240px, Pre-2022 Mawr electoral ward
Mawr is a
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 former
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 ...
) of the City and County 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 south
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 ...
, U.K. Mawr has its own elected
community council
A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.
In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...
. Its name simply means "large", and it was given the name because it was the largest piece of land in the former parish of Llangyfelach.
Description
Mawr falls within the parliamentary constituency of
Gower. It is bounded by the communities of
Pontarddulais to the west;
Llangyfelach and
Morriston
Morriston (; ) is a Community (Wales), community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, and falls within the Morriston (electoral ward), Morriston ward. It is the largest community in the Swansea county.
Morriston is sometimes referred to ...
to the south;
Clydach to the southeast;
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 ...
of
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 ...
to the northeast;
Betws to the north and
Tycroes to the north west. For the purposes of community elections it is broken down into three polling districts: Garnswllt, Craigcefnparc and Felindre.
Mawr consists of some or all of the following villages:
Felindre Felindre, also anglicised as Velindre, derived from the Welsh place-name "melindref", meaning "mill town", may refer to:
Wales
* Felindre, Swansea, village in Swansea, Wales
* Felindre Farchog, village in Pembrokeshire, Wales
* Dre-fach Felind ...
, Bryntwood,
Craigcefnparc,
Garnswllt
Garnswllt () is a rural village in the City and County of Swansea, Wales falling within the Mawr ward. It lies in the far north of Swansea near the border with Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of ...
,
Rhydypandy and rural uplands of Mawr. The ward is one of the most sparsely populated in Swansea, and it has the highest proportion of
Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...
speakers (38% of those over three years old at the 2011 census). Mawr was the second largest ward in Swansea by land area, and the largest community. Most of the community consists of rural farmland and open moorland.
Local government
Mawr elects a community council of 12 members (with one vacancy in 2016), though in 2015 the council was found to be performing its duties inadequately and not addressing the problems identified in a 2011 report.
2022 boundary changes
Until 2022 Mawr was an electoral ward to Swansea Council. Following a local government ward boundary review, at the
2022 local elections the Mawr ward ceased to exist, with the area absorbed into the neighbouring wards
of
Clydach,
Llangyfelach and
Pontarddulais.
2012 local council elections
In the 2012 local council elections, the voter turnout for Mawr was 44.82%. The results were:
Lliw Reservoirs country park
There are two man-made reservoirs near the village of Felindre, in the Lliw valley, called the Lower Lliw Reservoir and the Upper Lliw Reservoir. The reservoirs are managed by
Welsh Water
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, of or about Wales
* Welsh language, spoken in Wales
* Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales
Places
* Welsh, Arkansas, U.S.
* Welsh, Louisiana, U.S.
* Welsh, Ohio, U.S.
* Welsh Basin, during t ...
. The surrounding countryside is open to the public for recreational purposes.
The Lower Lliw Reservoir (or Felindre Reservoir) was originally opened in 1863 to provide water for Swansea and the surrounding area; it cost £160,000 to create. The Upper Lliw Reservoir opened in 1892 and cost £116,000 to buil
The Lower Lliw Reservoir was reconstructed between 1976 and 1978, including a new rockfill dam, new overflow spillway and new pumping station.
References
External links
Ward info for Mawr
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Communities in Swansea
Former electoral wards of Swansea