Blaengwrach ( ; ) is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

near

Glynneath Glynneath ( cy, Glyn-nedd "valley of the River Neath"), also spelt ''Glyn-neath'' and ''Glyn Neath'', is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in th ...

and Resolven in the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf ...

, Wales. It is also the name of an electoral ward of

, which is a larger area than the Community. The principal settlement is Cwmgwrach, a village on the south side of the Neath valley, of which the eastern end is called Blaengwrach, which sometimes causes confusion.

Geography

Blaengwrach Community is a predominantly upland area, and contains the highest points of three local

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...

s or

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

s, namely Mynydd Resolfen (383m/1257 ft) and the more prominent Mynydd Pen-y-Cae (573m/1880 ft) and Craig-y-Llyn (600m/1970 ft), both of which have views of the valley below and the Brecon Beacons in the distance. Craig-y-Llyn is the highest point in the old county of Glamorgan, and is home to a nature reserve containing Llyn Fach and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. West of the summit is Foel Chwern

round cairn A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...

Settlement

The villages of Cwmgwrach and Blaengwrach are on the upper reaches of the Neath Valley, and occupy the strip of lowland south of the

River Neath River Neath ( cy, Afon Nedd) is a river in south Wales running south west from the point at which its headwaters arising in the Brecon Beacons National Park converge to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Ba ...

, and up the lower slopes of the hillside around the Nant Gwrach stream. The ward had a population of 1,985 in the 2001 census, but 837 were residents of the neighbouring community of

, so the population of the Blaengwrach community was 1,148. The ward population changed very little at the census of 2011. The settlement of Blaengwrach is sometimes confused with the village of Cwmgwrach, the name that is used for both the village as a whole, and the western settlement. Traditionally, the stream is the dividing line. The Community Council describe Cwmgwrach, as being a village that 'is actually a combination of Blaengwrach and Cwmgwrach'. A history of the village (''Cwmgwrach: Valley of the Witch'') was written by Ian Currie, published in 2000. The village itself was once an active commercial centre, servicing the coalmines, but now contains one shop, a single

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club, Cwmgwrach RFC. Other community facilities include Blaengwrach Primary School, St Mary's Church in Wales, the 13th Afannedd (Cwmgwrach) Scout group, and the Welfare Hall. For wider services the village is largely dependent upon Glynneath.

Transport

The Neath and Tennant Canal once reached to Glyn-neath, and has been restored to provide over four miles of walkable towpath between Resolven and

. The

Vale of Neath Railway The Vale of Neath Railway (VoNR) was a broad gauge railway company, that built a line from Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare to Neath, in Wales, chiefly to transport the products of the Merthyr iron industries to ports on Swansea Bay. The railway focus ...

was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel to carry coal to Swansea docks, and is still used for freight trains transporting coal from the Unity open cast mine at the north-east edge of the village. In 1996 the single-carriageway road along the length of the Neath valley was replaced with a major dual-carriageway, carrying the A465 trunk road from

Llandarcy Llandarcy is a village near Neath in the Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales, and was the site of the first oil refinery in the United Kingdom. It was originally designed as a garden village to house the workers for the BP refinery built b ...

(near Neath) to Hirwaun in

Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff (Welsh: ''Taf'') and Ely valleys, plus a number of towns and vill ...

, which transformed the access along the Neath valley.

Government and politics

Blaengwrach is in the

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of Neath. For elections to

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is the local authority for the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council was controlled by the Labour Party from its creation in 1996 until 2022, when Plaid ...

, Blaengarwch is covered by the 'Blaengarwch and Glynneath West' electoral ward, which also covers the west part of the

community (though not the village of Glynneath). The ward elects one councillor. The former ward of Blaengwrach included part or all of the villages of Blaengwrach and Cwmgwrach, as well as Glynneath town. In the 2017 local council elections, the Blaengwrach results were: In the 2012 local council elections, the electorate turnout was 42.28%. The Blaengwrach results were:

Film

In 2014, a film called 'Valley of the Witch', was released, set in Cwmgwrach, and with substantial on location filming. A low-budget indie horror/witchcraft film, it was written and directed by Andrew Jones, and released to DVD in 2015 under the title 'Conjuring the Dead'.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk Photos of Blaengwrach and surrounding areaCwmgwrach Public Cemetery transcripts and images
{{authority control Vale of Neath Villages in Neath Port Talbot Former wards of Neath Port Talbot Communities in Neath Port Talbot