PONTYPRIDD and district

UPPER BOAT / GLAN-BAD

2008 Upper Boat Public House visited.

1953 Bad Uchaf Upper Boat JJ/NLW

1940-1 Upper Boat [Glan-Bad] CMA/NLW

1905-15 Glan-bad Gwenith Gwyn/NLW

1887 Glanybad DPNW

1799 Upper Boat Yates

1790 Rhyd y bithel Upper Boat CW.St.D.Ep.6/NLW

1788 the higher boat DPNW

1769 Upper Boatside DPNW

The Upper Boat name predates the Glamorgan Canal [1791] and refers to a ferry boat across the river Taf, in the parish of Eglwys-Ilan some three miles south of Pontypridd.

There were other ferry boats lower down the river Taf at Gabalfa, Rhydhelig/Willowford and Taffs Well, but this was the upper of the ferry boats.

The Welsh name Glan-bad, [boat river-bank] appears to be later than its English counterpart, with no recorded forms viewed earlier than 1887. This is not to say however, that the Welsh form Glan-bad was not the favoured form in early local parlance.

Today, the Upper Boat Public House stands on the eastern banks of the River Taf, just off the A470 near the Rhydfelen roundabout. Its location is reputedly near to the earlier Upper Boat river crossing.

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PONTYPRIDD

Pont (Newydd) y ty prid (sic) 1699

Pont y Pridd 1699

Pont y Ty Pridd 1764

New Bridge or Pont ypridd 1813

Pont (Newydd) y Ty Prid 1699, contains two distinguishing features for the bridge over the river Tâf - newydd and y tŷ pridd. Pont (Newydd) could indicate that the bridge of 1699 was a new bridge, or it could refer to an earlier Pont Newith named by Leland in 1536-39 as spanning the river Tâf, 3 miles lower than Pont Rehesk (pont yr hesg) and 4 miles above Pont Landafe. Rice Merrick however names the bridge between Heske and Landaf as Yniswern (BGA 1587). William Edwards’s famous one arched bridge built over the river Tâf c.1775 was also called Newbridge. The same name was used by the Taff Vale Railway Co. for their station there in 1840. This name however did not survive as the town name, due to the emergence of another Newbridge in Monmouthshire.

Pont y tŷ pridd refers to a bridge near an earthen house. This bridge pre-dates Edwards’s bridge, and although not named, the earthen house may possibly have stood near to Leland’s Pont Newith. The significance of ‘earth’ (pridd) in the house description is probably related to the material used in house construction.(cf. Gwaun y tŷ pridd, Margam; Tŷ pridd, Carms. Anglesey and Meirioneth; Tyddyn pridd, Montgomery, Anglesey; Muriau pridd, Caerns. as well as Priddy, Somerset.)

Pontypridd has evolved from Pont y tŷ pridd and refers to a bridge near a house of earth.Regarding pronunciation, Pont tŷ pridd (pont tee preethe) may be etymologically more accurate than Pont y pridd (pont ugh preethe). The shortened form of Pontŷ, as heard in the oft chanted 'Pontee, Pontee' may well have a longer and more Cymric history than its rugby-field usage. It may not be solely the product of a supposed English mispronunciation.

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YNYSANGHARAD

Ynis Enharred 1729

Ynysangharad 1817

Ynisangharad 1839

Ynysangharad and Trallwng Fields c1840

Ynysangharad St. 1879

Ynysangharad House 1885

Ynysangharad War Memorial Park 1923

Ynysagharad Rugby Field 1908-1974

Contains two elements – ynys and probably the personal name Angharad

ynys,

Welsh,

1. 'meadow, pasture on the banks of a river or stream; river meadow'.

2. 'island'.

The vast majority of inland place-names containing this element have the meaning of 'river meadow'. eg.Ynys Cynon (Cynon river meadow),Ynys Both (boeth) [warm river meadow], Ynys Lwyd (grey river meadow), TS1844. Ynys y bwl (bowl river meadow), OSM .etc.

Place-names around the sea shore containing this element usually mean 'island'. eg.Ynys Byr (Caldey Island),Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island),Ynys Mon (Anglesey) etc.

This Celtic place-name element can also be found in the form of 'inis', 'inish', 'enis' and 'inch'. eg. Innisfallen (the island of Faithlenn), Killarney; Inishannon (Owen's island or river meadow,Cork); Eniselthlan, 1536-39, Itin. Lel.36. (Gallan's river meadow, Llantrisant); Enniskillen,(island of Ceithle,Fermanagh.); Inchkeith,(island of the wood,Fife,Scotland.).

Angharad,

The 1729 form of Enharred is probably an attempt at Angharad, the feminine personal name, but it could also be an attempt at Welsh ‘enharreg’ a variant of ‘hanereg’ meaning half an acre.

Ynysangharad probably has a meaning of ‘Angharad’s river meadow’, but one cannot discount the possibility that it may refer to ‘half acre river meadow’.

Ynysangharad was firstly a field-name, then, it became the name of a house and a street. Early in the 20^th century it became the name of a rugby pitch and following WW1, Ynysangharad was also the name of a memorial park. It continued as a rugby pitch until 1974, when Sardis Road became the home of Pontypridd RFC.

The drawing below shows Pontypridd c1860s. The river on the left with the double arched bridge below Brunel's railway viaduct is the Rhondda.The river with Edwards's one arched bridge overlooking the more modern three arched bridge is the Tâf. Ynysangharad field is the piece of land below the two bridges, on the eastern bank of the river Tâf, bottom right.