Skewen ( cy, Sgiwen) is a village within 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 ...
of
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 ...
, in
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 ...
. The village is served by
Skewen railway station and has its own
rugby club
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
.
History
Skewen was once an industrial village. There were a number of
collieries around the village (see link below). The Crown and Mines Royal Copper Works and the Cheadle and Neath Abbey Ironworks were once important industrial sites which stood close by. Old top-loading
blast furnaces can also be seen at
Neath Abbey. To the south of Skewen lies the village of
Llandarcy, the site of the country's first
oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...
. The site of this former oil refinery is now being developed as an urban village called
Coed Darcy
Coed Darcy is a new village currently being developed adjacent to Llandarcy in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales.
Historical background
The village is being built on brownfield land vacated by a former oil refinery, the Llandarcy Oil Refi ...
, a development which was promoted at its start by the
Prince of Wales's Foundation for the Built Environment.
Monuments of interest
The ruins of
Neath Abbey, a former
Cistercian monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...
, are now in the care of
Cadw. On
Mynydd Drumau to the north of the village is an ancient standing stone known as the Carreg Bica (or 'Maen Bradwen').
Notable people
*The village is the birthplace of Sir
Samuel Thomas Evans (1859–1918), British judge and politician who was appointed
Solicitor-General in 1908 and became the
President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division in 1910.
*Skewen is also the birthplace of internationally successful singer
Bonnie Tyler
Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...
and Welsh composer
David John de Lloyd (1883-1948).
*Comedian
Eddie Izzard
Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime.
Izzard's stand- ...
lived in the village for a short during childhood.
* The grandparents of the legendary American entrepreneur
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
are believed to have lived in Skewen in the 1930s.
* The notorious murderer, Elizabeth "Betty" Maude Jones, née Baker (1926-?), was born in Skewen. In October 1944, she and an American paratrooper named Karl Hulten (1922-1944), sometimes branded "the Blackout Bonnie and Clyde", carried out a series of brutal crimes that culminated in the murder of a London taxi driver. Both she and Hulten were sentenced to death, but Jones was reprieved by the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison.
Nearest places
*
Neath Abbey
*
Llandarcy
*
Birchgrove
References
External links
Skewen Collierywww.geograph.co.uk : photos of Skewen and surrounding area
{{authority control
Villages in Neath Port Talbot