Nantgarw Pottery is famous for the beautiful soft paste porcelain that was made there for a short time over two centuries ago and which today is keenly sought by collectors. Its manufacture began when William Billingsley and his son in law Samuel Walker came to Nantgarw in 1813. It's possible that they had been in secret communication with the entrepreneur William Weston Young and that shortly before the potter’s arrival, Young had erected two firing kilns and the necessary buildings on the eastern side of the Glamorganshire Canal. The canal's existence ensured that china clay could be brought to the work’s while porcelain could be transported to Cardiff for shipment to London. Adequate supplies of fuel were also nearby. Furthermore, Nantgarw’s fairly remote location meant that the closely guarded skills of porcelain manufacture could be hidden from competitors.

Lewis Weston Dillwyn of the Cambrian Pottery at Swansea was asked to visit Nantgarw and report on the matter. The Board of Trade failed to offer assistance and Nantgarw Works closed soon after. Dillwyn invited the two potters to join him at Swansea. They began to manufacture porcelain using the Nantgarw moulds and appliances as well as continuing to impress pieces with the Nantgarw mark. It was the first time that porcelain had been manufactured at Swansea. Billingsley and Walker remained at Swansea until 1817 when they returned to Nantgarw. Despite improvement in the porcelain's quality and design, wastage in the firing remained exceptionally large. Although there was a keen demand for the porcelain from London dealers the money quickly expired, and in 1819 Billingsley and Walker left Nantgarw.

Some of Nantgarw’s inhabitants today recall going to the pottery as children to buy pipes with which to blow bubbles. Pipes with broken stems could be purchased for a halfpenny. After Thomas's death in 1867, the business was continued by a number of his sons under the name Pardoe Bros. However, the beginning of the twentieth century saw its demise with the increase in cigarette smoking and the advent of cheaper hardware utensils. Production at Nantgarw finally ceased in 1921.

During the following seventy years, undergrowth and trees enveloped the kilns and cottage. They remained hidden from view of the casual onlooker until 1991 when the Glamorgan/Gwent Archaeological Trust, supported by the Taff Ely Borough Council excavated the site. An exhibition centre opened the following year.

Nantgarw Colliery was one of the largest collieries in Taff Ely during the twentieth century. Sunk by Thomas Taylor of Pontypridd in May 1910, the two shafts of the colliery reached the seam at a depth of more than 850 yards making them the deepest pits to be sunk in the South Wales Coalfield up to that time. In 1924, whilst employing more than 850 men, the colliery was sold to the Taff Rhondda Navigation Steam Coal Co. The company encountered difficult geological conditions and after three years of trying to work the mine, they abandoned it in 1927. It then lay idle for a while until the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co Ltd bought it. Following further attempts to work the pit, it was put into a 'care and maintenance' situation. In 1937, Powell Duffryn designed a development scheme to put Nantgarw Colliery back to work but this was delayed by the war. The development scheme was revived in 1946. On nationalisation of the mines in 1947, the N.C.B. took up the scheme as its first major project of the newly formed South Western Division and invested £5 million into the colliery, both on modern surface constructions and modern mining methods.

As with a number of Taff Ely's places of worship, St Mary's Church, Nantgarw, began as a schoolroom. Henry Williams, the squire of Dyffryn Ffrwd Estate, granted a piece of land to the Archdeacon of Llandaff and a school was built in 1845. The vicar of Eglwysilan was to take responsibility for religious education within the school. The building was also licensed for public worship. By 1875, the building's dual role had ended as it had ceased to function as a school. The church was renovated during the 1890s and much credit is given to Mrs Evan Williams, daughter-in-law of Henry Williams. She held the Sunday School at Dyffryn Ffrwd as well as a sale of work. However, from the 1920s onwards, St Mary's was to encounter problems of debt, a dwindling number of worshipers, and obtaining adequate clerical help. Furthermore, the building of the A470 trunk road resulted in the demolition of the old village and the isolation of the church from the centre of population. St Mary's finally closed in 1983 and became a dwelling house. The congregation joined with St James Church Taff’s Well, the church being rededicated as St Mary and St James Church. Capel Nantgarw, the Welsh Independent Chapel, was located in the centre of the old village. The original building was erected in 1825 but it was later rebuilt. Nantgarw Gospel Hall was erected in the late 1920s with second hand material. The hall remains today and members are anxious to continue to serve Nantgarw, conscious of the fact that it's the last place of worship in the village, Capel Nantgarw having been demolished when the A470 was constructed.

Nantgarw Infants School opened on 11 March 1907 with 55 children on the roll. It was destroyed by fire in April 1933 and pupils were housed in Wheeler's Billiard Hall while the school was rebuilt. The school was reopened on 2 September 1935. An extension providing interior toilets, a small kitchen and an office for the head teacher was built in 1979. The school closed permanently in 2006.