Ferndale
Ferndale is a village located in the Rhondda Valley in the area district of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Neighbouring villages are Blaenllechau, Maerdy and also Tylorstown. Ferndale was industrialised in the mid-19th century. The very first coal mine shaft was sunk in 1857 and also was the very first area to be intensively industrialised in the Rhondda Valley. In Welsh, Ferndale is referred to as Glynrhedynog, the name of among the old farms on which the community is constructed. In its early stage Glynrhedynog was likewise referred to as Trerhondda after the name of the initial large church to be constructed in the town. The naming of settlements after churches was widespread in Wales at the time, as is displayed in village names such as Bethesda, Beulah and Horeb, however neither Glynrhedynog neither Trerhondda was destined to be made use of for long. Glynrhedynog is made from the words "glyn" meaning valley and "rhedynog" indicating ferny, and so coal from the Glynrhedynog pits was marketed as Ferndale coal, a much easier name for English buyers to assimilate. The Ferndale pits are what attracted the workforce and also their family members to the area, and by the 1880s "Ferndale" was well established as a growing community. With the phasing in of bilingual roadway signs from the late 1980s onwards, the name Glynrhedynog slowly came back as well as is now the officially marked Welsh language name for Ferndale. The Welsh language is on the rise in Ferndale after the town took on the English language throughout the Industrial change. A Welsh language institution is positioned near the park and the college is called after the park's lake, 'Llyn-y-Forwyn.' (The Maiden's Lake).