The last remaining house in a Welsh village, once home to 600 residents and lost to fears of a 'moving mountain,' has been sold for £49,050. The three-bedroom property in Troedrhiwfuwch, near Caerphilly, was the sole survivor after 93 other homes, along with the local school, library, and pub, were demolished due to landslide concerns.
The village, known locally as 'Troedy,' began to decline in the 1930s when experts first raised concerns about unstable ground. By the 1950s, fears of an imminent landslide intensified, leading to the closure of the local school in the early 1980s and the gradual evacuation of residents. Up to 600 people were forced to leave their homes in the mid-1980s, but the feared 'moving mountain' never materialized.
Despite the mass demolition, the single house and the village's war memorial escaped destruction. The property at 2 Lawrence Street, described as an 'ideal opportunity for either an investor or homeowner' with a large garden and countryside views, attracted significant media attention and a bidding war. Auctioneer Sean Roper of Paul Fosh Auctions reported 230 bids from 13 individual bidders for the fire-damaged lot, which had a reduced guide price of £1.
'Why this otherwise ordinary three-bedroom house survived while all the others didn't, remains a bit of a mystery,' Roper said. He added that the house offers a 'real-life connection to a now vanished community' and serves as a 'curious link to another age.'
Troedrhiwfuwch is one of several 'ghost villages' in Wales that transformed from thriving communities into abandoned sites over a few decades due to geological instability. The village of Pantyffynnon, for example, was deserted over 50 years ago amid landslide fears, leaving shops and homes frozen in time.
Former residents, like Rosalyn Davies, 69, recall a happy and close-knit community that was lost. 'When I walk along today memories come flooding back but at least they are happy memories,' she said. 'It is also very sad as well. We lost a community. People scattered. Today it's a ghost village; It's quite eerie, as I remember it as it was. It's sad, so very sad. It was a very happy community. Very close-knit.' Former residents continue to gather at the village's war memorial annually on Remembrance Day.