We are looking westwards down Pengam High Street. The road descends steeply to a bridge over the River Rhymney. A left turn near the bottom of the hill takes us into Commercial Street, once Pengam's main business thoroughfare, and a direct route to the next village, Fleur-de-lis. Across the river is Glan-y-Nant in the county of Glamorgan.

The chapel was originally sited near the bridge over the river Rhymney and was known as the "Bont Chapel" (bont is Welsh for bridge). The chapel was still known locally by this name even when moved to the present site in Commercial Street.
As the wall plaque tells us, the chapel was built in 1857, and extended in 1865. The chapel is now a private residence. Sadly, the conversion of the building into a private home seems to have been achieved with scant regard for its former purpose. The wall plaque above the front entrance is the only external artefact left in its original state.

In November 2005, after seeing the above photos of Bont Chapel, Peter Walker wrote:

My grandparents, Inkerman Walker and Sarah James [right], were married in the Bont Chapel, Pengam on 5th September 1911. They lived at Hill View, Commercial Road, Pengam and my father was a pupil at Lewis School. My grandfather's unusual forename of Inkerman was apparently because an uncle was killed in the Battle of Inkerman [1854] in the Crimean War. We used to have a Welsh slate clock which bore a brass plate commemorating my grandparents' marriage - it was a wedding present to them. Sadly, it was stolen during a burglary in 1993. Sarah, my grandmother, was a teacher in one of the local primary schools.

Inkerman Walker was one of the children of George Walker, a coal hewer, originally from Somerset, England, and his wife Janet. At the time of the 1901 census, George and his family were living at 17 Long Row, Cwmsyfiog, Bedwellty. You can see more photographs of Peter Walker's grandparents and other relations on his website at:
http://lawnhouse.chesspod.com/gallery/InkermanSarah

The oldest tombstones date back to the mid nineteenth century. At the time I took this photo, the sky was looking very threatening!

This is a new church and a new parish, probably just over 100 years old. The church is at the southern end of Commercial Street at the point where Pengam village ends and Fleur-de-lis village begins. From here, Commercial Street continues as High Street, Fleur-de-lis.

Nydfa Road takes us from Commercial Street down towards the river, marked by the line of trees on the far side of the rugby football field. A Victorian Ordnance Survey map shows this may be the site of a former colliery.

The picture was taken from the bridge connecting Pengam (Monmouthshire) with Pengam (Glamorgan). Monmouthshire is on the left, Glamorgan on the right. The Rhymney rises about 10 miles north of Pengam, in the Brecon Beacons National Park, and enters the sea near Cardiff, about 15 miles south of Pengam.

In Glan-y-Nant, just across the bridge over the Rhymney, is the Lewis Boys School. The old school buildings date back to about 1870 when the school moved to its present [April 2000] location from Gelligaer where the school was first established in 1729. Many thanks for this information to Paul Fisher, a "Ludovican" (Old Boy) of the school.
Headteacher Dr Chris Howard says the school will search its archives on request, for a fee of £10. The school also keeps a mailing list of Old Boys. Anyone interested in contacting the school may do so at lbuca@caerphilly.gov.uk. Find out more about the school by visiting its website at:
http://www.caerphilly.org.uk/lewisschoolpengam/

This is also on the Glamorgan side of the river, close to Pengam railway station. The colourful homes are typical stone-built workers' terraced houses, built in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Viewed from the footbridge over the railway line at Pengam Station, this old farm seems a million miles away from the industrial activity that once generated Pengam's prosperity. Yet the farm is less than ½ mile west of Commercial Street, Pengam.
Note (added June 2002): Many thanks to Gareth Thomas for correcting my previous error in wrongly identifying this farm as Berllan-lwyd.

Pengam was originally in the ancient parish of Bedwellty, served by this fine old church, remotely situated on the near 1000-foot high ridge which separates the Rhymney Valley from the Sirhowy Valley. The west tower dates from the 15th century. The church is about two miles north of Pengam.

The picture above was taken looking westwards from the church graveyard, down on the village of Aberbargoed. The houses on the opposite side of the valley are at the top end of the town of Bargoed. Bargoed stretches down the valley from this point to Pengam on the Glamorgan side of the Rhymney. The hill in the middle foreground on the left is the remains of a "tip" (spoil heap), created by waste from the former Bargoed Colliery. It is evidence of the intense mining activity which once desecrated the landscape.