Taff's Well and Garth Mountain

Taff's Well was once famous for the cure of many diseases, rheumatism in particular. In a field, adjoining the river, a warm spring bubbled to the surface and the Taff's Well Thermal Spring bath house was constructed around it. Ailing and decrepit persons used to come here from far and wide to queue up for a turn to bathe, in the hope that they might find a cure for their particular problems. It was said to be the smallest spa in the world, and the water was similar to the more famous springs at Bath. Both certainly had the same green colour, but while the water of Bath is hot, that found at Taff's Well is merely tepid, being a constant 67 degrees Fahrenheit (19.4 degrees C) It once attracted visitors from far and wide, but is now sadly dilapidated and forgotten.

The rounded eminence of Garth Hill, or Garth Mountain, as it is popularly known, can be seen from far away and its distinctive summit is made even more prominent by the three prehistoric cairns that crown it. The summit mound was once used as a beacon site. A beacon lit here would be answered by others lit on Penarth Head and Cefn Onn, near Cardiff, to warn people of impending danger at a time when Britain was under threat of invasion.

Christopher Monger, a native of Taff's Well, wrote the novel 'The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain'. The location of the fictional Ffynnon Garw above the writer's home village suggests that it is Garth Mountain and the mound on which the trigonometrical point stands is a Bronze Age burial mound. Monger adapted the story for the 1995 film of the same title on which he was the director. The popularity of the film has resulted in a stream of visitors climbing to the summit of Garth Mountain to view the location. (Source: Wikipedia)

The Taff Gorge has been created by the waters of the River Taff cutting their way through a ridge of hard rock, leaving almost vertical cliffs from which stone has been quarried. For centuries, this valley was a vital source of communication, and at one time, two roads, two railways and a canal ran through it.

On the other side of the valley, looking in the direction of Cardiff, can be seen the Towers of Castell Coch - Red Castle. This is a sham castle, built by the Third Marquess of Bute in 1875. It is built in a style similar to that of a Rhone Castle. It does, however, stand on the site of a Norman fortress built between 1260 and 1300 by the Marcher Lord Gilbert de Clare to guard the Taff Gorge.