Skewen () is a village within the county borough 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 ...

, 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 ...

. The village is served by

Skewen railway station Skewen railway station serves the village of Skewen, south Wales. It is located below street level at Station Road in Skewen, from (via Stroud). It is a stop on the South Wales Main Line, served by Transport for Wales Swanline regional trains ...

and has its own

rugby club Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

History

Skewen was once an industrial village. There were a number of

collieries Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

around the village (see link below). The Crown and Mines Royal Copper Works and the Cheadle and Neath Abbey Ironworks were once important industrial sites which stood close by. Old top-loading

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

s can also be seen at

Neath Abbey Neath Abbey () was a Cistercian monastery, located near the present-day town of Neath in South Wales, United Kingdom, UK. It was once the largest abbey in Wales. Substantial ruins can still be seen, and are in the care of Cadw. Tudor period, Tudo ...

. To the south of Skewen lies the village of

Llandarcy Llandarcy is a village near Neath in the Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales, and was the site of the Llandarcy Oil Refinery, first oil refinery in the United Kingdom. It was originally designed as a Planned community, garden village to hous ...

, the site of the country's first

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

. The site of this former oil refinery is now being developed as an urban village called Coed Darcy, a development which was promoted at its start by the Prince of Wales's Foundation for the Built Environment.

Monuments of interest

The ruins of

, a former

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, are now in the care of

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

. On

Mynydd Drumau Mynydd Drumau (meaning "Mountain of the Ridges" in English) is a hill in south Wales lying on the border between Swansea and the county of Neath Port Talbot. It is 272m / 892 ft high, and is a Marilyn (hill), Marilyn. The hill is situated ...

to the north of the village is an ancient standing stone known as the Carreg Bica (or 'Maen Bradwen').

Notable people

*The village is the birthplace of Sir

Samuel Thomas Evans Sir Samuel Thomas Evans (4 May 1859 – 13 September 1918) was a Welsh barrister, judge and Liberal politician. Background and education Evans was born at Skewen, near Neath, Glamorganshire, the only son of John Evans, a grocer, and h ...

(1859–1918), British judge and politician who was appointed

Solicitor-General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

in 1908 and became the

President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division The President of the Family Division is the head of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales and head of Family Justice. The Family Division was created in 1971 when Admiralty and contentious probate cases were remove ...

in 1910. *Skewen is also the birthplace of internationally successful singer

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer. Known for her distinctive husky voice, Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' and its ...

and Welsh composer

David John de Lloyd David John de Lloyd (30 April 1883 – 20 August 1948) was a Welsh musician and composer. Born in Skewen near Neath, de Lloyd was the son of an insurance agent and the family moved with the latter's employment until they settled in Penparc ...

(1883-1948). *Comedian

Eddie Izzard Suzy Eddie Izzard ( ; born Edward John Izzard, 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomi ...

lived in the village for a short time during childhood. * The grandparents of the legendary American entrepreneur

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

are believed to have lived in Skewen in the 1930s. * The notorious murderer, Elizabeth "Betty" Maude Jones, née Baker (1926-?), was born in Skewen. In October 1944, she and an American paratrooper named Karl Hulten (1922-1944), sometimes branded "the Blackout Bonnie and Clyde", carried out a series of brutal crimes that culminated in the murder of a London taxi driver. Both she and Hulten were sentenced to death, but Jones was reprieved by the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison.

Nearest places

* Birchgrove

References

External links

Skewen Collierywww.geograph.co.uk : photos of Skewen and surrounding area
{{authority control Villages in Neath Port Talbot