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| The Local Area |
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A Brief History of the Surrounding Area The locality is rich in history, culture and people. There are Bronze Age monuments in the area; one of the most prominent is a stone circle on the Gwrhyd Mountain. However the Iron Age left a greater mark on the area. There are remains of an Iron Age fortress in Garn Goch on the Black Mountain. This area has numerous Iron Age cairns or burial mounds. The Romans built a number of roads in the area; they were probably built to subdue the Silurian's, the local Celtic tribe. The Amman and Cwm Twrch valleys are mentioned in the Mabinogion, a collection of stories and legends written in the Dark Ages. King Arthur is also associated with several places in this locality. This area has produced world famous opera and rock stars, boxing and weight lifting champions, bards and poets, scores of rugby players, actors and actresses, and even a founder of a Bible college.(which one?) Historical figures that have visited the area include Lord Cromwell, Judge Jeffries and George Burrows. In the late 1930's and early 1940's the last emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Salasi King of kings and Lion of Judah, visited the area on a number of occasions. Coal This area lies on the north crop of the South Wales coalfield. The whole of the carboniferous formation can be studied in this locality. Outside Cwmllynfell, there is a geological fault called Bryn Llefrith, which intersects the above formation. There are nineteen coal seams or veins in the area. Before 1700, it is probable that local farmers worked coal outcrops found on certain hillsides in the area. The first written records regarding coal extraction are found in the records of the Baron Court of Gwaun Cae Gurwen. In 1610, the court records state that stone coal found on or below ground are the property of the tenant and not the Lord. Commercial mining began in the area in the 1750's. In 1750, Edward Martin of Cwmtwrch opened a number of mines in that area. In 1757 the earliest recorded drift mine in the Amman Valley was opened in the Brynlloi area of Glanamman. The growth of the coal industry followed firstly the use of coal in the copper industry, and secondly the development of the blast furnace for smelting iron. The blast furnace used anthracite coal to smelt iron. The development of the coalfield in the upper Amman Valley was made possible by extending the Llanelli - Ammanford railway line to Brynamman in 1840. The rail network was completed in the 1860's when a track was laid from Ystylafera to Brynamman. The area was now connected by rail to Swansea and Llanelli. According to legend, the Romans smelted iron in Cwm Twrch. However the first written record goes back to 1696, when Ambrose Crowley and Co. was granted a lease to smelt iron in Ynyscedwyn. However, a casting bearing the date 1662 was found in the cinders of the Ynyscedwyn works, suggesting that iron smelting started at an earlier date. With the development of the blast furnace in 1836, a number of iron works were opened in this area. The Amman Iron works, in Garnant date from around this time. The Amman Iron works was fed by iron ore from Brynamman, limestone from the Black Mountain and coal from the locality. In 1840, the Three Counties foundry was opened in Cwmtwrch. Iron ore was obtained from the Cwmllynfell and Cwmtwrch areas. The next major development was the development of tinplate works in the area. A tinplate factory was opened in Brynamman in 1872. In the late 1870's and early 1880's, a number of Tinplate works were opened in the Cwmtwrch area. In the 1880's, the population grew rapidly because of the metal and coal industry. Small farms and agriculture used to dominate the area. As industry grew, jobs were filled by local people, mainly farmers from West Wales. People came from Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthen, Llandovery, Sennybridge and Talley (a village about seven miles from Llandeilo) to work in the area. Some skilled labour came from other mining valleys, but few people came from outside Wales. This is one reason why this area has kept its Welshness. |
| Last Updated on Monday, 02 November 2009 13:37 |