Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
Golden Valley, The
Golden Valley, The
Couldn't load pickup availability
Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description
Dyma archwiliad a dathliad gweledol o Gwm Garw, un cwm bychan yn ne Cymru. Cafodd bywyd gwledig y lle a fu'n fangre i feddau ac aneddiadau hynafol ei anhreithio am ganrif gan y diwydiant glo, cyn iddo gael ei ollwng yn ôl unwaith eto i ofal natur. Trwy gyfrwng geiriau dethol a ffotograffau syfrdanol, dyma gyflwyniad i stori un lle sy'n cynrychioli sawl lle.
Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description
The Golden Valley is a visual exploration and celebration of Cwm Garw, a small south Wales valley. The site of ancient tombs and settlements, its rural life was for just over a century taken over by the brutal occupation of coal mining before abandonment once more to nature. In well-chosen words and stunning photographs this is the story of one place, and many.
Manylion y cynnyrch / Product details
- ISBN 13
- 9781781726334
- Gwales Code
- gwales.com.9781781726334
- Gwerthwr / Vendor
- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
- Long Title
- Golden Valley, The
- Awdur / Author
- Cope, Phil
- Current Price ex VAT
- £15.00
- Current Price inc VAT
- £15.00
- Availability Status (EN)
- Temporarily out of stock
- Availability Status (CY)
- Allan o stoc dros dro
- Dyddiad argaeledd / Availability Date
- 2021-07-19
- Dyddiad cyhoeddi / Publication Date
- 2021-07-19
- Cyhoeddwr / Publisher
- Seren
- Media Type (EN)
- Paperback / softback
- Media Type (CY)
- Clawr meddal
- Pages
- 160 pages
- Size
- 240 × 220 mm; depth 20 mm
- Language Code
- English
- Categori / Category
- CY: Hanes, Hanes Lleol, Arferion Gwlad, Llên Gwerin (yn Saesneg) | EN: History, Welsh Life and Customs, Local History, Folk Tales (in English)
- Is-gategori / Subcategory
- CY: Hanes Lleol (yn Saesneg) | EN: Local History (in English)
Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography
Cardiff-born Phil Cope is a photographer, writer, and exhibition and book designer. After working in community theatre and theatre in education, in 1980 he set up Valley and Vale, Wales’ largest community arts team, in Blaengarw. He has written and designed books and touring exhibitions including Let Paul Robeson Sing! ; The Gentle Giant: John Charles and the future of football ; Wise and Foolish Dreamers: Wales and the Spanish Civil War and Following the Flame (about Wales at the Olympic and Paralympic Games) . His stand alone books include a series of photographic books about wells: Holy Wells Cornwall ; Borderlands ; Holy Wells Scotland ; and The Living Wells of Wales . Among his other publications are: Creating Meaning: a book about culture and Democracy ; The Price of Coal: the Tynewydd Colliery Disaster, April 1877 ; four books on Haiti and vodoo; two books about Liverpool, and The Dancing Pilgrimage of Water , a book on the rivers and lakes of Wales, with Dewi Roberts.
Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review
Phil Cope’s earlier career has included teaching in many parts of the world but, since he set up the ‘Valley and Vale’ community arts team in the 1980s, his work in photography and book design has been mostly centred in Wales. His recent books show a preoccupation with sacred places, particularly sacred wells and water. This book is focused on the river Garw and the past, present and possible future of this narrow valley. Although the area is probably best known for coal mining, Cope does not let this dominate. His photographs and text explore the full sweep of its history and illustrate its surviving, resilient beauty. For most of their history, the Garw valley and its uplands have been a sparsely-populated farmed landscape, and it is with the communities of Blaengarw and Pontycymer, which grew up there during the time of coal, that Cope has been most involved. This is a landscape which the photographer knows intimately, has walked daily for many years, and whose value he conveys in a fine assembly of images that speak of its beauty, its travails and its people. Above Carn, at the head of the valley, a high moorland is rich in Stone- and Bronze-Age barrows. The images (accompanied by a poem in the voice of a Bronze-Age man) illuminate an area no less impressive than many more celebrated landscapes. This is part of the book’s function, and the richly tinted, finely lit photographs of tree-lined paths, rushing streams and waterfalls should do much to make the area more appreciated. Its early mediaeval heritage of church and monastery is rather briefly touched on, while Cope focuses more on one of his heroes (and perhaps the most famous son of the valley): Richard Price, ‘the apostle of liberty’, who was a leading philosopher of the Enlightenment. However, his words, ‘You cannot now hold the world in darkness’, seem ironic as, soon after, his valley was invaded by the coal prospectors and the thousands who came to work for them. This opened ‘the floodgates to human danger and the despoliation of the land.’ Cope draws widely and very effectively on The Valleys Autobiography: A People’s History of the Garw, Llynfi and Ogmore Valleys (edited for 'Valley and Vale' by Mark Davies), which is a powerful testament of those who lived through the years of coal. The many chapels of that time are shown battered, boarded up or re-purposed, but the Workmens’ Hall, which was the political, cultural and educational hub of Blaengarw, is a proud phoenix, and its murals and mosaics are well represented. The photographs which show detritus of the mines have a haunting beauty of colour and contrast – gradations of rust set against the grass or mottled brick and gravel – but the commemorative art (mostly in rich red clay) is very impressive. The rest of the book concerns what came after coal – stark forestry, and land reclamation creating fine lakes – and the community’s survival. These images recall Anthony Stokes’ splendid photobook, The Valleys (Seren 2007), which captures a wider canvas of the south Wales area’s urban and rural architecture, its decay and renewal. Here Cope illustrates and looks forward to a new appreciation of heritage and landscape and the artistic talents of the people. Kevin Sinnott’s lively and richly colourful paintings inspire the author’s second poem on the strange days of lockdown. In one Covid phenomenon – working remotely – he sees hope for the valley, attracting new workers who will not despoil the landscape. The ravishing photographs and thought-provoking text should bring the area better appreciation and, it is to be hoped, a golden future.
Share
