PORTH

Caemawr Greyhound Stadium, Cymmer Road, Porth, Glamorgan, South Wales.

POSTCODE———————————CF39 9DB

LOCATED————————————Porth is located 15 miles north west of Cardiff following the River Taff, with the venue situated half a mile west of Porth Railway Station.

ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Upper Cymmer Colliery.

DATE CONSTRUCTED——————–1932

DATE VENUE OPENED——————-October 24th 1932.
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING—————————–October 24th 1932.
Greyhound Racing only.

LICENSED OR INDEPENDENT———-Independent
All venues covered would have to be licensed with the government, licensed suggested in this section would refer to tracks operating under NGRC Rules.

INSIDE OR OUTSIDE HARE TYPE——Don’t know.
Please note that the Electric Hare suggested is only a guidance and would have been in operation for a certain amount of time at this venue. Although it is not necessarily guaranteed that it was operational all the time, as other types of lure may have been used and updated as time progressed.

DISTANCES———————————–480 yards.
Please note that most racing venues distances had become varied throughout the years, the ones given above were at once point set and offers only a guidance to the track size.

CIRCUMFERENCE—————————Don’t know.
Please note that alterations at most racing venues throughout its existence would see that the circumference of the track would vary, the one shown above offers only a guidance to the track size.

BIG RACE NAMES—————————-Nothing found.

STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Nothing known of.

LAST MEETING——————————-Certainly early 1960’s (still racing December 1961).
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-Early 1960’s.
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————–Late 1960’s.

BUILT ON SITE——————————–Housing on the Caemawr Gardens Estate constructed between 1971 and 1975.
In some cases, structure’s that originally covered the venue after the stadium had been demolished, may have been themselves demolished too, so the one described is more likely to be the one which now presently covers the site.

EVIDENCE LEFT TODAY——————–Nothing known of.

FURTHER COMMENTS———————None

Little is known of the greyhound track that operated in Glamorgan’s ex mining village of Porth, a small location which lies amidst the Rhondda Valleys of South Wales. It was known to locals as the Caemawr Greyhound Stadium which had begun to develop throughout the post was years of the Second World War.

It had been constructed on the site of an old colliery known as the Upper Cymmer Colliery, an abandoned location found at the end of Caemawr Road, just half a mile west of Porth Railway Station. Opening up as an independent venue, Porth’s first meeting was staged on the 24th of October 1932, with racing virtually uninterrupted throughout the following decades until its eventual closure coming during the early 1960’s.

Information regarding distances etc. again remain very sketchy, although according to ordnance survey maps the stadium lay exposed to the bad weather, with just a small standing cover on the south side of the track. Today, Housing on Caemawr Gardens Estate built during the early 1970’s now occupies the site, leaving no evidence at all of the track being there.