Alltwen (or Allt-wen; translates to "white wooded slope") is a village in the

Swansea Valley The Swansea Valley (; ) is one of the South Wales Valleys. It is the valley from the Brecon Beacons National Park to the sea at Swansea of the River Tawe in Wales. Administration of the area is divided between the City and County of Swansea, Nea ...

(Welsh: ''Cwmtawe'') in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Alltwen forms part of the community of Cilybebyll and is administered separately from adjoining

Pontardawe Pontardawe () is a town and a community (Wales), community in the lower Swansea Valley (). it had a population of approximately 7,172 in the 2021 Census for Pontardawe Parish, and forms part of the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. On the opp ...

on the opposite bank of the

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

. Alltwen is served by Alltwen Primary School and the village has a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club, Alltwen RFC (Welsh: ''Clwb Rygbi Alltwen'').

Government and politics

Allt-wen is an

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 t ...

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhon ...

county borough and is a part of the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

of Cilybebyll. The ward is bounded by Trebanos and

to the northwest; Rhos to the northeast; Bryn-côch North to the southeast; Dyffryn to the south; and Clydach (in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

) to the southwest. Most of Allt-wen consists of

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

and woods. Occupying a strip of land in the northwest of the ward is Alltwen village, which is part of the built-up area surrounding

Notable people

* Alltwen was the home of

Ronnie James Ronnie James (8 October 1917 – 12 June 1977) was a British Lightweight boxing champion. Born in Swansea, Wales, James had over 130 professional bouts winning 114 of them, 61 through knockout. In 1946 he challenged Ike Williams at Cardiff fo ...

, British

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

Champion in the 1940s and World Title challenger in 1946 *

Rachel Thomas (actress) Rachel Thomas OBE (10 February 1905 – 8 February 1995), was a Welsh character actress. Early life Rachel Thomas was born in the Welsh village of Alltwen, near Pontardawe, Glamorgan,

, born in the village *

Siân Phillips Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress from Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Wales. Her early career consisted primarily of stage roles, including the title roles in Ibsen's '' ...

, much of her childhood in the village *

Justin Tipuric Justin Tipuric ( ; born 6 August 1989) is a Welsh former international rugby union player who played for Wales as an openside flanker. He is the current captain at Ospreys. Early life Although Tipuric grew up in Trebanos, he was born in the ...

, born in the village before moving to Trebanos as a child *

D. Gwenallt Jones David James Jones (18 May 1899 – 24 December 1968), commonly known by his bardic name Gwenallt, was a Welsh poet, critic, and scholar, and one of the most important figures of 20th-century Welsh-language literature. He created his bardic na ...

, born in Pontardawe, was raised in Alltwen *

References

External links

The History of Pontardawe by John E Morgan [Hirfryn] 1911Alltwen Primary Schoolwww.geograph.co.uk : photos of Alltwen and surrounding area
{{authority control Electoral wards of Neath Port Talbot Swansea Valley Villages in Neath Port Talbot