Rhydlafar is a small settlement in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 located on the outskirts of Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

 being around 5 miles west of the city centre

Cardiff city centre

Cardiff city centre is the central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bounded by the River Taff to the west, the Civic centre to the north and railway lines and two railway stations - Central and Queen Street - to the south and east respectively...

 and 5 miles south-east of Llantrisant

Llantrisant

Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...

. The village falls within the community and ward of Creigiau & St Fagans. It was formerly the site of a specialist hospital and the settlement essentially comprises a recent housing estate

Housing estate

A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...

 development built over the former hospital. The A4119 road

A4119 road

The A4119 is an A road linking Tonypandy with Cardiff in south Wales.Settlements served by the route include:*Tonypandy*Penygraig*Williamstown*Tonyrefail*Ynysmaerdy*Talbot Green*Llantrisant*Groes-faen*Creigiau*Llandaff*Canton*Riverside*Grangetown...

 lies just to the south, the dismantled railway of the Penrhos branch of the Barry Railway is immediately east, and the M4

M4 motorway

The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...

 bounds the settlement to the north.

Etymology

The name probably originates from the Welsh language

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 word rhyd ('ford': see also 'Rhydaman' or 'Ammanford', etc) and the stream 'Llafar' ('spoken', 'voiced') which flows nearby; thus the meaning could be rendered 'Ford on the (river) Llafar' with Llafar being a common name for stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

s roughly equivalent to "babbling" in English (e.g. "a babbling brook"). Incidentally, 'llafar' is Welsh for 'speech' or 'chat'.

External links

• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Rhydlafar and surrounding area