Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen ( cy, Gwauncaegurwen) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

in the borough of

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county borough in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county bor ...

South West Wales South West Wales is one of the regions of Wales consisting of the unitary authorities of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. This definition is used by a number of government agencies and private organisations including ...

. Historically a part of

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

made up of the electoral wards of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and

Lower Brynamman Lower Brynamman is an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough in Brynamman, Wales. Electoral ward The electoral ward of Lower Brynamman forms part of the parish of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen. The ward consists of some or all of the settle ...

Location

Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is located five mile east of the nearest town of

Ammanford Ammanford ( cy, Rhydaman) is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, with a population of 5,411 at the 2011 census. It is a former coal mining town. The built-up area had a population of 7,945 with the wider urban area even bigger. Acco ...

and nearly fifteen miles north of

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. Nearby villages include Cwmgors, Lower Brynaman & Tairgwaith.

Etymology

The name Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is believed to be an alteration of what was originally ''gwaun cegerwen'' (i.e. "white hemlock heath" in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

, ''ceger'' being a dialect form of ''cegid''). In local usage, the name is often shortened to "Y Waun", meaning "the heath" in Welsh.

History

Gwaun-cae-Gurwen was a mining village in the west Wales anthracite district. There were six or seven pits in the early 1920s.

Schools

Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Gwauncaegurwen (Gwaun-cae-Gurwen Welsh

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

) used to be on Heol y Dŵr (Water Street) which is where the Pwll y Wrach estate is based. It has since been moved to Heol Newydd (New Road), overlooking the village, and the former school transformed into a wood workshop. Secondary-age children in the area have the choice of going to Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera in

Ystalyfera Ystalyfera is a former industrial village and community (Wales), community in the upper Swansea Valley, on the River Tawe, about northeast of Swansea. It is an ward (politics), electoral ward and a community (Wales), community in the unitary a ...

(for full Welsh-medium education), Ysgol Dyffryn Aman (for Welsh- and English-medium education), or

Cwmtawe Community School Cwmtawe Community School (in Welsh: ''Ysgol Gymunedol Cwmtawe'') Formerly known as Pontardawe Technical School and Cwmtawe Comprehensive School, is a modern English-medium education comprehensive school in Pontardawe, South Wales. The school m ...

(for English-medium education).

Welsh language

The

Welsh Language Board The Welsh Language Board ( cy, Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg) was a statutory body set up by Her Majesty's Government under the Welsh Language Act 1993. It was an Assembly Sponsored Public Body. It began its life under John Walter Jones, and its last ...

reported in 2009 that 67.9% of the population of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwencan speak, read or write in

. 10–19 year olds were the group with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers.

Representation

the area was represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

by Christina Rees, and in the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles MS is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative Party politician, serving as Minister for Education and Minister for the Welsh Language in the Welsh Government since 2021. Miles has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Neath since 2016. H ...

; they both represent the Neath constituency. Its South Wales West regional assembly members are Luke Fletcher, Tom Gifford, Altaf Hussain and Sioned Williams It has a Community Council. The electoral ward mentioned above has a population taken at the 2011 census of 2,910.

Sport

Cwmgors RFC play their home games at Parc-y-werin, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen. Their clubhouse is also situated at New Road, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen.

Notable natives

* Sir

Gareth Edwards Sir Gareth Owen Edwards CBE (born 12 July 1947) is a Welsh former rugby union player who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey". In 2003, in a poll of international ru ...

, former Wales and

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

player; a street, Maes Gareth Edwards, is named after him * Dame

Siân Phillips Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan''. Early life Phi ...

, actress * Barry Morgan,

Archbishop of Wales The post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England and disestablished. The four historic Welsh dioceses had previously formed part of the Province of Canterbury, and so came unde ...

and Bishop of Llandaff *

Gwenda Thomas Gwenda Thomas (born 22 January 1942 in Neath) is a Welsh Labour politician. Thomas was first elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 and re-elected in 2003, having almost doubled her majority. She is a fluent Welsh speaker. She is a ...

, former member of the

Senedd The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

and Deputy Minister in the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

Pwll-y-Wrach

At one time, almost all of the land of The Waun was owned by the Jones Family who also owned the "Pwll-y-Wrach Estate". It was run by the Head and later by their sons (and spouses). They still own parts of the land of the village but most has been sold off. Both farmhouses connected to the Estate are still standing. They are: Pwll-y-Wrach and Glangwrach. Pwll y Wrach is the main house where the head of the family lived. It is no longer a farming estate but remains to own much of the land in the village. The name means ''the Witch's Pool'' in English, because of an old

myth that the

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

lived in it because of the greeny-blue colour and would sometimes come out to haunt the locals.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and surrounding area

Gwaun Cae Gurwen Community Council website
{{authority control Villages in Neath Port Talbot Communities in Neath Port Talbot Amman Valley