Glyncoch

Glyncoch is a village to the north of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.HistoryThe name Glyncoch is Welsh language for 'Red glen' (glyn "glen, small valley" + coch "red"). How the name originated is unknown, but in 1900 a local journalist wrote a creative Victorian-era history of the location, suggesting that it was the site of a battle between the native Celts and the Romans. More likely is that it was named after an aspect of local nature, either a local outcrop of red sandstone or a large crop of berry-bearing gorse bushes.The earliest noted settlement dates to Roman coins found in the area in the 1990s, when five coins ranging from the reigns of Empress Trajan through to Emperor Hadrian were discovered. Glyncoch lies halfway between known Roman forts built at Pencoedcae and above Llanwynno, and so could have been located on a pathway between the two.The area is mentioned in text related to Celtic priest Gwynno, who traversed the whole area and the founder of Glamorgan, and died in AD570. The area is also mentioned in the church book Liber Landavensis (Circa AD1750), now held at Llandaff Cathedral, which diarises the churches management of its lands and associated income, with fine fields and a brewery located between here and Daerwynno. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims travelled up the valley to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys, with many taking refreshment or staying at an inn, believed by historians to be located close to the current Berwerdy Cottages.