Cwmamman

History

Cwmamman was the original name of the valley. As coal-mining boomed during the late 19th century two adjoining villages grew up in the valley, known as Glanamman to the west and Garnant to the east. Each village had a station on the Llanelly Railway, built in 1840: Garnant (originally called Cwmamman) and Glanamman (originally called Cross Keys).

Christchurch, the only Commissioners' church in southwest Wales was built in Garnant in 1839–42. In contrast, four Methodist chapels were constructed in Glanamman before St Margaret's church was built in 1933.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Cwmamman, at community and county level: Cwmaman Town Council (Cyngor Tref Cwmaman) and Carmarthenshire County Council (Cyngor Sir Gâr). The town council now generally uses the spelling Cwmaman rather than Cwmamman in both English and Welsh, although Cwmamman remains the official English language spelling of the community name. The town council is based at the Community Centre on High Street in Glanamman.

Administrative history

Until 1912 the area straddled the parishes of Betws to the south of the river and Llandeilo north of the river. In 1912 an urban district was established covering Glanamman and Garnant, under the name Cwmamman.

Cwmamman Urban District was abolished in 1974, with the area becoming instead a community. District-level functions passed to Dinefwr Borough Council, which was in turn replaced by Carmarthenshire County Council in 1996.

The two Carmarthenshire County Council electoral wards covering the community are called Garnant and Glanamman, each electing one county councillor.

Demography

The Cwmamman area now has much smaller population than in its heyday at the turn of the 20th century. The actual population for the community at the 2011 census was 4,486.

Cwmamman is 78.47% Welsh speaking and lies at the foot of the Black Mountain. The community is bordered by the communities of: Betws; Llandybie; Dyffryn Cennen; and Quarter Bach, all being in Carmarthenshire; and by Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and Pontardawe in Neath Port Talbot.

References

References

1. Quick, M E. (2002). "Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales - a chronology". Railway and Canal Historical Society.
2. "Glanamman Railway Station". Cwmamman History.
3. (2006). "Carmarthenshire And Ceredigion, Pevsner Architectural Guides Volume 6 of The Buildings of Wales". Yale University Press.
4. "History".
5. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey.
6. "Cwmaman Town Council".
7. (1912). "Annual Report of the Local Government Board".
8. [[Local Government Act 1972]]
9. [[Local Government Act 1972]]
10. [[Local Government (Wales) Act 1994]]
11. (22 September 2021). "The County of Carmarthenshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2021". Legislation.gov.uk.
12. "Community population 2011".