The Swansea Valley ( cy, Cwm Tawe) is one of the South Wales Valleys. It is the valley from the

Brecon Beacons National Park The Brecon Beacons National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) is one of three national parks in Wales, and is centred on the Brecon Beacons range of hills in southern Wales. It includes the Black Mountain ( cy, Y Mynydd Du) i ...

to the sea at Swansea of the

River Tawe The River Tawe (; cy, Afon Tawe ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National ...

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 ...

. Administration of the area is divided between the

City and County of Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

. A distinction may be drawn between the

Lower Swansea valley The Lower Swansea valley ( cy, Cwm Tawe Isaf) is the lower half of the valley of the River Tawe in south Wales. It runs from approximately the level of Clydach down to Swansea docks, where it opens into Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel. This ...

and the Upper Swansea valley; the former was more heavily industrialised during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Settlements and transport

Towns and villages include, Clydach,

Pontardawe Pontardawe () is a town and a community in the Swansea Valley (Welsh: ''Cwmtawe'') in Wales. With a population of 6,832, it comprises the electoral wards of Pontardawe and Trebanos. A town council is elected. Pontardawe forms part of the county ...

Ystradgynlais Ystradgynlais (, ) is a town on the River Tawe in southwest Powys, Wales. It is the second-largest town in Powys and is in the historic county of Brecknockshire. The town has a high proportion of Welsh language-speakers. The community includes ...

Ystalyfera Ystalyfera is a former industrial village and community (Wales), community in the upper Swansea Valley, on the River Tawe, about northeast of Swansea. It is an ward (politics), electoral ward and a community (Wales), community in the unitary a ...

and

Abercraf Abercraf ( en, Abercrave) is a village within the historic boundaries of the county of Brecknockshire, Wales, administered as part of the unitary authority of Powys, and in the community of Ystradgynlais. Between 1965 and 1991, the village was t ...

. In its September 2005 document ''Towards a Valleys Strategy'',

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 ...

noted that a marked divide between the more remote communities at Ystalyfera and along the Twrch and Amman valleys and the reasonably prosperous southern communities of Pontardawe,

Alltwen Alltwen (or Allt-wen; translates to "white wooded slope") is a village in the Swansea Valley (Welsh: ''Cwmtawe'') in Wales. Alltwen forms part of the community of Cilybebyll and is administered separately from adjoining Pontardawe on the opposit ...

, Rhos, and

Trebanos Trebanos ( cy, Trebannws) is a village in the Swansea Valley, Wales. With Craig Trebanos and a part of Pontardawe, it forms the Trebanos electoral ward in the Neath Port Talbot county borough. Controversy and opposition concerning the South Wal ...

. The area has had no rail connection since passenger services on the Swansea Vale Railway line between Swansea and Brynamman via Ystalyfera ceased in 1952. The

A4067 road A4 most often refers to: *A4 paper, a paper size defined by the ISO 216 standard, measuring 210 × 297 mm A4 and variants may also refer to: Science and mathematics * British NVC community A4 (''Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloide ...

links Swansea and

Brecon Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...

Attractions

The Upper Swansea valley is the site of Dan yr Ogof Caves, claimed to be the largest show cave complex in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

. South of Abercrave, the valley was formerly a region of heavy industry including coal mining and

iron-making Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

and there is plenty of the industrial heritage surviving; the

Swansea Canal The Swansea Canal (Welsh: ''Camlas Abertawe'') was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were nee ...

was built along the valley in the late 18th century to serve the nascent local industries. In 1878

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her la ...

made her home at Craig-y-Nos Castle.Craig-y-Nos Castle
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References

Valleys of Swansea Valleys of Neath Port Talbot Valleys of Powys {{Powys-geo-stub