Little remains of the former Pengarnddu village, which was gradually abandoned from the 1960s onwards. The houses here were purpose built for the colliers who worked for the Dowlais Iron Company. This is reflected in the street names, the main one being 'Company Row'. Pengarnddu was the highest inhabited village in Dowlais. It had its own church, school and public houses, thus making it completely self-contained. The old Pengarnddu Hare public house was one of the last remaining buildings. There was a Pengarnddu Railway Line; the Rhymney Iron Company’s old limestone railway.  Before 1900 this was a complete old line right across the quarries from Twynygwinia. The Dowlais Volunteers used  this area for their target practices and in the Second World War the Army also made extensive use of this district between 1939 and 1945.

There was a significantly large enough population here to make S.O. Davies, Labour MP for Merthyr and Rhymney,  recruit men here for the respectable 'Hunger Marches' which he organised. During the troubled times of the 1930s the larger protest marches often started from Pengarnddu before stopping off in a Dowlais and then marching down to Merthyr Tydfil with a large contingent of men and women.

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