Glynneath ( cy, Glyn-nedd "valley 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 Bay. ...

"), also spelt ''Glyn-neath'' and ''Glyn Neath'', is a small town,

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, t ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

lying on the

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 was formerly in the historic county of

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Mot ...

. Glynneath ward covers only part of the community, with some 840 electors included in the neighbouring ward of Blaengwrach. Industrialisation reached Glynneath when coal mining started in 1793, and rapidly expanded when the Neath Canal came to the village in 1775. Many features of the old canal still survive to the present time. There are waterfalls to the north east at

Pontneddfechan Pontneddfechan, also known as Pontneathvaughan (pronounced ) ("bridge over the Little Neath" in Welsh) is the southernmost village in the county of Brecknockshire, Wales, within the Vale of Neath, in the community of Ystradfellte and in the pri ...

near the

Brecon Beacons The Brecon Beacons ( cy, Bannau Brycheiniog, ) are a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of Old Red Sandstone peaks which lie to the south of Brecon. Sometimes referred to as "the central Beacons" ...

and large parts of the rural area are heavily forested.

Notable buildings

Aberpergwm House, Glynneath, West Glamorgan, 6 March 2010

Glynneath is home to the ruins of Aberpergwm House. Once owned by Rhys ap Siancyn, Aberpergwm House became the home of the Williams family, Welsh gentry with a strong tradition of using the Welsh language over English. Their descendants include the last of the Welsh household bards

Dafydd Nicolas Dafydd Nicolas, or David Nicholas (c.1705 – 8 February 1774) was a Welsh poet. Life He was born in Llangynwyd, near Maesteg, Wales; the folklorist identified him as the Dafydd Nicolas baptised on 1 July 1705, son of Robert Nicolas and Anne Re ...

and folksong collector

Maria Jane Williams Maria Jane Williams (c.1795 – 10 November 1873) was a 19th-century Welsh musician and folklorist born at Aberpergwm House, Glynneath in Glamorgan, South Wales. She rescued many Welsh songs from obscurity, including '' Y Deryn Pur (The Gent ...

. The Williams' family motto ''y ddioddefws y orfu'' (He who suffers, triumphs) was adopted by Glamorgan County Council. The mansion itself was remodelled in 1876 but is now derelict and little of note remains of the building. St. Cadoc's Church, in the grounds of Aberpergwm House, was built as a chapel in the 17th century, rebuilt in 1808-1809 for the Aberpergwm Williams family and extended in 1836–41. It is a Grade II* listed building. Rheola House, a Regency house designed c.1812 by the eminent architect John Nash, is also Grade II* listed. Glynneath Town Hall is a regularly used civic building situated at Heathfield Avenue. It is owned and managed by Glynneath Town Council. The Grade II* listed Bethania Community Centre on the High Street is an example of an early Calvinistic Methodist chapel with well detailed external frontage in contrasting stone and iron work railings. The interior has good examples of very finely detailed woodwork.

Sports and leisure

Glynneath used to host one of motor sport's most important challenges, the British round of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

(formerly known as the Lombard RAC rally or Rally GB). Some of the biggest names in motor sport have taken part and have failed to complete the British round. Glynneath also has an association with downhill

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

with the Welsh National Championships being held at Rheola. Glynneath is home to Glynneath RFC, 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 founded in 1889. Glynneath also boasts an active group of football clubs and a well attended tennis club. Until recently, Glynneath Bowls Club, in particular the Ladies' Bowls Club was an active group. Glynneath Leisure Centre, maintained through Celtic Leisure is situated just off of Chain Road.

Notable residents

* The Anchoress, musician, was born in the town. * Max Boyce, comedian and singer, closely linked to Welsh rugby culture. * Julie Gardner, television producer, responsible for the successful relaunch of

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

. *

Leslie Hardman Reverend Leslie Henry Hardman Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE HCF (18 February 1913 – 7 October 2008) was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Rabbi and the first Jewish British Army Military Chaplain, chaplain to enter B ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...

and

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

, who was among the liberators of

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...

, was born in the town. *

Ruth Madoc Ruth Madoc (born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker; 16 April 1943 – 9 December 2022) was a British actress who had a career on stage and screen spanning over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Gladys Pugh in the BBC television comedy ' ...

, actress, best known for her role as Gladys Pugh in the television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

Hi-De-Hi! ''Hi-de-Hi!'' is a BBC television sitcom shown on BBC1 from 1 January 1980 to 30 January 1988. Set in 1959 and 1960 in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, the show was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote '' Dad's Army'' an ...

'' * Siwan Morris, actress, who has appeared in the television series '' Belonging'', ''

Caerdydd Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingdo ...

'', and '' Skins''. *

Glyn Prosser Glyn Prosser (27 November 1907 – 13 November 1972) was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Neath, and was capped four times for Wales. An aggressive wing forward, Prosser is best known for being a member of ...

; Glynneath RFC,

Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Castell-Nedd) is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the WRU Championship. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with onl ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

rugby union & Huddersfield RLFC rugby league footballer. *

January Rees January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the first of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the ...

, Wales women's rugby union player, comedian *

Emlyn Walters Emlyn Walters (20 May 1918 – 21 January 2001) was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Glynneath RFC and Pontypridd RFC, and repres ...

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...

and

rugby league footballer.

Twin Town

Glynneath is twinned with: *

Pont-Évêque Pont-Évêque () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Population Twin towns Pont-Évêque is twinned with: * Glynneath, Wales, since 1993 * Imbersago, Italy, since 2003 See also *Communes of the Isère departmen ...

, France, since 1993 The town twinning supports football matches between the two towns, and a visit by Glynneath Male Voice Choir.

External links

Glynneath information

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Glynneath and surrounding areaGlynneath Town Council website

References

{{authority control Towns in Neath Port Talbot Vale of Neath