Much of Senghenydd today remains, at least in terms of its fundamental architecture, unchanged over the past century. Look at any historical photograph of the Square and compare it to one taken recently and they are barely distinguishable. Eliminate the people in period dress, the cars, the horse drawn carriages, and the visual clues that are hinted at in the changing aesthetics and technology of the photographic process itself, and the Square is timeless.
The thriving businesses of the past are fewer today, as many have long ago lost the struggle to survive against the so-called "Wal-Mart effect" of mega-stores which impacts many small communites across the region. The fact that most people nowadays have their own transportation, which no longer makes that trip to Caerphilly or Cardiff the 'event' it once was, means that heart of the village, the Square, once the thriving heartbeat of the community, has slowed to a virtual halt. Where once there were general stores, butchers, greengrocers, hairdressers, toy shops and iron mongers, there now stands a number of shuttered shops, or storefronts converted into houses, all reminders of small businesses and personal dreams that have faded away.
