UK housing experiment leaves a Ghost Town on a mountain!
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- Опубліковано 25 тра 2023
- Deep up the Rhondda Valleys in Wales you can find Penrhys. It's not actually in a valley due to a planning mistake made in the 1960's. This was a social housing experiment that went wrong. At the time when it was built more houses were required for miners. But it turned out that nobody actually wanted to live on top of a freezing cold massive hill and it ultimately caused the end of this estate. It had a horrible reputation for crime and poverty. Nowadays most of the estate as been abandoned and boarded up. Thew few people that remain like it here but this place has a ghostly feel about it.
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Went there about 30 years ago. All I can remember are gangs of feral children in shell suits and a Mad Max vibe.
😂
Went there too for a work contract. I'm being serious when I say some of Afghanistan looked better than this place.
I even seen someone taking a shite by a wall.
Mental
I went there 3 years ago saw the same thing😂
Owe, I was there 30 years ago in my shell suit, best time of my life. Going down the mountain on a cardboard box, the bonfires were out of this world. Old little lady used to give out sweets to us little feral shits, but with all that said the memories of looking at the clouds while lying on fresh grass knowing you're away from society is something so precious that I wouldnt trade those memories for all the monies in the world. It doesn't matter if it was a shithole it's our shithole
I was one of those feral kids in a shell suit, and had the best childhood living on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere, no one bothered us, we were allowed to live free and the vibe up here has continued ever since. We're a step away from society and surrounded by nature. The community was always amazing back in the 80s. Someone couldn't pay me to move from here. I wake up to the sounds of birds and look around to nothing but mountains and greenery, my kids play on the mountains everyday and when the sun shines we get the best of it. When it snows we get the best of it too and the most beautiful scenery. Not all is what it seems.
I lived here as a new born baby in the mid 80's as my parents were young and skint. My old man told me that because of the rediculous crime rate at the time he used to push his motorcycle up the stairs every night to our three story flat to keep it safe on the balcony... That was until it was slolen from the outside!
Lol
Not as ridiculous as your spelling of that word.
Gee that place must be bad to do a shift every time you fancy a run on the motor bike... That was hilarious thanks 😂
I actually lived here for over 16 years and loved living here. My brother still lives here, the views from his room window are amazing. The houses are lovely and spacious inside and the people living are lovely too. I love going back up there to visit, I have so many happy memories of Penrhys
Why’d you leave if it’s so amazing?
I left to look after my mother who was quite ill at the time, also my brother needed somewhere to live and the council agreed for him to take over the tenancy of my flat...that's why I left.
@@rhianjones4422 I understand, I’m sorry to hear that
I love the sloping roof , of the houses. Better looking than horrible tedious terraced/ track houses.
The colour of the exterior was wrong. Cream is always going to look terrible after , just one yr. I would have used mute colours. Eg.a colour scheme near near that looks wonderful , BLK from the top third of the building. To the roof. And the bottom two thirds was bricks coloured burgundy -ish
lol@@angrymuffinsb
I went here in 1983, so that was 40 years ago. I don’t remember it looking so run down at that time, and the house that I went In was ok. The thing actually that stands out about this part of wales is how nice the people were, but the kids all seemed to get into trouble with the police and many of them would take extended holidays in Portland in what was a Borstal at the time. But again the thing is my memory is that the people were actually decent, just that they had very little opportunity and the kids were bored and got in trouble.
Andrew Stones ... you mention the good people ???..... Mining heritage 🙂
.
Plus somebody can move into a "posh" area and just get "hell" !!!
.
Hey must be clean air up there as it's so high 🙂
Yoo sir?? 38 years ago slow down please lol 😆 I was born in 83! Haha
No excuse for kids getting bored there. There were sports facilities and countryside to explore. There was even a Community Centre.
@@richardpennington5445 I’m sure you are correct In theory, but in practice sports cost money and many of the kids that grew up there had parents so poor that they didn’t buy sports gear or encourage their kids to participate. If you had been there you may understand. Whilst a lot of kids found themselves In trouble with the law they were not intrinsically bad kids at all, not that would be any consolation if your house or car was broken into every month. I know a few of those kids, one of the reasons I went there is a good friend of mine grew up there. He got in trouble like many of the kids, but later he turned his life around and runs a successful building business.
That's a good description of every working class town/community in the UK 😁
Hello from Dundee 👍
Is it weird that I really want to live there? It's like living at the end of the world or a post apocalypse or something, it's a total vibe. I dig it.
It certainly is my friend
if you have car to get out an explore yeah why not. away from annoying humans in a budget cabin in the woods scenario
somehow i can understand what you mean lol, but i'm not sure if i'd really want to live there myself.
Bring some hot chocolate in a flask and I will show you around 🤣
@@AndrewMinns Who needs a car? Straight out of the front door onto the hill! Boom!
I’ve delivered parcels here a number of times and I can 100% agree with this video.
I hated going here and always wondered “who the fuck built this shit hole up here”.
the answer is Assholes who knew they would never need to live in the dump! Architects and Planners in the 60s remind me of War Criminals sometimes!
I also delivered parcels here once, at first I felt like it was a dangerous council estate, but after speaking to residents, everyone was nice to me and I felt like the arsehole, so I relaxed. Even delivered to the smaller of the two large abandoned buildings at the top. Nice to know people are inside it.
cheeky cnt your a delivery scruff to me but i wouldn't say it to you
@@thailandertravelhe has a point, it is a dump though mate. Makes Baghdad look beautiful lol
I do delivery too & if I had to deliver round there I'd turn back & fail all of them . Looks like 10 minutes a drop
No thanks 😅😅
In the 1960’s when this “good idea” was built the government and their councils actually spent money on the people with a no expense spared approach to the point that they actually built entire new towns, hospitals, schools, leisure centres,shops,churches and all the things laughed at in this video all around the country and places like this were a lovely place for the working man to live.
What destroyed this place was it being sold off years ago and put to private hands where profit and cost cutting are the main concern, all around (and I live in England and I’m successful ) I’m seeing everywhere the relics of these “council days” being hurriedly demolished and replaced with private pay through the nose modern equivalents and everybody’s oblivious to what we had in the past.
This place was actually so lovely back in the 70’s, from Cardiff we visited my mums cousin there many times and it was lovely, we were a little envious of how nice it was but like anything that’s not invested in soon goes down hill, what could be nicer than a modern small estate at the top of a mountain? Great views and a small community all living decent working class lives, it was a “good idea”.
Coal was replaced in the valleys sure but today like everywhere leisure, food and hospitality are the main employment around the country,other parts of Wales and the uk also have lost their industry but employment is abundant in those modern things.
Made me very sad seeing this as I remember it lovely just the powers that be mishandled things from the top replacing investing large scale in the people to now just leaving the likes of housing associations, private short term renting, private care homes, rent paid for your room and a bus pass, and crime should be neutralised by the police? More busses subsidised by the council if they cared and spent the money could’ve got those people down that hill to those jobs and the grey houses could’ve been painted, the welsh do need to stop fly tipping as many a picturesque natural place is littered I’ve seen worse than anywhere.
They closed the old people homes, mental hospitals,privatised everything, almost totally stopped spending on the nation, even took the milk off the schoolchildren, its the health service next?! Everybody’s forgotten what the people used to be entitled to and what was the norm....Thats what really happened to Penrys 😐👍
True doesn’t feel like anything is attempted on a large scale anymore.
That's true. What people don't get about Thatcher's aspirationalism (I'm by no means a Labour supporter btw) is that, rather than being a way to enrich working class people, it was a way for the government to divest itself of its responsibilities to working class people.
Coal was NEVER replaced in the Valleys. You're wrong to state that or even think that. Otherwise, all correct, but you're missing a name and a place. It's Margaret Thatcher and Westminster.
That's the tories for you!
and YOU and people like you are the reason i cannot do business in that part of wales ----- you think your ENTITLED ( your words ) .
i could make that place superb within 2 years but people like you will ALWAYS blame the people who make money !
I watched a Tv programme about a village called Perthcelyn that was also built on a hill in the same area as Penrys. Feel sad for those who have to live in these bleak places.These Turdtown videos are very interesting. Thankyou
Gurnos, Perthcelyn and Penrhys. All within in a few miles
I live near them all where I live Rhymney came in at number 2 in Valleys turdtown haaaaa
There's also Fernhill in the same valley as Perthcelyn, built in a similar architectural mould (no pun intended) to Penrhys, yet still largely occupied and quite lively. Bizarrely, immediately below the estate by the main road are some of the poshest houses in the Valleys - at least 4 or 5 bedroom suburban villas which wouldn't look out of place in the Surrey commuter belt. It also has the advantage of being close to Aberdare, which is as far above turd status as Mid Glamorgan settlements get, whereas poor Penrhys is girdled by the almost uniformly depressing Rhondda towns.
@@jungatheart6359 we came in at number 2 Rhymney I live pontlottyn it's a step away same place when u grew up around a turdtown you can't smell the shit 😂
I had to deliver up there in the early 90’s. Air gun pellets used to pepper the van as I drove out.
The wild west of Wales...😂
I also delivered meat there to Woody's shop in the late 90s and early 2000s .
😂😂lmao
If this wouldn't be this far away from everything and the condition of the houses weren't this bad, I actually could imagine living there. "Away from all people" - What a wonderful phrase, isn't it? :X
Yes, but people need shops, services and facilities etc such as transport to other places because most won't have a car and the bus fare is an extra expense to get out for the day.
You wouldn't be away from all people though. You'd be stuck with those you would most likely want to be far away from.
@@sandrafinbar This is right. But I'm young and I'm up for a hour-long walk every two days, so I would be fine with it
@@tinderboxcreations Oh, the "asocial" ones are sometimes the most social ones when you're living next door with them. You're right anyway, but it is a beautiful imagination.
back in the 90s i remember installing alarms up there jesus it was bleak and some young kids nearly stole my ladders ....
This place has many things in common with Skelmersdale in Lancashire. Town planning _(together with charted accountancy)_ should be considered an imprisonable crime.
I used to do a lot of work for the council in Skem. A very grim place. I was busy doing a rewire for a sweet old lady only to have her crack head son trying to start a fight with me because he thought I looked at him (all I did was hold the door open for him..).
What’s wrong with chartered accountancy?? (Genuine question)
What's wrong with (good) town planning?
@@04smallmj ...
'Good' towns evolve according to the needs of the communities who live in them. Most 'planned towns end up as disasters because it's impossible to predict, or plan, for the future.
@@ljchampion7952 ...
Like Estate Agents they charge exorbitant fees for very little actual work.
It was the right thing to do at the time, but they needed infrastructure. There’s similar estates built in Slovakia in the 1960s but they had railway tram services stopping at the villages and mainline connections. They should have got Soviet’s in the 1960s to do the planning
looked like they did, frankly!
It's like many places that were thrown up in the 60's like system built tower blocks, a product of there thinking and time to produce affordable housing for increasing post-war populations, and although we see them as abject failures now, it's part of our history, and as you say happened the world over
@@Bob-ts2tu indeed and through that period, there was very much a feeling of optimism and looking forward to the future with excitement, as Europe rebuilt itself after the war. Architects and planners perhaps, it could be said, got a little too excited and swept along with new ideas and fashions/fads. Not a lot of thought was put into long-term maintenance of these projects, if you see what I mean, everyone was caught up in the excitement of the 'new'.
@@swanvictor887 hahaha yes, we used to see some of the new buildings a 'futuristic' and how the future will be. An analogy is that we all wanted digital watches when they were new and analogue was seen as 'old fashioned', but later realised digital had no 'soul' and now you wouldnt dream of wearing a digital dress watch, but that's not to say digital doesnt have a place. GL
Ideal place to site illegal immigrants instead of army barracks and small village communities
If this place wasn't so isolated and hilly and if the houses were in better condition I think it could work, I quite like the angular design of the houses and their positioning is spacious; this has potential and more appealing than a tight terraced street with nowhere to walk or park.
You're taking the piss.
The only reason the positioning appears 'spacious' is so many houses have been knocked down!
Someone should build a cable car to take you to and from the valley below. That would be fun and useful.
@@thetruthwillout3347 before it's vandalised.
I would say use them repair and upgrade. As it is they is a lack of housing in many areas throughout the UK for local people's here is a chance to get a good number up and running in that area alone .
I grew up in the Rhondda and Penrhys had a poor reputation. So many folk were plonked there and if you haven't got a car - you really could feel stranded - it is an eye sore. I know many who live there now have done much to try to improve it and it's reputation has improved. He is right though about 60s planners, architecture - dreadful!
Yeah grew up here too. Got some fond memories actually :)
And I bet all those architects and town planners lived in lovely Georgian or Tudor houses. God forbid they might have to spend even a single night in the hovels they are responsible for.
Honestly I can't believe it,, surely there's bleeding millions of people, who would jump at the chance to be away from uncivilized xxxx" give this town ,village ""to people who want to live in peace
Off you go then. Put your furniture where your mouth is.
@terencebarrett This is true. I've lived here since the 80s and its so peaceful. We're a step away from society and surrounded by nature.
@@FireInTheSoulCould do with the residents cleaning it up and slapping some colored paint on their houses like Tobermory in Scotland.. Id live in a picturesque located hill village away from most humans,but not while it resembles the council tip. The dreary gray stained council houses in Bodmin road in Plymouth i moved to ruined the wooded valley location. i painted mine the first year 100% improvement. none of the neighbors, locals were interested. Just low aspiration peasants.
Yup - I spend most weekends going to somewhere peaceful & rural for bike rides & walks. The houses might not have been all that, but saying there's nothing for kids to do - there's plenty of exploring, walking, fresh air.
@@AndrewMinns I can't speak for others but my house is lovely, my garden is beautiful and I've been planting on the hillside next to my house, trees and suchlike. I do agree that that council should be up here and painting some of the houses. There is only so much residents can do as there is no painting these houses without scaffolding. They are rather large.
To add to the original residents misery the houses were very badly built and suffered from leaks and damp...Apparently the original architect based the house design on an Italian mountain village!!
Must have been the same Italian mountain village that Erskine in Scotland was based on.
They filmed a zombie movie in that area with the slanted houses. Nazi Zombies.. They had a zombie war in that neighborhood.
It was based on the Basilicata region in Southern Italy where the houses have similar single roof lines and are also built higgedly piggedly. But the hill tops there tend to be a bit warmer.
@@gamingaccount9890 was it a movie or a documentary...?!
an Italian village bombed by the Allies during WW2...?!
There was a similar looking estate just outside Oldham called Sholver. It was built to re house people from old slum terraced houses that were way past their best. Within a month of people moving in all the doors had been burnt and the baths were full of coal !! My Dad worked there as an electrician for the local council as an apprentice. Some of the tales he told of that place were unreal
You can understand why the victorians viewed the working class as only good for cannon fodder for the army. I despise my fellow peasant class as well.
😆😆😆I went to counthill grammar school loved the place .👍🍻
I saw a documentary shot in another town where a site was cleared and new housing was built in 1975. It was all demolished in 1984 because the whole area had turned into Mad Max and the junkies and toerags had basically just trashed it all beyond repair.
9 years. And I thought those tower blocks were bad coming down after less than 40.
Funny you should mention that. Watching this reminded me of Sholver as well. Or, more specifically, Upper Sholver. The lower bit was a big standard council estate, but the upper bit was a complete hovel within a couple of years of being built. They even decided, in their infinite wisdom, to build a ring of shops in a well, so the whole place was completely obscured from view, allowing the bored youths to rob, smash and torch the shops without fear of reprisal, as they’d just brick any police cars that went in there and became trapped. Even the shiny new bus terminus didn’t last long. It was originally a standing point for buses to wait for the return journey back to Oldham, but GM Buses very quickly retimed them so that they stayed for just long enough to let passengers on and off, as a bus stood there any length of time was never leaving in one piece.
Last time I was out that way, it looked like the whole place had been pulled down. And just as well, I suspect nobody liked living there
Wow just wow! Your views should remain unverbalised
Those houses are soooo
Scottish looking. I used to live in a town in Scotland full of those kind of houses
Plenty of housing like that in Merthyr......
Eg Cumbernauld
They're all over the uk. Just the posh and privileged don't venture out into the "rough" areas to see them.
I always think the grey render which goes streaky when it rains is just about the worst type of housing you could build in Scotland. We had a brand new council house in Glenrothes in the mid 60s, looking at it on Streetview,glad we moved on within a few years.
This is very sad to see. It feels very depressing.
try living here
the blue bombshell up the top, in the late 80's was a training centre, i took a course there in computer science for a year, hated the place.
Good description. One of those large buildings had a boiler that was powered by coal from the mines nearby.
i worked there --- during the early 90 s doing refurbs.
the security guard said " mate , you can t park your van outside the compound it will get robbed"
i said " son i m from merthyr tydfil " ---- went down the shops up to a gang of local youths and said " see that van there , every week that does not get touched i shall give you £20 "
BEST security guards ever !
Seems like somewhere I might be able to afford to buy a house
They aren’t for sale 😂
How can. Buy my aunties it's in the thumbnaill 😂
Architects and Town Planners- geniuses all.
Corruption has had a hand in all this throughout the country.
To add to this, a murder was committed here some years ago. The residents were either too scared or too tight knit to co-operate with the police investigation. The murdered person, apparently, had broken too many of the cultural norms that abound. Read "Cider With Rosie" , noting a similar incident in rural Gloucestershire.
"The Greater Good" - if you've ever seen Hot Fuzz.
I smell shite
Looking forward to this. Penrhys is right up the hill from where I live. Can't wait to hear your perspective on it.
Ystrad or Tylorstown?
Out of curiosity (Assuming you're living close to the bottom of the hill) how far uphill is Penrhys? ⛰↖😇
From the video it looks to be a little ways (Perhaps 300-500ft) but it's hard to scale what I'm seeing accurately. (And living in a part of the UK that's as flat as the Netherlands doesn't help that much! 🙃)
@@dieseldragon6756no idea but the hill is massive, I've rode up it even on an electric bike it was extremely difficult.
If it's Tylorstown then that's great. I used to live there once, on Parry Street. I moved away in 1994 for work and got married a second time. I love Tylorstown.
As the sign used too say "Welcome to sunny penrhys-Watch your wheels". The road round is a great proving ground for any car mods you might make, it's like Wales own Nurburgring but a bit shitter!
I have heard that there has been a planning application for a new school, also the site is going to be sold to a developer, no doubt new houses will be sold which no locals can afford, the building with the blue roof was part of original boiler house, the boiler house has been demolished, also the pipe used to supply the houses used to freeze, so no heat 😂😂😂
Thanks for clearing that one up
@@Turdtowns no problems
Maybe it's about time for another Viking raid to straighten out some issues over there?
No households are forced to deal with frozen pipes here around
So many poorly designed houses in the UK. How any of these plans got approved by councils is just shocking...Cold damp houses...How an architect can walk away with pride knowing that this was his or her work.
most of the time the councils back in the 70, 80s and 90s just built estates where they would chuck all the problem families and then these estates would get a bad reputation obviously.
I don't think they were designed for normal people to live in, more like a punishment
the architects don't live there
It was the 1960s, that's why. Brutalist shitheaps plonked wherever they would fit.
And basically no concepts of listed buildings or conservation meant that beautiful and perfectly serviceable older buildings were just levelled for concrete crap, which itself was levelled less than 40 years later.
Damp in UK houses should be a national scandal.
I don't know a single person who has purchased a house or rented who hasn't had some sort of problem with damp and mildew. That includes brand new builds.
@@vorebiz❤what's the issue with you Brits? Seems like normal western development of tech and housing standards were and still are ignored?
In DK these concrete structures were built everywhere, with no heating or construction issues...
Insulation of hundred year old houses in private hands started mid 70'es.
They should hold an art event here where people get to paint houses, murals, get involved with DIY community stuff such as gardens/allotments, play area/nature areas, skatepark for those inclined, a youth club etc. Community builds places up !
But they don't want Strangers there...
What a shame. I actually like the odd looks of the houses, makes a difference from all the clones you get on most UK estates. Surely they could fix the place up?
@dave.....Yes they could fix it up , with the massive amount of illegal /legal immigration SERCO could take over this place and provide tenants . They could charge the government for the invaders rents and it would become a nice little earner . Being on top of an hill would be nothing to young single men and for entertainment they could go down to the valleys . Welsh left wing parties would finally be getting their sanctuary cities ., and as they are voted in by locals there would be plenty of support for the project. No work would be needed as welfare will finance it .
Would struggle for employment though
@@tobyjackman3212it should surely be a cheaper place for big businesses to set up. Its completely @#£%ed up the inequalities in the UK. This kinda thing shouldn't happen in modern times, they say we have a shortage of houses/flats yet happily let existing properties fall into ruin. Such a load of bollocks!
@@davekennedy6315
Good point
Modernist architecture….something the UK just dies not understand .
This area looks to me as though it has potential. The planting of trees and large shrubs could have helped if sited with care, a coat of paint and a good clear up. A site could have been designated to leave rubbish to be collected. Lastly, some estate staff to be on call for residents when needed. Where there's a will there's a way! XXX
they should have looked at any swiss random village and how the houses aren't all crammed in next to each other
Does nothing to fix the fact that even the poor of society have little desire to live in horrible concrete boxes prone to condensation, mould, cold and genuinely depressing atmosphere. Something councils and Labour struggle to understand - brutalism and USSR inspired design is not what the working class families want, we want traditional homes - to live in dignity in the homes we grew up in.
@@nxxynx5039 You highlight the real problem is in your last sentence. "We want". The problem was always within the people, not the buildings. At some point, perhaps in the 1970s, a rot set in where things changed from "we do", to "we want" then, into the 1980s, to "we destroy". An unrealistic sense of entitlement married, to an unwillingness to do anything (along with raising feral kids). People stopped doing anything, even picking up their own shit, expected the council to do it all instead.
You want a nice traditional cottage? Well the problem with that is that they are unaffordably expensive to build, so if you want one, you've got to earn it or build it yourself. Not expect to have it laid on for nothing, on Benefit Street. Then the next problem arises, the people you're talking simple don't know how to live, and don't want to graft.
There was very little wrong with that village that couldn't have been made good, had people only been willing to put back in.
They have no respect. No respect for themselves. No respect for their environment. You could give them the equivalent of a private property block, and they'd turn it into a shithole within weeks. I've seen it with my own eyes.
@@jonahwhale9047Sad but true, Margaret Thatcher (love her or hate her) summed it up when she said, give a man a garden and he’ll turn it into a desert, sell a man a desert and he’ll turn it into a garden !
@@AJ-qn6gd I guess that was her theory when they were doing secret arms deals with Saudia Arabia. Not much sign of any gardens arising. I think the original source may have Arthur Young. How about ...
"Give liberal free market capitalists a planet, and they'll turn it all into a desserted wasteland"
Seems to be more apt. The weather as we type is wiping out everything green. So to are their economics.
Would probably have been quite nice if all owner-occupied
Biggest problem was that no one had any money. To go off the estate they had to catch the bus down and back up the hill. It’s a really steep continuous slope which is about a mile long, that takes no time at all in a car. Once you arrive at the roundabout you then have to traverse the rest of the site, which is on a steep hill, to get to your house. Not a good idea to walk in any inclement weather as the wind, rain and snow can really come down in this part of the world. The bus service was very infrequent so a two way journey would take half a day, few people could afford to run a car. The bus service would stop early evening. People were just isolated and abandoned here on minimal social security and unemployment benefit.
Pebble dash suddenly takes on a beautiful hue if the house is owned privately.
The private house owners wouldn't need jobs in the area either, they could fund their houses from their own sense of self importance.
I have lived in a housing assocation place for the last 7 years because the house prices in the area where I moved to were/are bonkers and am lucky to be over 55. The area is fine. Plenty of tenants take care of where they live. The idea that renters are an inferior species is a bit of a myth.
@@jonathanpork-sausage617 Get a tad more realistic rather than idealistic. When someone is renting and the landlord does the bare minimum the property goes downhill fast. Witness what happened when people bought their own council houses in the 80s - suddenly the mortgage payer spent more money in a year on improving the house than the council did in the previous ten years, they also take more care of both the exterior of the property as well as the interior. If you look at the horror stories of mold in houses it is almost exclusively people renting and rarely mortgage payers (who funnily enough don’t dry their clothes indoors on rads).😊
@@normanboyes4983 I don't see how more realistic you can get than being a housing association tenant for years. But you know better or are an ill-informed bigot. Whatever. I am happy where I am.
Your videos provide more insight into the uk’s social, economic and cultural dysfunctions than a thousand academic papers or a legion of patronising speeches about ‘levelling up’.
No they don't. They are just half-funny often ill-informed rants.
@@jonathanpork-sausage617seems like Thatcher started the process?
@@jonathanpork-sausage617 Care to explain to us what's so ill informed about them?
They don't look at the whole picture.@@DukeofBlasphemy
Reminds me of the village of Hallglen in Falkirk. The brutalist, angled buildings are very similar to what was done there. It is also high up and has had a reputation for being a bit of a craphole. Then again, that could be said for a lot of Falkirk 😆
😂 yep it's a concrete jungle.
I live in the south of England. The issue of problem families all being dumped in one estate happened here as well. The local council had taken it over and they thought it was a great idea. Before that it had been used to rehouse families for inner London as part of a plan to improve people living standards and it it was a good place to live.
The place became a good place to get your drugs amongst other things such a place to dump your old cars. In the end the council had to pull the whole estate down and at the same time they erased its name from history!
So much for council social engineering.
Rowner?
I'm also in the south and an estate near mine was similar - When I moved here, it was somewhere you never went unless you were pretty good at looking after yourself or were wearing Police-issue body armour!
Since that time it looks like they've mixed housing allocations up a bit to try to „Even things out“. The estate I mention is now a lot more moderate after many of the problem households have seemingly been dispersed over a wider area (There's now a security detail and community Police office there, which also helps) and this seems to be better than the approach they took in the 80s.
However, you still get „Hot pockets“ here and there. One block in my estate is known to have an array of issues which means the Police visit it a lot. Probably better than the other estate used to be, but still a bit of a „No-go“ area on occasion.
Always welcome to visit the Medway towns in Kent
My Grandparents lived in Rochester and got to know to Medway towns very well.
Considering it has a historic centre, good transport links, employment opportunities and has the geographical advantage of being in the south east. The place should not be such a dive.
Yeah Gillingham and Chatham are two of the worst places in the UK for sure.
I WAS BORN THERE IN 72 AND LIVED THERE FOR TEN YEARS.HAPPY DAYS INDEED .THAT WAS JUST BEFORE THE PLACE STARTED TO CRUMBLE ...SPENT LOTS OF TIME BEING A KID IN THE FOREST ON TOP.G..REAT DAYS....YES THERE WAS THE INFAMOUS OLD BOILER HOUSE ON THE TOP ROAD THAT WAS ALWAYS BREAKING DOWN AND HAD LOTS OF POWER CUTS DUE TO THE EXPOSURE TO WIND AND RAIN UP THERE.
In 1989 We got taken here on a geography field trip to conduct interviews with locals - needless to say it didn't go well...
My ex girlfriend grew up in the village at the bottom of the valley, Pontygwaith. She once took me on a little tour of Penrhys, it really is bizarre. I’ve never seen such a depressing place in my life. I just feel so bad for the people who live there. It’s fascinating though so if you’re ever nearby it’s a must see!
Pontygwaith is the place to be 😊
I delivered a bed here for work in the 90's. It was the last drop of an awful winter's day and just getting dark. I delivered across the UK including deprived areas of cities like London and Birmingham and I never felt unsafe until I went to Penrhys. It felt like one of those places you would just disappear if you looked at someone the wrong way and the other lad with me wouldn't get out of the truck so I had to do the delivery on my own. The amount of people out and about was unnerving considering the weather up there that day.
Penrhys is f all like that
I had to do some debt collecting in that area during the 90s. A bloody terrifying place at night. What made it worse is that you could never find the house you were after. He's not joking about the random doors etc.
Debt collectors should never be made to feel safe.
I bet you got bullied at school didn't you?
Who else would be a debt collector?
Yeh it's so run down and deserted it's peppered in solar panels and I also see a lot of cars. I guess the definition of Ghost town has changed a lot over the years.
Actually a lot of the places with solar panels were empty. The definition of a ghost town is empty or nearly deserted.
Solar panels put in place by the housing association, probably state funded, earns them income from an empty property!
yup it's clearly not a ghost town. it's not empty, most of the houses are occupied.
Thanks for advertising it , SERCO will find some tenants for this housing estate . I expect they did not realise it was there .
If ever you cover Essex…. Jaywick… You’ll absolutely love it x
Born and raised on Penrhys ...Loved the place!
To my eyes the location looks stunning, so I’d say it’s more the people than the location that was at fault. Then again I was raised in Aberdeen which is a very hilly city, being built over the peaks and valley of 7 hills before becoming flat as a pancake along the coastal edge.
The house designs look depressingly familiar - every way you described it sounds a lot like parts of Newton Aycliffe in Co Durham. The main difference being they decided not on Grey for the outside, but black brickwork....which looks surprsingly similar in terms of the emotional impact it has.
In some ways that’s even worse
Maybe you can make a Turdtown on Jaywick in Essex along with Clacton-on-Sea and other towns in Essex, Jaywick is the most deprived area in the UK and has an interesting back history to explore.
I made a comment about Jaywick too! I’m Kent but have visited Jaywick on a trip from Norfolk to Suffolk via Essex to Kent and discovered Jaywick…. I wish I hadn’t!!!
This is a great shout and needs to be done
In one area of Jaywick most of the roads are named after old time car companies, and the roads are laid out like a car radiator grille when viewed from above. I think it was originally built as a holiday resort, nowadays it's the last resort.
Jaywick is the turdtown of all turdtowns.
Jaywick, what a dump. Most towns in Essex are fine - except for Pitsea, Basildon, Southend, Clacton, Canvey - oh crap, there are lots of crappy towns in my county! It is mainly just the coastal areas that are in poverty, like in Suffolk and Norfolk.
Fascinating vid, I want to go and see this place
Believe me,.....no you don't.
The concept wasn't terrible, it was just the execution of it. The 60's were a time of concrete housebuilding. Most of that housing has now been removed right across our islands. We've demolished a number of huge estates as 'failed' but the issue still remains: people need homes. We now have more 'people' than we ever did before. All the land formerly designated for housing needs to be used for housing (along with appropriate infrastructure) and the land designated for farming needs to be used to produce food.
That shouldn't be rocket science.
Yet the Government have a clear agenda to reduce farming land - they're reducing subsidies and actually paying farmers huge amounts to let land go wild.
It won't be too long before we follow Holland and Ireland with the MASSIVE reduction in cattle just to "reduce methane" because of this crackpot psychopathic green agenda bullshit of which the ONLY thing green about it is the money being made by those pushing it.
The geography of Penrhys is terrible though, unless you have a car you're stranded and services are difficult to reach. No point trying to rebuild there, especially when there is not huge demand in that area
Penrhys is an extreme case,but there are similar looking estates all over the UK.There is one in Barry,also on a hillside but not nearly as high.I think 60s architects meant well but some of the social housing they designed have been outlasted by the old terraced houses they were meant to replace.
Is that the one down past Lidl?
Billy banks that used to be in penarth was absolutely bizarre too. Got knocked down about 10 years ago
The Full Log delivered. Glad you went back for an extra squeeze 😁
Penrhys Estate was built and opened in 1966. I lived here from 66 to 72 and these houses were spacious and the comunity are very close. We had the comunity centre the pub and a spar in the 60s. We did have a lot of black pats due to heating coming then from the boiler house through coal.
You gotta do West of the Lake District! Beautiful countryside encrusted with bleak, deteriorating settlements. That stretch of coast is in stark contrast to the picturesque scenes that can be found just a few miles away.
Really love these vids! These places need plubicity to remind everyone about the unacceptably substandard conditions that linger around the UK and how the nation still needs to figure out how to deal with boom towns and villages that fall into decay.
@matthew The problem is already being dealt with , The UN has Britain slated for a population density of 184,000,000 , check it out yourself , so these towns could be bought up by such outfits as SERCO and used to house the illegals . No industry or work needed .
I really want to mate. How busy is it up there early June? I think I’ve missed my chance
@@Turdtowns Can't say for sure. Based myself in Cockermouth for 7 months, back in early to mid 2021. Plenty going for that little town, which is why I was shocked by the depressive deterioration of the towns and villages when I eventually ventured out towards the coast. Whitehaven had a lot of potential for rejuvenation, but just wanted to escape the other places. No idea what the tourist season is like for that area, but the Lakes is heaving and accomodation prices do start getting crazy, even in Cockermouth.
Yes. The interestingly named Workington would be a start.
@@jonathanpork-sausage617 I recall Workington from a few visits around 1990. A lovely setting with a basic old town layout that works elsewhere. Even then, it didn't have the hordes of tourists found a few miles east.
Like this video and many other towns, there's no economic base supporting them. Right through history, major towns and cities developed due to trade routes and local features serving particular industries. Sometimes that was raw materials like coal, other times its flat land or strong flowing water for mills or just the damp atmosphere of Lancashire and Ulster that's good for textiles and paper production.
Derwent Pencils in Keswick shifted focus when the wad ran out at the other end of the valley. Now they import from South America. They also go far beyond lead pencils. They became a producer of a wide range high quality art supplies. And a surprisingly interesting museum. That's the kind of thinking needed across GB now. What else can be done with what materials? There's a limit to online services, solid products are needed to provide sustainable jobs.
Looks similar to housing in Cumbernauld
Never would have expected markyd123 to be making content like this, but I’m all for it, good job man keep it up!
Looking at a global scale this still a grande place to be, no belligerent government, completely off grid and quite some space; educate all with watching the 11 series of Walking the Dead, and you can create Heaven on Earth. Small note; I am Daryl! Great upload!
When I was a kid, 6 years old or so, living in Llwynipia, directly below Penrhys, we used to climb over the back wall and walk straight up the mountain to Penrhys, stopping at St. Mary's Well on the way, which was at that time wide open and accessible. There were no houses there and it was beautiful up there then but by the time I was 8 and we moved to Ynyswen, there were houses. I used to go up there as my dad worked up there as a carpenter. He used to call them 'Little Boxes' and sing a bit of the song by Pete Seger to me about them. Roll on 15 years and no one wanted to go to, and as vandalism was then a thing, after centuries of being open to anyone, St. Mary's well was enclosed in Railings, a gate used to be open to allow access then, I doubt it does now though.
I live a little further up the valley in Pentre but me and my boyfriend sometimes go to Mary's well for walks I've taken some mad liminal space pictures up at the town, you summed it up perfectly. Everyone says 'don't park up penyrys they'll nick your car doors' 😂😂
Portland in Dorset used to be like this until the 2012 money came in, followed by the "investors".
It's still a bit grotty but in the late 90s and early 00s it used to be like something from Threads on a bleak day.
Nice video as I actually know of Penrhys and have driven past it on many occasions. One interesting, if not a morbid fact about the area is, that in 1962, after a smallpox outbreak when the local hospital was used as a main site for treatment of it, rather than clean and fumigate the hospital, it was burnt down, being fed with a constant petrol supply to keep the fire going. Were you to come off the island, go down Penrhys Rd then turn first left, it would have been to your left before you got to the golf club. Its footprint can still be made out in the field there, if you know where to look.
Yes, I lived just down the hill in Tylorstown at that particular time in 1962 during the smallpox outbreak, I was 13 at the time. When you drive or walk past that spot you find yourself at the golf club and take in some incredible views.
An interesting town with mad looking estates is Skelmersdale which was built to house thousands of liverpools scousers who lived in slum housing. The estates look like some of the worst you will see in Europe
Given a lot of people work from home now I can see this place making a come back. Scenery looks lovely.
it really has got MASSIVE POTENTIAL.
I can assure you that the views from Penrhys are absolutely stunning.
As youngster back in the 80's we was always warned to stay away from Penrhys, when i got my first car i took a drive up to see it and understood why we was all warned to stay away from the place. From this video you can not grasp how rough this place really was, even the police wouldn't go up their at night unless they where in a convoy of riot vans because they would always be attacked by local gangs of teenagers. The local feral kids would start a house fire in the hope a fire engine would turn up just so they had something to throw bricks at, back then it was how they entertained themselves.
Go there in the depths of winter. Looks like something from the ussr. It's fantastic.
I’m actually considering that would be cool to see
@@FireInTheSoul lol. You on a history rant again? 😂
@@PeanutButter111 always 😊😎❤🏴
Sounds like a plan to me . I’ve driven along the m4 from my area near Bath all the way down through wales and only ever passed these places . I’ve gotta take the car and go and explore it properly on foot.
USSR is capitalized.
The pitched roofs look cool to me. I don't think the architecture is/was really the problem, the infrastructure is.
Yup, nothing wrong with the architecture, it’s beautiful .
These properties just require looking after, like any building.
The houses were poorly designed and poorly built. That is one of the reasons why there was a problem with black mould, damp, and freezing temperatures in winter. The orientation of the rooves also means they don't take advantage of the sun so are naturally cold, dark and damp which are not helpful on top of a windy exposed cold wet mountain. The layout of the houses was also not conducive to healthy social interaction. The pipe from the big furnace at the top of the mountain would also freeze meaning people were without heating for prolonged periods of time. The southern Italian mountain village the architects based their plans on, in addition to being in southern Italy and being in a warmer and drier area, looked pretty but was also itself poorly designed and not a good template for building a village on a cold, wet and exposed mountain in northern Europe. Why didn't they use a Swiss village or Scandanavian village instead?
"From Bauhaus to Our House," is a great book not about Penrhys, but about why crap like Penrhys exists.
Back in the 80s, I was doing a recce for a gig at the Star in Pentre and decided to find out whether Penrhys was as bad as its reputation. Seeing malevolent expressions on the face of the kids, I rapidly changed my mind and put my foot down til I reached a paved area and the crunching noise of broken glass. I didn't want to get stuck up there with a flat, so slapped on some right lock and the van arse-ended on the rubble in a handbrake(-less) turn. As I GTFO, the kids were picking up bricks, so was glad to see them fast receding in the mirrors. The gig at the bottom of the hill was a little like the Country Bar in the Blues Brothers film.
Blimey!
I think it has potential for renewable energy. The roof design looks ideal for solar and the mountain is ideal for wind. It could be free energy with a little investment
It must be suitable for wind as there are quite a few large commercial turbines quite near by....like 15 minute walk away
The population of the Rhondda was already falling when this place was built, Families including my grandfather's had their homes compulsory purchased to force them up the mountain. It was the first of many such villages planned by the old Rhondda borough council as a grand master plan for how people should live. Not surprisingly there was such opposition including d##h threats that these plans were quickly forgotten.
Unbelievable the houses were supposedly modeled on a village in Basilicata, Southern Italy, Ironically thats where my grand mother came from!
There's a bit of a difference between a southern Italian hill top village and a wet windy Welsh mountain top.
The big blue building was the boiler house for the heating system you mentioned. The ducting for the pipes were a super highway for cockroaches.
Yea I heard homes were compulsory purchased. Can’t stand that if you buy a place it shouldn’t happen. Unless they pay you massively over the odds.
@@Turdtowns He didnt live long after the move. My Aunties swore it was from a broken heart. He'd voted labour all his life too.
Very interesting story. Never heard of this place. The 4th most deprived town in Wales. God help the other 3 above them on the list!
And I thought Bromsgrove was a sh#t hole! Wow, Wales you've earned it.
I remember going there in 1977 looking to buy my first car (I lived in Pontypridd) - and it looked new and fresh then - better than the run down estates of, e.g. Trebanog. However, its issue was obvious even to a 17 year old me!! It was remote from the Valley’s with no community at all, and was like a wind tunnel!! Oh and the car - complete scam!! I bought a nice Morris 1300 from a colleague of my dad!! Instead ( Well ok my dad paid for it!!).
Thanks for preparing the video. Speaking as spatial planner the design of the settlement (2:26) is pretty good - the dwellings face the right orientation for solar gain, there is what looks like a district heating system (maybe that is the hospital building referred to), there is alot of space around the buildings for recreation and minimal shadow paths to neighbouring properties. There is what looks like most of the facilities needed for the scale of the settlement. Including allotment gardens. And the designs of the dwellings themselves whilst possibly could be viewed as dull are not especially offensive either. The geographical location is one of isolation and there fore compromised and we don't know the exact rationalle for siting here and this is ultimately the downfall given poor access to non-daily shops, services, social contact, jobs and further education. The main thing that you have to understand is that new towns are notoriously difficult to plan for because of their unnatural non-organic origins and Penrhys is clearly not self-supporting. To add to the backdrop of this is not the failure of planning but the influence of global economics in the 1970s onwards which has been further exacerbated by neo-liberal politics through the last four decades. Once the mines closed there is little prospect for this type of settlement unless there were some economic development (jobs) nearby or transport initiatives in order to cater for low car ownership to access them.
By the sounds of the video a district heating system sounds like a damned good idea _on paper_ ...But if the paying for it isn't made a standard and inclusive part of the rent (So you pay the same as everyone else whether you're working/on benefits or not) then it's only workable _in practice_ if everybody on the system is in the same boat. 🔥🔁💸
As this video shows: Once the 70s energy crisis hit, that was it for employed people living on the estate - They weren't receiving any support toward the cost of the communal system while those on the dole had their bills held. Cue floods of employed folk moving out in droves to homes where they can have full control over the heating, and the bills they pay for it.
I live in an estate with a number of (originally) council blocks - Mixed private & social ownership, mixed employed/disabled/retired - And have often thought district heating would be well suited to our estate. After seeing this video though, I'm not so sure anymore... 🤔
I used to deliver meat to Woody's shop and i never had any problems with the locals, it's a awful place though and back when I was delivering i always felt sorry for the people who had to live there.
I wild camped in october on that hill above Rhondda. It was flooded and the vango tent ended up in a lake. Theres a shortage of housing for many and refugees would be good occupants like Afghans who are often strict muslims and want to work and they are not into using drugs generally. I would live there if it is safe and secure. You dont want kiddie fiddlers and thieves around. The church being there open is very positive and a great inspiration for Rhondda.
Are you for real? Entire western Europe are haunted during generations by your adored religious nutters! 😮😂😂
Skyrocketing inbreeding, crime and unemployment statistics proves your romantic nonsense completely out of touch with reality! 🙄💸💸💸
Looks like a fantastic place to cycle and ramble in summer and an absolute nightmare to live in in winter.
Need to do a vid on Bradford. Constantly gets voted UK's worst city and was recently named most dangerous city in Europe. Lived there my whole life and can't wait to move.
I’m going to assume it isn’t as bad as it’s made out.
A turd village surrounded by turd towns. Driven through the valleys a few times and always wondered what lunatic would build on top of a mountain
I spent a part of my childhood in Penrhys in the early 90s when my Auntie and Uncle lived there. It had more life back then and I actually have some fond memories of big family barbeques. Strangely the most vivid memory I have of the place was watching the Formula 1 in 1994 when Ayrton Senna lost his life.
By the early 80's the mines were gone and with them so the whole reason for most towns in the valleys to exist at all. Even then Penrhys was a grim shit hole. I feel desperately sorry for anyone living there now.
There isn’t many left from the looks of it
Could put the Channel visitors there🤣
The roads look 1000 times better than anywhere else in the UK, to be honest mate.
No potholes or gigantic pot canyon's which take out suspension and buckle wheels like most A roads in England.
Iow springs to mind
Nothing to do with sod all traffic using the roads is it.
The roads are a lot worse than you think.
Sorry to disillusion you about the roads in the valley towns. The worst roads are in Ebbw Vale and surrounding villages. Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council is without any doubt the worst council in Britain. They do absolutely nothing in the community to improve things. They say they don't have the money, but all the councillors drive around in brand-new cars though.
Your video has made the national news, it was featured in an article in the Daily Express. Congratulations, and keep up the good work.
Did a lot of landscaping in areas like this, all over the Welsh valleys, i remember planting 30 odd mature trees in a park, as we put them in kids came behind us and ring barked them all. Bricks hurled at us as we built sports pitches and so on. Charming
1000-2000 newly planted trees were torched by kids on a hill overlooking Port Talbot. All the trees were planted by volunteers (mostly good kids).
The Mount Estate in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire looks just like this
Same reputation and same problems. I know someone who lived there while parts were still being built who has fond memories of having lots of kids and open spaces to play. Like Penrhyn, it is now classed as "post industrial sink estate". No jobs, no infrastructure and no future. There are plans to turn the area into a Freeport zone.
It looks like a place where the Uk army would practice Cold War war games!!
They actually did this to a few different villages in the uk. Minus the war part.
Very Cold, war games.
Think....it must be 10 times worse in the winter when there will be more frequent snow due to the elevation, and all those steep slopes will turn into ice rinks when the temperature drops below 0C. Effectively you'll be trapped until the thaw comes!
I've been here. Took a photo of the houses as it looked so grim. Hasd no idea what the history or background was. Thanks for clarifying.
You need to do the worst areas in Bristol, as nice as the city is in there are some real hell holes there
Sure are not looking forward to that
951 empty homes, all restorable, and nice views. criminal waste
Very similar design houses to Beth Avenue in St Helens. I lived there in the early 70’s. Now gone, it had a lifespan of about 35 years before being flattened
I drove past your place and I sped up. Thank you for the background story.
If it was cleared they could sell serviced sites for self-builders. The roads, sewage, electric, etc are already in place. Great views for people who can afford to build.
Thinking the same thing
@@monk3yboy69 it has got MASSIVE potential of becoming
some sort of an Eco Town.
You’re doing great! Nearly 23k xx
Thanks my friend
@@Turdtowns Keep on keeping on mate x
@@Turdtowns Are you Markyd123?
what a location though a lovely forestry behind the site with such lovely walks access to both valleys a beautifull golf course and sunshine all day in the summer with no major roads running through here i would imagine all new houses to be built there in the future id love one
i grew up here, best place ever to growup!! it as gone bad now but there was everything you could want! he didn't say about the old centre, best place to hang about and the old fishshop! plus we would get a chinese van that would park behide the centre, and the cafe in the church! everything we ever wanted! so do some more research!!!
You didn’t mention the now defunct police station which had a slogan painted on it every time they tried to cover it over. Penrhys was a place that police were scarred. The residents had nothing to do. I didn’t live far from there when growing up. A very famous and also infamous place. Can’t believe how many times I’ve driven around that place. I just wish the people who live there well and hope they are safe. Much respect.
They burnt the police station down a few time it was a mad place to live .it was like drugs were legal but in the 80s and 90s good times
@@wrarhonddaboys1419 A few times?? 🤣 I can’t recall when the place wasn’t destroyed. Thing is, everyone fails to talk about how fantastic the community was, people who had nothing would give their last pennies to help others. Terrifying place to live however salt of the earth community. You can’t beat that 👍🏼
The police are not scared they come up bonfire night and have a cup of tea lol. The community support officers even came up to have a nice time.
@@Lord_Williams People would give everything they had whether they wanted to or not. Burglary was rife.
@@Lord_Williamsa fantastic community with dysfunctional habits? Very romantic!