Crynant (Welsh: Creunant) is a small village, near the town of Neath in the traditional county of Glamorgan, south Wales. Once, home to two large collieries producing vast amounts of coal that are no longer in production. Blaenant, the larger of the two, is the home of Cefn Coed Colliery Museum, which is open to the public. Treforgan (the smaller), has been demolished. The end of coal mining changed the face of the village, the valley and the whole of South Wales.
Crynant is also the name of an electoral ward and a community, coterminous with the village, in Neath Port Talbot county borough.
Crynant Business Park has been established upon the Treforgan site, enabling smaller companies to generate employment for the community. From Merc-Wise Ltd. (an Independent Mercedes-Benz Garage), to Princess Wedding Car Hire, this Business Park has managed to create a wide array of opportunities for the young and old alike - although, like many villages in the valleys, the youth claim there is nothing to do.
A picnic area, has been built for the use of passers-by on the main road and is an attractive, pleasant walk - especially during the summer months! The village boasts its own Rugby Football Club and a few local village 'pubs'...between them they keep a 'welcome in the hillside'! This peaceful place certainly requires a visit if you are in the locale.
There are three pubs in the village, The Red Lion on the Square, the Gradon located on main road, slightly north of the Crynant Business park, and The Kingfisher which is on the northern extreme of the village where the road runs across the common and down into the Swansea valley. All the pubs serve a similar range of beers and have a friendly village atmosphere to them. The Gradon used to be the British Legion and its name was derived from the names of the children of the owner, Grant and Donna.
The two clubs in the village, the Welfare used to be a miners working mans club, and the Rugby Club. The Welfare has seen considerable decline since the closure of the coal mines in the 1980s.
The village used to host a carnival every year, but with the demise of coal mining, that now has stopped.
The countryside is very different from many Welsh coal mining villages, and is much prettier now that the coal tips to the south of the village have been removed, and those at Treforgan are now hidden under silver birch (although this site is now a haven for motor cross and quad bikes, much to the consternation of the people living near by). Both sides of the village used to be covered by farmed conifer forests, but these have recently been harvested and the hillsides are a mess. To the west of the village, on the old Neath road, lies the Mansion house. This can be glimpsed from the A4109 when traveling north, just as you pass Blaenant collery. It has been in a state of decay for many years, but a walk behind it (the mansion is on private land) up to Bull Rocks, provides not only a nice view of this house, but also (if you are there at the right time) of the carpets of blue bells that grow in the woods.
The village lies at the bottom of the valley and is long and narrow. Originally there were separate villages (essentially separate farms), such as the region of Treforgan, but all have now merged into a single village. Farming is still important to the village and the hillsides are dotted with many thousands of sheep and some cattle. The cattle are all for meat, with no dairy industry in the village. The village has a few small shops, the most famous being Segadelli's (or Stella's) cafe on the Square which sells ice cream and boiled sweets (including the extremely tasty, although sticky, Swansea mixture).
The River Dulais flows through the village and was often referred to as the Black river due to pollution by coal dust from the local mining industry. With the demise of the mines, the river runs clear again. A slaughter house used to stand on the banks of the river, at the end of Maes Mawr, and the blood used to stain the river red. Apparently, the red wavy lines at the top of the Crynant badge (the emblem of the rugby team) represent the blood stained river.
While many websites claim John Cale of the Velvet Underground was born in Crynant, this appears to be incorrect (in fact he was born in Garnant), however the famous astronomer Geraint Lewis grew up in the village. Other famous Crynant people are Marion Davies, presenter of the 1960s TV show How, and Mike Smith from the 1960s band Amen Corner.
Alfred Russel Wallace, one of the leading names in the development of the theory of evolution and the name behind Wallace's Line, lived in Neath and is known to have spent time in Crynant. |
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