Gelligaer Farms
In 1841 a survey was carried out of all the farmland in England and Wales in order to determine what tithe each farm should pay. We thus have an accurate picture of Gelligaer at this time. 1841 was also the date of the first census in which every person in every household was recorded, although there had been censuses conducted every ten years since 1801. It can also be noted that the centralised collection of Births, Marriages, and Deaths began in 1836 and that, coincidently, Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. Although the industrial revolution had started before this date, its direct impact on Gelligaer up to this time had not been great, so 1841 is a convenient break point in the History of Gelligaer. Up to this point the whole of Gelligaer had been very much an agricultural parish but the next 50 years were to see it transformed into a coal mining parish. This section contains information of some of the farms before 1841
Gelligaer Parish was, for adminitrative purposes, divided into 5 hamlets, Brithdir, Cefn, Garthgynyd, Hengoed and Ysgwyddgwyn. These were not hamlets in the modern English sense. There were no small communities just a scattering of farms. Garthgynydd was in the north-west of the parish lieing between the Bargoed-Taff and the road over the common. Brithdir was in north-east lieing between the Rhymney river and the Bargoed-Rhymney. Ysgwyddgwyn, between the previous two hamlets, lay between the Bargoed-Rhymney and the road over the common. Cefn was in the south-west and Hengoed in the south-east, these two hamlets being divided by Nant Cylla. Each hamlet will be dealt with separately