TAFF-ELY

district, Mid Glamorgan county, southern Wales. Created in 1974, it comprises the upland valleys of the Taff and Ely rivers and a lower, undulating region to the south. Taff-Ely district borders the districts of Rhondda and Cynon valley to the north, Rhymney valley and Cardiff to the east, Vale of Glamorgan to the south, and Ogwr to the west. Located on a hill east of the village of Llantrisant, the earthen ramparts of the hill fort of Caerau provide evidence of Iron Age settlement. In 1245 Richard de Clare built a Norman castle in Llantrisant, and in 1326 Edward II was held in the castle after he was caught fleeing Chepstow in an attempt to escape an army led by his queen, Isabella, and her lover, the deposed baron Roger Mortimer. Mining communities in the Taff and Ely valleys first experienced industrial growth during the exploitation of the South Wales coalfield in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The accelerating economic decline of the Great Depression of the 1930s, and persistent unemployment resulting from the replacement of coal by oil, left the region in dire straits. Light industries and industrial estates have been established, however, particularly in such southern towns as Llantrisant and Treforest; these draw many workers who commute from the older mining towns in the north. Other settlements in southern Taff-Ely (including Creigian and Pentyrch) function as residential towns for commuters employed in Cardiff. Pontypridd, the administrative centre of the district and a shopping centre for both the Taff and Rhondda valleys, is noted for its 140-foot (43-metre) single-span bridge, built by William Edwards in 1755. The M4 Motorway extends along Taff-Ely's southern border. Area 64 square miles (167 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 95,400.