Llwynypia (Llwynypia ˌɬʊɪnəˈpiːja) is a village and community (and electoral ward) in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Tonypandy in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. Before 1850 a lightly populated rural farming area, Llwynypia experienced a population boom between 1860 and 1920 with the sinking of several coal mines after the discovery of large coal deposits throughout the Rhondda Valleys.
The Welsh name means "the grove of the Magpie" or "Magpie's Bush" and was taken from the name of a farm that once existed in the area.
Situated on the River Rhondda Fawr where the river changes direction from south-east to southerly, Llwynypia holds evidence of human habitation from the Bronze Age through to modern times. On Mynydd y Gelli, a hill overlooking the area to the west, lies the Iron Age settlement of Hen Dre'r Gelli, a site which also has several Bronze Age cairns.
In 1850 the first mine was sunk in the upper Rhondda in Treherbert but it was not until 1859 that Isaac Smith, manager of the Church Colliery, first attempted to prospect the area for coal when he opened a small level beneath Llwynypia Farm. After encountering numerous problems, Smith abandoned the level but in 1862 another entrepreneur, the Scottish mining engineer Archibald Hood, leased land at Llwynypia and sank the Llwynypia No. 1 pit in 1863. Although facing many difficulties at the No. 1 pit, Hood continued in his endeavours and by 1873 had sunk 4 more pits, now under the name of the Glamorgan Coal Company. Hood was a popular figure in the area and his mines became known as the 'Scotch mines', after Hood himself and the number of Scottish miners who followed him to live and work in Llwynypia. After Hood's death in 1902, he received many tributes from his workforce, and in 1906 a statue of him was unveiled by Rhondda MP William Abraham outside the Llwynypia Miners' institute. Much of the cost of the statue was met by donations from the miners of his pits.
In 1908 the Glamorgan Colliery became part of the Cambrian Combine Company and, in 1910–1911, was a scene of violent clashes during the Tonypandy riots.
