Onllwyn () is a small village 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 ...

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 ...

, Wales, near Seven Sisters. The community area also covers the small settlements of

Dyffryn Cellwen Dyffryn Cellwen is a village in the County Borough of Neath Port Talbot, South Wales. It is situated in the upper Dulais Valley near the junction of the A4109 and A4221 roads, northwest of the smaller settlement of Banwen. It is part of the co ...

and

Banwen Banwen is a small village in Neath Port Talbot county borough (NPT) in Wales. Banwen is part of the community of Onllwyn along with the village of Onllwyn itself and the adjacent parish of Dyffryn Cellwen. Banwen is in the Upper Dulais Valley ...

. To the north is Coelbren, Powys, while to the east the

Afon Pyrddin The Afon Pyrddin is a river forming a short section of the boundary between Powys and Neath Port Talbot in Wales, United Kingdom. It also forms a part of the boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The river and its waterfalls are one of the ...

forms the boundaries of both

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 ...

and the

Brecon Beacons National Park Brecon Beacons National Park, officially named Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (), is a National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Wales. It is named after the Brecon Beacons (), the mountain range at its centre. The national park ...

History

First developed by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

, the local village

sits astride the Roman road of

Sarn Helen Sarn Helen refers to several stretches of Roman road in Wales. The route, which follows a meandering course through central Wales, connects Aberconwy in the north with Carmarthen in the west. Despite its length, academic debate continues as t ...

. There are two Roman forts and the remains of a further Roman road within the community. Local tradition has it that

St Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba ...

was born here and taken prisoner to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

by Irish raiders. A memorial stone in Banwen is the focus of celebrations and marches held on

St Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...

(March 17) to mark the event. The parish was a centre of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

for over 200 years; there were once five pits that employed hundreds of men. Now all that remains is a

coal washery 300px, A coal "washer" in Eastern Kentucky A modern coal breaker in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania combines washing, crushing, grading, sorting, stockpiling, and shipping in one facility built into a stockpile of anthracite coal below a mountain top ...

and processing plant. On the route of the former

Neath and Brecon Railway The Dulas Valley Mineral Railway was incorporated in 1862 to bring coal from the Onllwyn area north-east of Neath to the quays there, and in the following year was reconstituted as the Neath and Brecon Railway. The line was opened as far as Onllw ...

, there was a freight only line to the washery from the

South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line (), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the co ...

Neath Neath (; ) 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 population of 19,2 ...

. The site of the washery (and the nearby Nant Helen surface mine) is being redeveloped as the

Global Centre of Rail Excellence The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) is a proposed train, railway infrastructure and technology testing facility, located in Onllwyn, Wales, where the site sits on the border between Neath Port Talbot and Powys. The centre is located o ...

. Onllwyn was involved in several 20th-century coal mining strikes which brought the town notoriety. The political, labour and cultural connections between Onllwyn and the American coal mining region of

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

grew into an in-person cultural exchange in the 1970s. Musical performances took place at Onllwyn Miners' Welfare Hall in 1976, including one by The Strange Creek Singers featuring American musicians

Hazel Dickens Hazel Jane Dickens (June 1, 1925 – April 22, 2011) was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist, guitarist and banjo player. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provoca ...

Alice Gerrard Alice Gerrard (born July 8, 1934) is an American bluegrass and old-time music performer, writer, editor and teacher. As a singer who plays guitar, fiddle and banjo, she performed and recorded solo and in ensembles, notably in a duo with Ha ...

Mike Seeger Mike Seeger (August 15, 1933August 7, 2009) was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who mainly played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, ...

, Tracy Schwartz, and Lamar Grier. The exchange was facilitated and filmed by Helen Lewis and

John Gaventa John Gaventa (born 1949) is currently the director of research at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, where he has been a Fellow since 1996. From 2011 to 2014, he served as the director of the Coady International Institut ...

. Onllwyn was also the setting for ''

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

'', the award-winning 2014 film written by

Stephen Beresford Stephen Beresford (born c. 1972) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for writing the play '' The Last of the Haussmans'', produced by the National Theatre in 2012, and the 2014 historical comedy ''Pride'', which won the Queer Palm ...

and directed by

Matthew Warchus Matthew Warchus (born 24 October 1966) is an English theatre director, playwright, and filmmaker. He has been the Artistic Director of London's The Old Vic since September 2015. Early life and education Warchus grew up in Selby, North Yorkshir ...

. The movie chronicles the true story of a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984.

Present

Commanding views of the

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 ...

, this now semi-rural location is popular for retired people. There is a Community College, "Dove Workshops", village shop, post office, pub, and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

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 ...

teams.

Government and politics

Onllwyn is in the parliamentary constituency of

. Following a 2020 boundary review by the

Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for defining local government boundaries and Senedd constituency boundaries in Wales, also known as . The Commission was established originally as ...

, Onllwyn was joined by the neighbouring communities of

Crynant Crynant () is a village and community in the Dulais Valley in Wales. It lies 7¾ miles north-east from the town of Neath in Neath Port Talbot, situated between the mountains of Mynydd Marchywel to the west, Hirfynydd to the east and Mynydd y ...

and Seven Sisters to become 'Crynant, Onllwyn and Seven Sisters'

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 ...

, effective from the 2022 local elections. Two councillors are elected to

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (or simply Neath Port Talbot Council) is the local authority for the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, one of the 22 Principal areas of Wales, principal areas of Wales. The council was controlled by the ...

. The former ward of Onllwyn consisted of some or all of the following settlements:

and Onllwyn. Onllwyn was bounded by the wards of

Abercraf Abercraf (also ; or Abercrave) is a village in Powys, Wales, in the community of Ystradgynlais and within the historic boundaries of the county of Brecknockshire. A distinct dialect of English is spoken in the village, as well as the Welsh lang ...

and

Tawe Uchaf Tawe-Uchaf is a community in Powys, Wales. Situated north-east of Ystradgynlais in the upper valley of the River Tawe (hence the name), it includes the villages of Caehopkin, Coelbren, Glyntawe, Pen-y-cae, Penwyllt and Ynyswen. It had a populat ...

(both in

) to the north;

Glynneath Glynneath ( ; also spelt ''Glyn-neath'' and ''Glyn Neath'') is a town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in the historic county of Glamorgan. Glynneath ward ...

to the southeast; and Seven Sisters to the south west. In the 2017 local council elections, the electorate turnout was 42%. The results were:

Residents of note

* Dai Francis, NUM trade unionist and father of MP Hywel Francis, was born in Onllwyn, and took as his bardic name "Dai o'r Onllwyn".

References

External links