Blaengwrach
Encyclopedia
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...
near Glynneath
Glynneath
Glynneath , also spelt Glyn Neath, is a small 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...
and Resolven in the county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
of 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....
, 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 is also the name of 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 an electoral ward of 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....
county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
. There are, however, some differences between the boundaries of the community and the ward. The ward had a population of 1,985 in the 2001 census, but 837 of these were actually residents of the neighbouring community of Glynneath
Glynneath
Glynneath , also spelt Glyn Neath, is a small 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...
and so the population of the Blaengwrach community itself would have been 1,148.
Blaengwrach is a predominantly upland
Highland (geography)
The term highland or upland is used to denote any mountainous region or elevated mountainous plateau. Generally speaking, the term upland tends to be used for ranges of hills, typically up to 500-600m, and highland for ranges of low mountains.The Scottish Highlands refers to the mountainous...
area, and contains the highest points of three local hill
Hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...
s or mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s, namely Mynydd Resolfen (383mt/1257 ft) and the rather more impressive Mynydd Pen-y-Cae (573mt/1880 ft) and Craig-y-Llyn (600mt/1970 ft), both of which offer spectacular views of the valley below and the Brecon Beacons
Brecon Beacons
The Brecon Beacons is a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of popular peaks south of Brecon, including South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan, and which together form the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park...
in the distance. Craig-y-Llyn is the highest point in the old county of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, and is home to a nature reserve containing Llyn Fach and a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
.
The village of Blaengwrach is often confused with the settlement of Cwmgwrach. Traditionally, the two are settlements separated by a stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
or brook running through the middle of them. However, the sign welcoming you to Cwmgwrach is actually in Blaengwrach, and in similar fashion, Blaengwrach school is actually in Cwmgwrach, although this could be explained by its being named after the wider ward. In reality the residents call the entire village Cwmgwrach, with Blaengwrach being best used as the name for the wider area in which the village is situated. A history of the village (Cwmgwrach: Valley of the Witch) was written by Ian Currie. Huw Pudner and Chris Hastings have written a folk song called 'Selar Hill' which is about the open cast mining on Selar Hill above the village of Cwmgwrach.
The village itself contains various local shops, pubs and a rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club, Cwmgwrach RFC
Cwmgwrach RFC
Cwmgwrach Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Cwmgwrach, Swansea, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Ospreys....
. However, for wider services the village is largely dependent upon Glynneath.
Government and politics
The electoral ward of Blaengwrach includes part or all of the villages of Blaengwrach and Cwmgrach in the parliamentary constituency of NeathNeath (National Assembly for Wales constituency)
Neath is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of seven constituencies in the South Wales West electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to seven constituency...
. The Blaengwrach ward is bounded by the wards of Glynneath
Glynneath (electoral ward)
Glynneath is the name of an electoral ward and a parish in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales.The electoral ward of Glynneath consists of some or all of the following settlements: Glynneath, Morfa Glas, Rheola, Crugau, Pont-walby, Bryn-awel, Pentreclwydau and Aber-pergwym in the parliamentary...
to the north; Rhigos
Rhigos
Rhigos is a village in the north of the Cynon Valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. For postal purposes it comes under the town of Aberdare, although it is some from Aberdare town centre....
of Rhondda Cynon Taff
Rhondda Cynon Taff
Rhondda Cynon Taf, or RCT, is a county borough in the South Wales Valleys of Wales. It consists of 3 valleys: the Rhondda Valley, Cynon Valley and Taff-Ely Valley...
to the east; Glyncorrwg
Glyncorrwg
Glyncorrwg is a village in Britain. It is set in the Afan Valley, in south Wales.Glyncorrwg is also the name of an electoral ward and a community covering the village and surrounding countryside, in Neath Port Talbot county borough.- History :...
to the south; and Resolven
Resolven (electoral ward)
Resolven is and electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Resolven is made up of the parishes of Resolven and Clyne and Melincourt....
to the southwest. The ward consists of a built up settlement to the northwest. The central area is dominated by open cast coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. 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 extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
, while the rest of the ward is ringed by woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s and forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s.
In the 2008 local council elections
United Kingdom local elections, 2008
The 2008 United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2008. These elections took place in 137 English Local Authorities and all Welsh Councils....
, the electorate turnout was
51.42%. The results were:
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alf Siddley | Labour | 432 | Labour gain |
| Carolyn Edwards | Plaid | 380 |