Hirwaun
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Hirwaun (Welsh meaning - literally 'long meadow') is the name of an electoral ward, a community, and a mining village at the northwest end of the Cynon Valley in the South Wales Valleys. The village of Hirwaun is three miles from the town of Aberdare, and comes under Aberdare for postal reasons. According to the 2001 census, Hirwaun has a population of around 4,000 people.
Hirwaun has an industrial background centering on the Hirwaun Ironworks. The ironworks was in already existence during the late eighteenth century and passed through a succession of owners before being purchased in 1819 by William Crawshay of Cyfarthfa, in whose family it remained until closure in 1859. The ironworks' blast furnaces required coke, which spurred an increase in local coal-mining activities. Even after the ironworks closed, mining continued. Following the miners' strike however, the only deep coal mine left in the area is Tower Colliery, which was closed down, bought by its workers and reopened.
It was on Hirwaun Common that the red flag was raised in British soil for the first time, during the Merthyr Rising of 1831.
Much of the community of Hirwaun lies in the southernmost reach of the Brecon Beacons national park, but the village itself does not.
Unlike most South Wales villages, Hirwaun consists of a vast array of different architectural housing styles, often cheek-by-jowl in small blocks. This is due to developement to satisfy different needs at different times, with much gentrification taking place in the last few decades. Currently the patch of green land known as Hirwaun Common is being built on, a development of modern family homes being built. Hirwaun hence has a discontinuous, hotch-potch feel to it that marks it out as unusual in the South Wales Valleys.
The tower blocks
Hirwaun made local news in May 2004 when its two '60s built tower blocks were demolished by dynamite detonation. Their demise marked the end of a major landmark in the Cynon Valley
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