Mynnydd y Garth – or Garth Mountain, stands proud above our Head Office in Taff’s Well, just at the north of Cardiff, and represents the southern extent of the Coalfield in the Taff Valley.
There has been some historic dispute regarding the qualifying elevation as to whether it should be named a hill or a mountain, and was the inspiration for the book and film – “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain” – so is locally just referred to as “The Garth”.
In Elizabethan times, Gwaelod-y-Garth was noted for its iron ore (ironstone) mines, and in more recent historic times for coal, exploiting a number of seams including the Rhondda No.1 and Rhondda No.2.
Structures including The Garth Hill Thrust contribute to the geomorphology of The Garth, and the classically weak Llynfi Beds of the coal measures result in numerous instability problems and landslips on the over steepened eastern side.
These photographs showing a view of The Garth from our offices, and both historic and more recent engineering measures, were taken whilst out and about with our colleagues at Gatekeeper Photo (@gk_photo), and we’d highly recommend a visit!
