Tonna ( cy, Tonnau) is the name of a village and

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, tow ...

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county borough in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county bor ...

, Wales, located to the north-east of

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

. Immediately between Tonna and the adjoining

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Llanilltud ("Llantwit-juxta-Neath") is a cottage once occupied by the Welsh-born

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and naturalist

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

, who had arrived at his theory of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

independently of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

, with whom he later corresponded. Eventually Wallace and Darwin jointly presented the first paper on

Natural Selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...

to the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

. The village's

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 its m ...

team is

Tonna RFC Tonna Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Tonna, Wales. Tonna RFC is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Ospreys. History Although it is believed that Tonna RFC existed before 1888, the club ...

Toponymy

Once mainly

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

fields, the name derives from the archaic

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

''tonnau'', meaning lea or

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

and not, as is sometimes assumed, the modern

for "waves". Some areas of

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

remain.

Government and politics

The

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 t ...

of Tonna falls within 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 ...

. The ward consists of a small built-up area of Tonna village to the northwest with rest of the ward consisting of woodland and pasture. Tonna is bounded by the wards of

Aberdulais Aberdulais is a village and electoral ward in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, lying on the River Neath, in the community (Wales), community of Blaenhonddan. The village grew around the Aberdulais Falls, the site of successive industries and now a hydr ...

to the north;

Resolven Resolven ( cy, Resolfen) is a small village and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. It is located in the Vale of Neath. Location The village is situated in the Vale of Neath, north east of the town of Neath, next to the A465 ...

to the northeast;

Pelenna Pelenna is a community (civil parish) in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It largely covers the valleys of the rivers Pelenna and the Blaenpelenna, to the east of the town of Neath. The community includes the villages of Efail-fach, Tonmawr and Pontrh ...

to the southeast;

Cimla Cimla is a suburb of the town of Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It is set high up on a hill. It is pronounced Kim-la. The Welsh language spelling is Cymla, pronounced the same way. Its meaning is a place with common land, ...

and

Neath North Neath North is an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales falling within the community of Neath. Neath North includes some or all of the neighbourhoods of Llantwit and Neath town centre in the parliamentary constituency of Neat ...

to the southwest; and Cadoxton to the west. In the 2017 local council elections, the electorate turnout was %. The results were:

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Tonna and surrounding area
{{authority control Vale of Neath Villages in Neath Port Talbot Communities in Neath Port Talbot Electoral wards of Neath Port Talbot Towers in Wales Neath