Bryncoch is a village near Neath in

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf ...

County Borough, Wales. The name derives from the Welsh 'red hill' (''bryn'' is hill, ''coch'' is red), originally the name of a nearby farm. Bryncoch is divided into two wards:

Bryncoch North Bryncoch North is an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales forming part of the parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the past ...

and

Bryncoch South Bryncoch South is an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales forming part of the parish of Blaenhonddan. The ward elects two county councillors to Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Bryncoch South covers some or all of ...

, and is in the community of Blaenhonddan. The area is not regarded as hugely affluent, but is one of the generally better off areas in the deprived county borough of Neath Port Talbot Historically the village of Bryncoch was centred on Main Road and a few adjacent streets, but the village expanded considerably in the 1960s with the building of the Furzeland Drive and Elias Drive developments. This area makes up the council ward of

, which has only one small street of social housing at Heol Pant Glas, named after a nearby farm located at the furthest northern corner of the ward. The council ward of

includes the distinct areas of the Rhyddings, Gilfach, Penywern, Leiros Parc, and the large social housing estate of Caewern. There are two village primary schools: Blaenhonddan and the Bryncoch

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The p ...

school. There is also a special school, Ysgol Hendre. The nearest secondary school is Dwr y Felin Comprehensive. Many village children also attend the Welsh-language secondary Ysgol Gyfun at

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 ...

and the Welsh-language Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Castell-nedd.

History

Bryncoch was once the principal site of the Main Colliery Company, an important coal mining employer in the area up until 1928. This was the scene of a major disaster on 6 April 1859, when 26 men and boys were drowned by an inflow of water, as reported in The Cambrian newspaper. The philanthropist

Howel Gwyn Howel Gwyn (24 June 1806 – 25 January 1888) of Dyffryn, Neath, was a British Conservative politician, who represented Penryn and Falmouth (1847–57) and Brecon (1866–68). Early life Gwyn was the son of William Gwyn and Mary Anne Robert ...

MP lived, from 1854, at the now demolished Dyffryn mansion on the outskirts of the village and built the parish church of St Matthew on his estate in 1871. The renowned scientist Alfred Russel Wallace lived at Bryncoch Farm and studied Red Admiral butterflies while working as a surveyor for the Great Western Railway company around 1843. He developed the

theory of evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variatio ...

alongside

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

Recreation

There are two pubs in or close to the village: the Bryncoch Inn at Ty'n yr Heol Road is near the social housing area of Caewern, while the Dyffryn Arms is on the A474 just north of Bryncoch. Bryncoch Rugby Club, located on Farmers Road, play in the WRU Division 3 South West. Neath Branch of

The Pony Club The Pony Club is a voluntary organisation founded in England in 1929. It has now expanded internationally and Pony Club branches can be found worldwide. It is one of 16 organisations that form the British Equestrian Federation. The Pony Clu ...

meet on their own field at Fforest Goch, nearby on the A474. They have previously won the prestigious Gymkhana team games competition at the

Royal Welsh Show The Royal Welsh Show ( cy, Sioe Frenhinol Cymru) is organised by the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, which was formed in 1904. It takes place in July of each year, at Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells, in Powys, Mid Wales. The first show was hel ...

(The largest Agricultural show in Europe) The village's third pub, the Lamb and Flag, which was perhaps the oldest in the area, closed in March 2017 and has been replaced by a

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

supermarket.

Notes

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Bryncoch and surrounding area
{{Coord, 51.682, N, 3.818, W, display=title Districts of Neath Port Talbot Neath