Stories from the Collection

The Cynon Valley Museum tells the story of the Cynon Valley from the distant past to the present day; it is the story of our community. As we continue through time we must continue collecting, so [...]

This article is inspired by the objects from the Cynon Valley Museum collection, which will be featured throughout. They concern an event, the Nos Galan Race, founded by Bernard Baldwin in 1958. [...]

The Bronze Age The Bronze Age period stretches across the end of the Neolithic, 1750 years from 2500BC to 750BC to the start of the Iron Age. In comparison, that would be the same as seeing the [...]

This blog post explores the history behind the use of ‘chapel china’ in Welsh chapels by focusing on objects from the Cynon Valley Museum collection. The object which sparked this [...]

A Different Way of Life: The Neolithic The beginning of the ‘early Neolithic’ (c.4100-3000 BCE) saw individuals in society move from Mesolithic foraging to a more domesticated, sedentary [...]

The Jewish community in Aberdare dates from the 1860s. Slater’s Directory of South Wales for 1858/59 includes the name of Harris Freedman, and Lyons and Hyman are listed as trading in Aberdare as [...]

The Cynon Valley in Prehistory The prehistory of the Cynon Valley remains a distant image, its past obscured. Through archaeological investigations, we have begun to learn more about the valley’s [...]

The Linton Brothers from the Cynon Valley took the cycling world by storm. They beat the best from across the globe and became some of the world’s first sport stars. This is their story. [...]

This blog will take you on a whistle-stop tour of the valley’s railways via photographs from the Cynon Valley Museum collection. This includes some railway ‘outposts’, an example of railways and [...]

This blog post tells the story behind the Y Côr Mawr Commemorative Medal, belonging to the museum collection, and the connected story of the choir and its conductor, Caradog. This fine silver [...]