Pontrhydyfen

Pontrhydyfen (or Pont-rhyd-y-fen) is a small village in the Afan Valley, in Neath Port Talbot county borough in Wales (). The village sits at the confluence of the River Afan and the smaller Afon Pelenna, 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north of the larger village of Cwmafan and not far from the towns of Port Talbot and Neath. The views from the village are dominated by the hills of Foel Fynyddau (370 m) to the west, Moel y Fen (260 m) to the south-east and Mynydd Pen-rhys (280 m) to the north. This former coal mining community is distinguished by two large 19th-century bridges that span the valley: a railway viaduct (the red bridge) and a former aqueduct, known in the Welsh language as Y Bont Fawr ("The Big Bridge"). The built-up area has a population of around 830. It is in the community of Pelenna. There is both a community centre and a rugby union club, Pontrhydyfen RFC.

== History == 200px|left|thumb|Pontrhydyfen Aqueduct The industrial history of Oakwood began in the 1820s, when the first blast furnace was lighted for the Pontrhydyfen Iron Works and coalmaster John Reynolds built the aqueduct to power it. By 1877 local Ordnance Survey maps show the site of the iron works as ruins, but there are continued historical references to the two blast furnaces at Pontrhydyfen until 1902.