The Swansea Valley (; ) is one of the South Wales Valleys. It is the valley from 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 ...

to the sea at

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 ...

of the River Tawe 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 ...

. Administration of the area is divided between 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 ...

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 ...

County Borough, and

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 ...

. A distinction may be drawn between the Lower Swansea valley and the Upper Swansea valley; the former was more heavily industrialised during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Settlements and transport

Towns and villages include Clydach,

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 ...

, Ystradgynlais, Ystalyfera and Abercraf. In its September 2005 document ''Towards a Valleys Strategy'',

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 ...

noted that a marked divide between the more remote communities at Ystalyfera and along the Twrch and

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

valleys and the reasonably prosperous southern communities of Pontardawe, Alltwen, Rhos, and Trebanos. The area has had no rail connection since passenger services on the Swansea Vale Railway line between Swansea and Brynamman via Ystalyfera ceased in 1952. The A4067 road links Swansea and

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

Attractions

The Upper Swansea valley is the site of Dan yr Ogof Caves, claimed to be the largest

show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

complex in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

. South of Abercrave, the valley was formerly a region of heavy industry including

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 ...

and

iron-making Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

and there is plenty of the industrial heritage surviving; the Swansea Canal was built along the valley in the late 18th century to serve the nascent local industries. In 1878 opera singer

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was a Spanish-Italian opera singer. At the height of her career, she was earning huge fees performing in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, a ...

made her home at Craig-y-Nos Castle.Craig-y-Nos Castle
/ref>

References

Valleys of Swansea Valleys of Neath Port Talbot Valleys of Powys {{Powys-geo-stub