Cwmafan ( cy, Cwmafan; ), sometimes known as Cwmavon in English, is a large 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, t ...

in the

Afan valley {{Commons category, Valleys of Neath Port Talbot Landforms of Neath Port Talbot Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in ...

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 ...

, lying within Neath Port Talbot County Borough. It had a population of 5,603 in 2001, increasing slightly to 5,615 at the 2011 Census. Cwmafan is known for having a high percentage of Welsh speakers. In many ways it is a suburb of the nearby town of

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

which is less than to the south. The

literal translation Literal translation, direct translation or word-for-word translation, is a translation of a text done by translating each word separately, without looking at how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence. In translation theory, anoth ...

of ''Cwmafan'' from

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 peopl ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

is complex, Cwm means valley with Afan as the name of the river flowing through, hence the village residing within the Afan Valley. It could be a version of Afon which means river, so literally the "River Valley", this is common in Wales and the UK with many rivers being called Afon or Avon. There is also a Saint Afan, which it is possible the river was named after. There have been other suggestions but none accepted locally.

Geography

The village is surrounded by hills: the biggest is Foel Fynyddau, which stands 370 m (1200 ft) high and stands above the northern edge of the village. West of Foel Fynyddau is

Mynydd-y-Gaer Mynydd-y-Gaer is a hill that sits on the boundaries between the South Wales communities of Baglan (south-western quarter), Cwmavon (south-eastern quarter) and Briton Ferry, (northern half), all within Neath Port Talbot county borough. The sum ...

: at its summit the community boundaries of Cwmafan, Baglan and

Briton Ferry Briton Ferry ( cy, Llansawel) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, ''llan'', is protected from the wind, ''awel''. Alternatively, ''Sawel'' may be a derivati ...

all meet. The

River Afan , name_etymology = , image = The_Afon_Afan,_Cymmer_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1001060.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Afan near Cymmer , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...

runs through the village from north-east to south-west; the village is on the right bank. The area of Ynysygwas lies immediately across the river, Brynbryddan adjoins Cwmafan to the west and Pwllyglaw adjoins Cwmafan to the north-east (ie up the valley). The B4286 road runs through the village along the valley, and the A4107 runs along the valley on the opposite bank.

History

The village has an industrial history, with metalworking being particularly significant. There were large copper, iron and tin works as well as many coal mines close by. The metal ores, from as far away as Chile, were off-loaded in Port Talbot or Swansea docks and brought by rail to Cwmafan. In 1985 the Ynys-y-Gwas bridge suddenly collapsed, cutting off the water supply to the residents. A resident of Maesteg, Paul Barry, escaped unharmed from the incident, despite being on the bridge when it collapsed.

Culture

Sports teams

The village is also home to several sporting grounds, the most prominent of these being the Welfare Ground, home to

Cwmavon RFC Cwmavon Rugby Football Club also known as Cwmafan Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cwmafan) is a rugby union club based in Cwmavon, Wales. Cwmavon RFC is a member club of the Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi ...

who are currently playing in the Welsh Rugby Union leagues. A second

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 ...

pitch along with a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

pitch,

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be ...

s and

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

are located at " Parc Siencyn Powell" (Formerly named ''Parc-y-Llyn''), which is administered by

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is the local authority for the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council was controlled by the Labour Party from its creation in 1996 until 2022, when Plaid ...

Residents of note

William Abraham William Abraham is the name of: * William Abraham (Irish politician) (1840–1915), Irish Parliamentary Party Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons * William Abraham (trade unionist) William Abraham (14 June 1842 – 14 May 1922 ...

, trade unionist and MP. *

Chris Needs Christopher Needs, MBE (12 March 1954"Chris Needs" ''BBC Radio Wales'' May 2007 Needs said the song " Here in My Heart" by Al Martino was from the year he was born. – 26 July 2020) was a Welsh radio broadcaster, best known as a regular eve ...

is a

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales b ...

presenter who grew up in Cwmavon. *

Joseph John Richards Joseph John Richards (August 27, 1878 – March 16, 1956) was a composer, conductor, and music educator best known for writing over 300 compositions for circus and school bands. His most successful works were marches, including ''Crusade for Freedom ...

, born between Cwmavon and

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a di ...

, became famous in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

as a composer of march tunes and a bandleader. * George Thomas,

Viscount Tonypandy A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

, was living at 62 Gower Street, Cwmavon, age 3, in the 1911 census. *

Lyn Jones Lyn Jones (born 1964) is a former Wales international rugby union player, and now works as a coach. A flanker, Jones has experience at various different levels of the game, both as a player and a coach. Jones played most of his playing career f ...

, former Wales international

player, later coach of the

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

. *

Rees Richards Rees Richards (1886 – death unknown) was a Welsh dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club level for Aberavo ...

, a Wales international at

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

was born in Cwmavon.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Cwmafan and surrounding area
{{authority control Villages in Neath Port Talbot Communities in Neath Port Talbot Afan Valley