Blaencwm is located in the upper Rhondda Valley about halfway between Treorchy and Hirwaun, and about one mile north of Treherbert.

[1] Before the industrialisation of the Rhondda, Blaencwm was a forested agricultural and rural area.

There is evidence in the area of Mesolithic and Neolithic human activity, mainly through the discovery of basic hunting, foraging and tool making items.

[2] Blaencwm is also the site of three ruinous 16th century hafotai, small summer dwellings for transhumance agriculture, discovered on the north-east slope of the village.

[3] In the 19th century with the coming of the Taff Vale Railway, coal mines began opening in the upper Rhondda Fawr.