Pontsticill

Pontsticill is a village within the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. It lies within the valley of the Taf Fechan on the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park.[1] The village lies within the community of Vaynor in an area that was, until the local government re-organisation of 1974, within the historic county of Brecknockshire.

Newport - Brecon train entering the former Pontsticill Junction railway station in 1949

Pontsticill is closely associated with the Brecon Mountain Railway, a tourist railway which runs along the former Brecon and Merthyr Railway line. Immediately to the north of the village is the Pontsticill Reservoir which was completed in 1927.

The village name originates from the Welsh words pont and sticill and signifies a 'bridge near a stile'.[2]

  1. ^ Ordnance Survey Explorer map sheet no. OL12 Brecon Beacons National Park; western area
  2. ^ Hywel Wyn Owen & Richard Morgan, 2007, Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales, Gomer Press, Llandysul, Ceredigion