Mynydd Maendy

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Wind farm on Mynydd Maendy. Mynydd Maendy - geograph.org.uk - 1312878.jpg
Wind farm on Mynydd Maendy.

Mynydd Maendy (translation: Maindy Mountain) is a hilltop and moorland, near Gilfach Goch, in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in south Wales, to the southwest of Tonyrefail. As with the Maindee district of Newport, the name derives from the Welsh maen dy meaning "stone house". [1]

Location

Mynydd Maendy is located about one mile west of the small, former coal mining village of Gilfach Goch in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, near the larger community of Tonyrefail. The summit is smoothly rounded and provides rough grazing for sheep.

A wind farm [2] and an Iron Age Celtic hillfort are located on the summit. On a clear day the large turbines of the wind farm can be seen from over 20 miles (32 km) away, and have raised environmental concerns. [3] The wind farm administrative centre is located in nearby Tonyrefail. The wind turbines have been generating renewable energy since 1993 and was one of the first wind farms in the country. Modern turbines are more efficient, and there are proposals for the twenty existing turbines to be removed and replaced by seven larger structures. These more efficient turbines will have the potential to double the amount of energy generated on the site. [4]

The hillfort is a fortified hill top settlement and features on the Register of Landscapes of Special Historic Interest in Wales. [5] [6] It has been described as "the largest undefended Iron Age/Romano-British (800BC-AD410) settlement in southeast Wales", and would have been a place to which the tribe could retreat in times of danger. [7]

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Mynydd William Meyrick is a 535-metre-high hill straddling the boundary of Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf county boroughs between the valley of the Rhondda Fawr and Ogmore Valley in South Wales. It takes the form of a broad northwest-southeast ridge with numerous broad shoulders extending to the east, south and west, each of which have different names and some of which constitute minor tops. Listed clockwise from the north these are; Mynydd Maendy, Mynydd Ton, Mynydd Bwllfa, Mynydd Pwllyrhebog, Mynydd Maes-teg, Mynydd y Gwair and Mynydd yr Aber. The summit of the entire massif is often referred to as Mynydd Ton. Its western sides are open moorland whilst its eastern sides have been afforested by the Forestry Commission.

References

  1. Owen, Hywel Wyn; Morgan, Richard (2007). Dictionary of the Place-Names of Wales. Gomer. p. 309. ISBN   978-1-84323-901-7.
  2. Simmons, Ian Gordon (1 November 2003). The Moorlands of England and Wales: An Environmental History 8000 Bc to Ad 2000. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 391–. ISBN   978-0-7486-1731-9 . Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  3. Simmons, Ian Gordon (1 November 2003). The Moorlands of England and Wales: An Environmental History 8000 Bc to Ad 2000. Edinburgh University Press. p. 317. ISBN   978-0-7486-1731-9 . Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  4. "Taff Ely Wind Farm: A repowering report". RWE Innogy. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  5. "Mynydd Maendy". The Megalithic Portal. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. "Mynydd Maendy hillfort". Ancient monuments. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. "Historic Landscape Characterisation The Rhondda: The Rhondda Historical Processes themes and background". Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. Retrieved 2 May 2016.

51°34′N3°28′W / 51.57°N 3.47°W / 51.57; -3.47