Coed-Ely

Penychen was a possible minor kingdom of early medieval Wales and later a cantref of the Kingdom of Morgannwg. Penychen was one of three cantrefi that made up the kingdom of Glywysing, lying between the rivers Taff and Thaw, the other two being Gwynllwg and Gorfynydd. According to tradition, these cantrefi were created on the death of Glywys (c.480 AD), the first king of Glywysing, when the kingdom was divided between his three sons: Pawl, Gwynllyw and Mechwyn. But our knowledge of the early history of the kingdom is very uncertain, being mainly sourced from medieval documents and traditional pedigrees. Pawl was the ruler of Penychen and on his death (c.540 AD) passed the cantref on to his nephew.Pawl's brother Gwynllyw was the ruler of Gwynllwg and upon his death it is said that the cantref passed to his son Cadoc (Cadwg), also known as St. Cadoc. Cadoc would later take control of Penychen, but when he was killed by the Saxons he had no heirs, and both cantrefi fell under the control of Meureg of Gwent and were absorbed into his kingdom. After the Norman conquest of South Wales, the southern parts of Penychen, on the Bristol Channel, came under the direct rule of the Norman Marcher Lords and their descendants, but the rest (the commotes of Rhondda Valley and Miskin) remained under the rule of local Welsh lords, who paid homage to the powerful Norman lords but still retained a degree of independence, which they were very ready to defend. In the Middle Ages Penychen contained two important ecclesiastical centres: the episcopal seat of Llandaf, and Llancarfan, a clas connected to the early author Caradoc of Llancarfan.

Coed Ely railway station served the portion of the Ely Valley around the mining communities of Thomastown and Coed-Ely in South Wales, between 1925 and 1958.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS; Welsh: Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub De Cymru) is the fire and rescue service covering the ten Welsh principal areas of Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen and Vale of Glamorgan. SWFRS was created in 1996 by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, which reformed Welsh local government. It was created by a merger of the previous fire brigades of Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and Gwent. It covers an area of around 1,100 square miles (2,800 km2) with a population of around 1.5 million.The fire authority which runs the service is a joint-board made up of councillors from the ten local authorities covered by the service.Since October 2017, SWFRS has shared its control room with Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and South Wales Police at the police headquarters in Bridgend, an arrangement that is expected to save £1 million annually across both fire and rescue services.

Thomastown is a village and district of the large community of Tonyrefail, within Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is located to the south of Tonyrefail within the 'Tonyrefail West' electoral ward, and falls within the Ely Valley along the A4119. Thomastown is also a community ward for elections to Tonyrefail & District Community Council.

Ynysmaerdy is a village near Talbot Green and Llantrisant in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Even though there is no direct access to the village of Llanharan, due to older parish boundaries it falls under the community of Llanharan. It is home to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

Tonyrefail railway station served the village of Tonyrefail, in the historical county of Glamorgan, Wales, from 1901 to 1958 on the Ely Valley Railway.

Tonyrefail is a village and community in the Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough, Wales. It is situated at the head of the River Ely; 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Llantrisant, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Trebanog and about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Williamstown. During the second half of the 19th century, when coal and steel became synonymous with the South Wales Valleys, Tonyrefail evolved from being a rural hamlet to an industrial village. The population at the 2001 census was 11,035.

The A473 is a main road linking Pontypridd with Bridgend in Wales. The route begins in Upper Boat just south of Pontypridd, at the junction with the A470 and A4054 roads. It crosses the bridge in an easterly direction and continues along the road until it reaches the hill known locally as Power Station hill until it reaches a roundabout near the village of Tonteg after which it heads in a south westerly direction. The road continues along the stretch of road bypassing the villages of Church Village, Llantwit Fardre, Beddau and Llantrisant. After Llantrisant, the road heads in a westerly direction through Llanharan and then turns to a south westerly direction through Pencoed. The road enters Bridgend from the south and passes through the town centre before terminating at the junction with the A48 at Laleston to the west of Bridgend.

Llanharan House is a historic house on the outskirts of Llanharan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is located off the A473 road, just east of Llanharan and is a Grade II* listed building. The gardens and park attached to the house are designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

The Coinage Act 1816 (56 Geo. 3. c. 68), also known as the Coin Act 1816 or Liverpool's Act, defined the value of the pound sterling relative to gold. One troy pound of standard (22-carat) gold was defined as equivalent to £46 14s 6d., i.e. 44½ guineas, the guinea having been fixed in December 1717 at £1 1s exactly. According to its preamble, the purposes of the Act were to: prohibit the use of silver coins (which would now be of reduced weight, 66 shillings rather than 62 shillings per troy pound), for transactions larger than 40s establish a single gold standard for transactions of all sizes.

The Royal Glamorgan Hospital (Welsh: Ysbyty Brenhinol Morgannwg), is a District General Hospital in Ynysmaerdy, Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is managed by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, and is part of the NHS Wales public healthcare system.

The Royal Mint Museum is a numismatics museum located in Llantrisant, Wales, which houses coins, medals, artwork and minting equipment previous owned by the Royal Mint. Although the museum is located on the same site as the Royal Mint, the mint and the museum are separate companies. In partnership with the mint, a new £9 million visitor centre was built to allow members of the public to view part of the museum's collection.