Pontypridd South Wales UK
Pontypridd
Pontypridd is a medium sized market town about 10 miles or so from Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The word "Pontypridd" means "Bridge of the Mud Hut", according to my Primary School teacher many years ago, who spoke fluent Welsh. It is often shortened to "Ponty", pronounced pontee. Pontypridd is pronounced pont er preeth. The "dd" in Welsh is pronounced as the hard "th" in "the". The two bridges, the old and the new are shown in the main photograph.
Rugby
As you might expect in Wales, there is a rugby team and they play in Ynysangharad park, in Pontypridd. Rugby is a Welsh passion and the Grogg Shop in Wales made its name with figurines of local rugby players and also of course, of the Welsh Dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) and sheep (sheep are ever present in Wales). The original owner died recently but it is being carried on by his son. If you want to see the kinds of figurines they create, just search for Grogg shop in Pontypridd and click on "images".
Ynysangharad Park
The park is very large, it holds a cricket ground, rugby field, bowling green, children's play area and the Lido (open air swimming pool) which is being upgraded though it isn't open yet despite being due to be finished for the summer (2015), as well as open areas and a sunken garden. There is also a walk beside the river, which is part of the Taff Trail . There used to be a children's paddling pool in the park, which is where I was taken for initial swimming lessons from school nearly 60 years ago but that has been filled in as, apparently, has every other paddling pool in the area, despite protests from residents! When my eldest son was a baby (he is now over 40) we took him round every paddling pool in the local area during a summer visit and he loved the paddling pools, despite not being able to walk at the time.
Ponty Market
I have called it Ponty Market because that is what it is called locally, although it should be called Pontypridd Market. It was enormous in my childhood, with both a covered (indoor) market and an outside portion with everything from day old chicks to pet mice to laver bread (made from seaweed), cockles, fish, fruit, bread of all sorts, clothing, material, toys, you name it, it had it. It is not as big these days because the rents are apparently exorbitant and the marketers have moved to another market which is not as expensive for them. I used to love wandering round Ponty market on a Saturday.
Photographs
I have included photos of these places and this time, I have made them smaller file sizes, so hopefully, they will download more quickly for you.
The pictures show the bowling green, the cricket ground, the sunken garden and Ponty Market (indoors).
FOPP Groggshop rugby YnysangharadPark Pontypridd Pontymarket oldbridge
Image Credit » MegL (c) my own photo
Comments
JohnRoberts wrote on July 14, 2015, 11:00 AM
More fine photos especially the bridge shot. You are providing us with a glimpse into what Wales is like.
1DWDavisRSL wrote on July 14, 2015, 2:15 PM
I know my wife would enjoy a stroll through the market.
Feisty56 wrote on July 14, 2015, 2:35 PM
What a lovely park! It's too bad they have gotten rid of the paddling pools -- it sounds like they were part of a wonderful tradition.
CoralLevang wrote on July 14, 2015, 2:52 PM
It would be interesting to know how to pronounce the park's name and all the other Welsh words I've come across over the years! Thanks for the lesson on the double D!
MegL wrote on July 14, 2015, 3:12 PM
Ynysangharad. Ynys is pronounced Unnis, it means "island" or it may mean land beside a river. Angharad is a girl's name, pronounced Ang ha rad so it is Angharad's island or Angharad's plot of land.
CoralLevang wrote on July 14, 2015, 3:22 PM
Probably is a much easier one to speak than spell for us. I'm already seeing patterns in language from your responses.
MegL wrote on July 15, 2015, 1:20 AM
It's the "LL" sound that is most difficult for non-Welsh speakers. The nearest they can come to it is to pronounce it "thlan". The most common word would probably be Llan, which means "Church", and Llantrisant, which is a town in Wales means "Church three saints", so Church of the three saints.
1jiangliu1949 wrote on July 17, 2015, 5:11 AM
MegL What a charming city ! I am lost in admiration of the scenery on your photos . it is doubtless a popular tourist destination .
1MegL wrote on July 17, 2015, 9:27 AM
I don't know about tourists but it is a market town that all the people in the valleys used to come to, especially on a Saturday but not so much these days.
1Paulie wrote on July 21, 2015, 2:50 AM
When I do visit England, I must see Wales in addition to the moors up north.
AliCanary wrote on July 23, 2015, 3:39 PM
Wales is beautiful, but gosh, I would have a hard time pronouncing things! Thank you for the information.
LeaPea2417 wrote on August 9, 2015, 9:56 PM
That is very interesting and I think it would be so neat to visit Wales sometime.
VinceSummers wrote on August 12, 2015, 9:50 AM
Of all the areas of the UK, I do believe (at least in the U.S.) Wales is the least referenced.