Archeologists have found evidence of a Bronze Age settlement and Medieval platform houses suggesting that farming was taking place at that time and had probably continued throughout the Roman occupation. [A Roman fort had been established across the valley in what is now Blaenllechau.] Farming continued to be the main occupation until the coal mines were sunk in the late 19th century.

A Government commission reported (of the South Wales Valleys) in 1917

"All other British coalfields have fairly level or gently undulating (wavy) surfaces. In South Wales the coalfield used to be spoken of as the "hills" but of more recent years "the valleys". They are for the most part extremely narrow, with inconveniently steep sides, some of them indeed being so narrow at some points that there is scarcely space enough on the level for main road and railway in addition to the river itself. Nevertheless, it is into these valleys, shut in on either side by high mountains that the mining population is crowded, and it is in this same narrow space, and often right in the midst of the dwelling house that the surface works of the collieries … have been placed … Streets run along the length of the valleys in monotonous terraces, instead of radiating from a common centre."


The density of population was extremely high. In 1911 in the Rhondda, 23,680 were crammed into each square mile – by far the highest density in England and Wales where the average was 618 per square mile.
Ferndale was typical of the valleys, and was (still is) the largest valley town and main shopping centre in the Rhondda Fach.

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