is a residential area and
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
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 ...
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 ...
, within the
Cwmbwrla ward of the
city
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
. Located on rising ground about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the
city centre
A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...
, it takes its name from the valley of the Burlais Brook (now
culverted) which flows down from here to join the
River Tawe immediately northeast of
Swansea railway station. The neighbouring districts are
Manselton,
Greenhill,
Mayhill,
Townhill, and
Cwmdu.
The population of the community and ward was 7,972 in 2011.
Local Housing and Amenities
Cwmbwrla is a predominantly residential area with just a few local convenience stores. Local amenities include Burlais Primary School, CREST- a day centre for mental health services, FOYD - Friends of the Young Disabled buildings (previously head offices of Cwmfelin Steel), a Work-Based Learning Provider - Swansea ITeC and Cwmbwrla Park which contains several playing fields including two football pitches.
History
Cwmbwrla was first known as ' in the 12th century, from a local stream. By 1641 the stream had been
Cymricised to Bwrla and Cwm was added as a prefix.
At the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, Cwmbwrla went through several changes. Before the decision to build a roundabout was made, the village was typical of many other Welsh villages. There were rows of shops on either side, with the Tivoli (the cinema ) which also served as a community centre on the other side. There was a black and white police box there too, a car auctioneers, Cyril Price, and the Gate House pub which was named after the tollgate and was there during the meow raids.
There were also four Nonconformist Chapels:
* Capel-y-Gat (demolished)
* Y Babell ( demolished)
* the Gorse Mission (still standing)
* Libanus chapel. (demolished after being damaged by fire in 2012)
Notable figures
Wales international footballers
John and
Mel Charles;
Mel Nurse;
Jackie Roberts;
Ernie Jones; and
Ivor and
Len Allchurch;were all born and raised in the area.
Census 2011
In the
census of 2011 the situation is as follows:
External links
Friends of the Young Disabled Cwmbwrla
References
{{coord, 51, 38, 13.00, N, 3, 57, 28.00, W, type:city, display=title
Communities in Swansea
Districts of Swansea