Treforest

Transport

Treforest has one railway station, Treforest (Treforest Estate is in the Willowford area between Tonteg and Nantgarw). The railway station is located on the Merthyr and Rhondda lines between Pontypridd and Treforest Estate railway stations.

Education

Treforest is home to two primary schools, Parc Lewis and St. Michael's, though a third school, Trefforest Primary, closed in 2006 despite the petitions from parents, governors and local councillor as a result of a process commenced by the 1999–2004 administration on the Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. The University of South Wales' Trefforest campus is located in the village.

Culture

The population of Treforest consists substantially of students living away from home, who often leave the village during the summer months and return in the new academic year. Notable bars and pubs in the area include the Rickards, the Otley Arms, Gecko Bar tapas bar and the Pick & Shovel. Treforest is home to association football team Treforest Town F.C., this mid-sized semi-professional club has a purpose-built stadium and club facilities.

Treforest Estate

The Treforest Trading estate, later renamed Treforest Industrial Estate, originated with the formation of the 'South Wales and Monmouthshire Trading Estates Ltd.' in June 1936. This non-profit making company aimed to establish one or more trading estates in Wales, and the first sod was cut on 29 December 1936. By the end of 1937, three small factories had been completed and occupied. The first building contract awarded was a large factory for the British Coated Board and Paper Company Ltd (Wiggins Teape).

During the Second World War, the factories on the estate played a major role in the war effort and national economy; many buildings were requisitioned by the government and their occupants re-housed in makeshift buildings away from the estate. Extensions and new factories were built by government departments.

Many of the companies on the estate were established by businesspeople who had arrived as refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. They had often been able to bring money and equipment with them.

By 1944, almost 16,000 people were being employed on the estate. In 1960, the estate came under the control of the 'Welsh Industrial Estates Corporation' and later the Welsh Development Agency.

Companies which have operated factories on the estate include BOAC, Aero Zip, Metal Alloys Ltd, Finetex Ltd, Ford, South Wales Switchgear, Standard Telephones and Cables, Fram Filters. (Please expand this List)

Tom Jones

Treforest is the birthplace of singer and 1960s and 1970s sex symbol, Tom Jones, who was born on 7 June 1940 at 57, Kingsland Terrace, Treforest. Jones has a telephone box in his Los Angeles home from Pontypridd, which he imported as a souvenir of Wales.

Morfydd Llwyn Owen

Morfydd Llwyn Owen (1891–1918) was a Welsh composer born in Treforest and educated at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She wrote hymns, choral music and orchestral works often inspired by Welsh literacy and folk songs. In 1917 she married psychoanalyst Ernest Jones, but she died the following year at the age of 26.

Meic Stephens

Meic Stephens the literary journalist, translator, poet and author who was professor of creative writing and journalism at the University of Glamorgan was born in Treforest.

Tourist attraction

A notable tourist attraction, the World of Groggs is on the Broadway in Treforest.

TV series Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures were filmed at Upper Boat Studios on Treforest Industrial Estate, before moving to Roath Lock studios in Cardiff Bay in 2011.

Places of worship

A number of places of worship exist in Treforest. The University of South Wales offers a chaplaincy service. The chaplaincy also occasionally provides services in conjunction with Castle Square United Reformed Church. Other Christian churches in the village include St Dyfrig's Roman Catholic Church off Broadway and Calvary Baptist Church off Wood Road. There are over two old synagogues no longer in use.