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More About Ton – Part 1

“More About Ton” is the follow up to “Turn of the Century Ton” and published again by Roger L Brown. I’ll cover it over two parts as there’s so much interesting content. You can also read The Tongwynlais, Taff’s Well and Nantgarw Picture Album – Part 1. I’m featuring three articles in this post and … more…

Sketching Tongwynlais – Part 1

My new year often begins with the intention to draw every day. I typically fail half way through January and lose motivation to restart. Somehow, I’ve managed to reach 260 consecutive days of drawing this year. All of them are pen and ink sketches and most of them are of buildings in the village. You … more…

Categories Art

Fourteen Years On: Looking Forward

Tongwynlais.com is fourteen years old today! If you’re a new reader, I wrote about the history of the site on its 10th anniversary. It doesn’t feel like a year ago since I was considering future plans. Sadly, none of these came to anything but I’ve continued to publish articles here and on castellcoch.com every month. I’ve … more…

Pixel Art Tongwynlais – Part 6

Pixel art part 6 header

Pixel art describes a technique for creating digital illustrations at the individual pixel level. This type of art was the result of low resolution displays in early videogame systems. Today, our phone and computer displays have millions of pixels. Despite this, the art form is very popular and the “retro” videogame look is used in … more…

Categories Art

Cardiff Woodlands in the 1960s and Today

I picked up this book a few years ago hoping it would contain information about the village and local woodlands. There isn’t much about Tongwynlais but it’s a fascinating read. 1961 Glamorgan Forests – Forestry Commission Guide Glamorgan Forests is a comprehensive guide that covers the woodlands, plants and animals of the area. It was … more…

Tongwynlais Railway Station – Part 2

I’m very excited to present this unique photo showing the Tongwynlais railway station platforms and footbridge. I was convinced that there was no evidence of the full station after searching for so long. There are a handful of photos of the station building but these are all after its closure. This image shows the station … more…