Bynea ( )G.M. Miller, ''BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names'' (Oxford UP, 1971), p. 23. ( cy, Bynie) is a village close to the River Loughor (Welsh-Afon Llwchwr) in

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

(Sir Gaerfyrddin),

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

(Cymru). It also forms an electoral ward for the purposes of elections to

Carmarthenshire County Council Carmarthenshire County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin) is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It provides a range of services including education, planning, transport, social services and public safety. The counc ...

, and is situated in Berwig Hamlet. It borders with the villages of Llwynhendy, Bryn, Pen-y-graig and

Loughor Loughor () ( cy, Casllwchwr) is a Welsh town in the City and County of Swansea, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Loughor. The town has a community (Wales), ...

(Cas-Llwchwr).

History

Bynea was originally the grassing lands for the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, who built their fort in

(Casllwchwr). The Yspitty area of Bynea was also a port for the ferry crossing of the River Loughor (Afon Llwchwr). It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century when the first Loughor Bridge was built that the Banc Y Spitty port was closed and the ferry from Loughor to Bynea out of use. Bynea was the name given to the areas east of the village centre and the lands used by the Romans. Where the old and central part of the village today, was originally called Cwm-Felin (mill-valley).This is still visible by the fact of the Cwmfelin Road running through Bynea to nearby Llwynhendy. It was called this after the mill that is still visible today from Heol Saron. This was an agricultural area until the turn of the twentieth century, when it became heavily industrialised with

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting 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 ...

s and steelworks. Bynea runs into the village of Llwynhendy, and between the two there are four places of worship, and a number of pubs.

Welsh language

The

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

is spoken by over half the village's population. Bynea is part of the

Llanelli Rural Llanelli Rural ( cy, Llanelli Gwledig) is a community in the southeast of Carmarthenshire, Wales. Description Despite its name, Llanelli Rural covers large parts of the Llanelli urban area, including Bynea, Llwynhendy, Cefncaeau, Pemberton ...

community, where 56% of people speak Welsh.

Additional information

Terry Davies, the

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player, is from this area and

Kel Coslett Thomas Kelvin Coslett (born 14 January 1942) is a Welsh former dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached rugby league in the 1970s and 1980s. He played represent ...

the Rugby League legend was born there and still is of residence in the village. The village is served by Bynea railway station with trains operating to Swansea to the south and Shrewsbury to the north. In 1997 the Bynea District Forum was formed with the aim of protecting and promoting the community, its heritage and residents. The forum covers the village itself as well as the communities of Pen-y-graig, Bryn and parts of Llwynhendy it has fought off many unwanted developments and incursions by groups of travellers. In 2017 after 20 years of loyal service the original officers of the forum retired and a new set of officers was elected to carry the work forward.

References

Sources

* Bynea and Llwynhendy Local History Group, (2000) ''A History of Bynea and Llwynhendy''. Villages in Carmarthenshire {{Carmarthenshire-geo-stub