Cwmtwrch
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Cwmtwrch () is a village in the valley of the Afon Twrch, a right-bank tributary to the Swansea Valley, Wales, some 15 miles north 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 ...
. It is also the name of 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 ...
to
Powys County Council Powys County Council () is the local authority for Powys, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council is based at County Hall in Llandrindod Wells. History The county of Powys was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act ...
. Actors Craig Russell, Richard Corgan and Steven Meo all come from the village. The Sci Fi comedy horror film Canaries is set and was filmed in Cwmtwrch.


History and origins

The name Cwmtwrch (meaning ''Valley of the wild boar'') is said to derive from the " Twrch Trwyth", a
mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
wild boar of
King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
's
legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...
s and the ancient Welsh
folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
tales of the
Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created –1410, as well as a few earlier frag ...
in early Welsh literature. The legend relates to one of Arthur's tasks: to rid the western
Brecon Beacons The Brecon Beacons (; ) are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan (), its twin summit Corn Du (), and Craig Gwaun Taf (), which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons ha ...
of the pack of wild boars that were terrorising the people. Arthur chased the boars from
Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales, covering the modern counties Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. It is mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed w ...
eastward towards
Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...
. On the Black Mountain, he picked up a large stone (the ''carreg fryn fras'') and cast it towards the wild animals, striking dead the leader of the pack on the edge of a valley near Craig-y-Fran Gorge. The big boar's body rolled down the valley and into the river which is now the Afon Twrch. The big stone is still on the mountain. The early history of Cwmtwrch is found in the records of the Manor of Palleg. This small estate was owned by the Aubrey family in the early 16th century. In 1595 it was said to include 20 farms scattered around the high ground to the north of the Twrch river. There was also a corn mill, Melin Palleg, close to the river. The manor passed to the Morgan family of Tredegar House, Newport South Wales, by the late 18th century. They employed a gamekeeper to look after the estate. Local woodland would have been a source of charcoal for the early iron furnace at Ynyscedwyn from the 17th century onwards. The best of the mature hardwood trees from the area were felled and sold off during the early 19th century. The now vanished Tir-y-gof Farm was used by drovers as a base where their cattle were shod on their long journeys to market. Alongside the industrial workers there were tailors, shoemakers and blacksmiths, publicans and shopkeepers. There were also numerous chapels in the village, namely Bethania Chapel (1851), Bethel Chapel (1861), Beulah Chapel (1893) and Capel Newydd (1930). Ebeneser Rees (1848–1908), the founder of the "Llais Llafur" newspaper, was raised in Cwmtwrch and is buried in the Beulah Chapel Cemetery, Palleg. Cwmtwrch has been split into two parts, Upper Cwmtwrch (''Cwm Twrch Uchaf'') and Lower Cwmtwrch (''Cwm Twrch Isaf''), due to the traversing of the now defunct railway line and road at two points, requiring an upper and a lower gate. Nearby are the town of
Ystradgynlais Ystradgynlais (; ) is a town in southwest Powys, Wales. It is located on the River Tawe, and was within the boundaries of the former county of Brecknockshire. The town has a high proportion of Welsh language-speakers. The community includes C ...
and the villages of Ystradowen, Rhiwfawr and Ystalyfera.


Governance

Cwm-twrch is the name of 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 t ...
which covers the western quarter of the
Ystradgynlais Ystradgynlais (; ) is a town in southwest Powys, Wales. It is located on the River Tawe, and was within the boundaries of the former county of Brecknockshire. The town has a high proportion of Welsh language-speakers. The community includes C ...
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 ...
and includes Cwmtwrch Isaf to the south and Cwmtwrch Uchaf to the north. In 2004 a slice of the neighbouring
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 ...
ward of Ystalyfera, bordering Cwmtwrch Isaf, was transferred to the Cwm-twrch ward. The ward elects one county councillor to
Powys County Council Powys County Council () is the local authority for Powys, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council is based at County Hall in Llandrindod Wells. History The county of Powys was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act ...
. A Cwmtwrch & Gurnos ward is represented by up to four town councillors on Ystradgynlais Town Council.


Sport

Cwmtwrch is home to the
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 ...
team Cwmtwrch RFC, a Welsh Rugby Union affiliated club with over a hundred years of history. A resident was Clive Rowlands, former
Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team () represents the Welsh Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international agai ...
captain, who also managed both the national team and the British Lions. The village football team, Cwm Wanderers A.F.C., is long established and successful, having won the Neath Premier Division on 16 occasions. They have also won 15 cups, making them the most successful team in the league's history. Golf is played at Palleg Golf Club which is located in Lower Cwmtwrch. A mountain course, it was extended to eighteen holes through lottery funding.


References


External links

* – Upper Cwmtwrch * – Lower Cwmtwrch {{authority control Villages in Powys Wards of Powys Swansea Valley