hillside villages, such as Troedrhiwfuwch in the Rhymney valley. The name of gwair means hay, indicating perhaps a field. So, could the name have originated from a hay field at the foot of the mountain belonging to a farm?

The first clue comes with the 1981 census when the village was called Himalyan Range. The census indicates that the local public house, now called the Fountain Inn, was then called Troedrhiwgwair Farm. The occupants of the farmhouse were Alfred Thomas, his wife Adelaid and their four children.

When the village was being built, in 1871, the farmhouse was called the Fountain Inn and owned by Isaac Mason who lived there with his wife Jane and five children. As he gives his occupation as a farmer, with 20 acres, there is the possibility that the farmhouse had only just become a public house. But what about the origins of the name Troedrhiwgwair?

Photograph of Inn Keeper Alfred Thomas and Family outside the Fountain Inn. Taken at the beginning of the century.

In 1851, almost twenty years before the village was built, there was a building in the area called Troedrhiwgwair. I suspect the premises was the Fountain Inn, in which two families lived, William Price, his wife Sarah and five children and William Williams, his wife Ester and their five children. Fourteen occupants, in total.
Mid-nineteenth century maps also attest to the area being called Troedrhiwgwair.

Evidence from various sources, some mentioned above, indicates that when built, in the second half of the last century, the village was called Himalaya Range. The name Troedrhiwgwair came later acquired from the eighteen-century farmhouse now called the Fountain Inn.