Birchgrove is a community

Community (Wales)

A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....

 and large village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in the City and County of Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It does not have a community council. The village is situated roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) from the centre of Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

, between the flood plain of the River Tawe

River Tawe

The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...

 and Mynydd Drummau. Birchgrove also lies on the Neath Port Talbot

Neath Port Talbot

Neath Port Talbot is a county borough and one of the unitary authority areas of Wales. Neath Port Talbot is the 8th most populous county in Wales and the third most populous county borough....

 border. The community of Birchgrove includes the village of Birchgrove, Lon-las and parts of Glais

Glais

Glais is a small semi-rural village located in Swansea and is host to a site of Special Scientific Interest in the United Kingdom. With a pristine example of glacial moraine in the south of the village's boundaries the location is one of over a thousand sites in Wales that is officially designated...

, and has a population of 5,807.

Locality

Vistas can be viewed from the top of Drummau mountain, where the Swansea

River Tawe

The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...

, Neath

River Neath

River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...

 and Blaengwynfi

Blaengwynfi

Blaengwynfi is a village in the Neath Port Talbot area of South Wales.It is a part of the "Upper Afan Valleys". It used to be a coal mining village, and is directly below the village of "Abergwynfi"...

 valleys can be seen along with clear views of Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 across the Bristol Channel

Bristol Channel

The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...

.

Education

Birchgrove has a Comprehensive and Primary school. Both of which are state run, mixed and of no denominational religion. The old primary school reception building was sold off in 2010 and is a brethren run school, called 'keystone'.

Birchgrove Comprehensive School was opened in 1991 on the grounds of the old school. It serves the areas of Birchgrove, Glais and Clydach. However, many pupils from Glais and Clydach attend another comprehensive, Cwmtawe, in Pontadawe, while pupils from Llansamlet and Trallwn attend Birchgrove instead of Cefn Hengoed.

Early history

From an early date to the beginning of the 19th century, coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

-mining played an important role in Birchgrove. It was mainly on coal-mining that the villages of the parish grew, and Birchgrove was no exception. Mining played a very important role in the industrial development of the lower Swansea Valley, which was becoming the metallurgical centre of the world. (See History of Swansea

History of Swansea

The recorded history of Swansea in Wales covers a period of continuous occupation stretching back a thousand years, while there is archaeological evidence of prehistoric human occupation of the surrounding area for thousands of years before that....

.) Coal was replacing wood in the smelting

Smelting

Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...

 of ores; and it was because of the demand for coal that a pit was sunk in Birchgrove, known as Birchgrove Colliery Company, locally known as the 'Old Pit'. It was situated just below the Birchgrove Post Office. It was sunk in 1845, to a depth of approximately 100 feet. As a result of its prosperity, two further pits were sunk, namely Sisters Pit, and Brothers Pit near Glais. Approximately 200 worked at the Old Pit. This involved many new people coming into the area, to work in both mining and the copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

 industry. The only cultural recreation was a Reading Room, situated near the colliery. It was not used on Sundays, so the people of the village were given permission to use it for Sunday worship. Services were held there according to the Book of Common Prayer

Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...

 of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 (the Church in Wales

Church in Wales

The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...

 not being founded until 1920). The services held there were well supported. The Birchgrove Colliery was closed in 1931.
There are still relics of Birchgrove's industrial past in the area, The ruins of Scot's pit pump house dominate the lower end of Birchgrove and evidence of mine workings can still be found.

Climate

Birchgrove has an Oceanic climate. As a moderate rural area, it has one of the more extreme climates of Swansea. Average temperatures range from -3.2°C in January, to 23.1°C in July.

Prehistory

The countryside surrounding Birchgrove is scattered with prehistoric sites. There are numerous barrow mounds

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

 and evidence of prehistoric dwellings.

Carreg Bica is a large standing stone

Standing stone

Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....

 on Drummau Mountain. The stone is local sandstone

Old Red Sandstone

The Old Red Sandstone is a British rock formation of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, 'ORS' is often used in literature on the subject.-Sedimentology:...

 and is around 13 ft high and is believed to be a bica monument. The word "carreg" means "stone" in the Welsh language. The stone is also known by other names: Maen Bredwan or Maen Bradwen. It is also mentioned in a charter to King John

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

 to William de Breos

William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber

William de Braose, , 4th Lord of Bramber , court favourite of King John of England, at the peak of his power, was also Lord of Gower, Abergavenny, Brecknock, Builth, Radnor, Kington, Limerick, Glamorgan, Skenfrith, Briouze in Normandy, Grosmont, and White Castle.-Lineage:William was the most...

 in 1203 as "meynhirion", as a boundary stone

Boundary marker

A boundary marker, boundary stone or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in a direction of a boundary...

 marking the Gower

Gower Peninsula

Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...

.

There is a legend of the stone moving and going to a local stream to drink or bathe. In this case the stone is said to bathe in the river Neath

River Neath

River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...

 once a year on Easter morning. Children from Skewen

Skewen

Skewen is a village within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, in Wales.The village is served by Skewen railway station.-History:Skewen was once an industrial village. There were a number of collieries around the village . The Crown and Mines Royal Copper Works and the Cheadle and Neath...

 were said to race to the stone on Easter morning.

Cistercian monks built the nearby Neath Abbey

Neath Abbey

Neath Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located near the present-day town of Neath in southern Wales, UK.It was once the largest abbey in Wales. Substantial ruins can still be seen, and are in the care of Cadw...

 in the early 12th century. Wintering their flocks and herds in the few open spaces down in the valley, during the other seasons keeping them in their specially constructed stone walled fields on Drummau mountain top, using the standing stone as a landmark

Landmark

This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...

. Many sections of the stone walls are still standing from Cistercian times.