Гланамин: тарихы мен тілі

Village in Carmarthenshire, Wales

Glanamman (Glanaman) is a mining village in the valley of the River Amman in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Glanamman has long been a stronghold of the Welsh language; village life is largely conducted in Welsh. Like the neighbouring village of Garnant it experienced a coal mining boom in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the last big colliery closed in 1947 and coal has been extracted fitfully since then.

The location of Garnant and Glanamman was known as Cwmamman ("Amman valley") before coal was discovered; until the 18th century it was a remote wilderness with just a few farms and rough mountain roads. Mining appears to have started at Brynlloi in 1757 and small coal workings proliferated in the first half of the 19th century. The arrival of the railway in 1840 meant that coal could be exported on an industrial scale through Llanelli docks, and the construction of two stations at Glanamman and Garnant promoted a distinction between the two communities. Taking its name from the emblem of the Dynevor family, the "Raven" colliery in Garnant was operating by 1854. In 1891, the Gelliceidrim Collieries Company opened what became the largest of the coal mines at Glanamman, employing 632 men in 1932. Glanamman is also the name of the county electoral ward covering the area around Glannaman village. The ward elects a county councillor to Carmarthenshire County Council. Glanamman is in the unitary authority of Carmarthenshire. Adam Price of Plaid Cymru currently represents the village at the Welsh Assembly in the constituency of Carmarthen East and Dinefwr. The constituency is represented in Westminster by Jonathan Edwards, Independent, formerly of Plaid Cymru.

The village is about 13 mile (21 km) north of Swansea on the edge of the Black Mountain, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The River Amman flows through the village. Glanamman lies in the western part of the South Wales Coalfield, where the coal is particularly high quality anthracite.

The effect of the mining boom can be seen in the expansion of Cwmamman parish (including Garnant and surrounding villages) from just over 3,000 in 1851 to over 11,000 in the early 20th century. Garnant is a similar size.

Traditionally the economy was based on coal mining with some dairy farming, but the mines have closed and farms such as Gelli Fanwen have moved from milk production to beef farming. The Raven Tinplate Works (sometimes confused with the Amman Tinplate Works in Garnant) were built on the site of the Cwmamman Brickworks in 1881. They operated until the early 1930s and were demolished after World War II; the site is now a council depot near the station.

Since 1988 Cwmamman has been twinned with the village of Pouldergat, in Brittany. The village is a stronghold of the Welsh language, with 81% of the population able to speak it. The first chain driven Bicycle in Wales and one of the first in the World was manufactured by the Defiance Cycle Company Glanamman and ridden to Swansea in 1885. This is commemorated on Easter Monday by retracing the same ride to Swansea.

The valley has been shaped by coal workings and their waste, but little remains above ground. Brynseion Chapel's location at the corner of the High Street and the main road marks the centre of the village, but both it and Saint Margaret's Church (see below) are now closed.

A turnpike road (now the A474) was constructed along the valley in 1817. The Llanelly Railway and Dock Company built the Llanelly Railway to Garnant in 1840. It was taken over by the GWR on amalgamation in 1923, and closed to passenger services by British Railways on 18 August 1958. Freight traffic continued until the closure of the Abernant Colliery in 1988. The Amman Valley Railway Society are seeking to restore the Abernant branch line as part of the Swansea 9 Lines project.

Glanamman used to have a primary school which opened in 1884 and closed in 2005. Glanamman was a category A, or Welsh medium school with most subjects taught in Welsh. Three local schools, Ysgol y Twyn, Ysgol Gynradd y Garnant and Ysgol Gynradd Glanaman, were merged to form Ysgol y Bedol (the Horseshoe School) on the north bank of the three rivers in Garnant. This primary school for ages 3–11 was opened in 2005. Ysgol y Bedol is also a Welsh medium school. The nearest secondary school is Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford.

The Welsh valleys have long been hotbeds of Nonconformism and Glanamman was no exception. Old Bethel Chapel, also known as The Old Meeting House, was built in 1773 high on the north side of the valley between Glanamman and Garnant. The Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist Chapel and the Bethesda Baptist Chapel followed in 1840 and 1882 respectively.

Garnant Park (formerly Cwmamman Recreation Ground) was part of Lord Dynevor's Glanrafon Farm estate just east of Glanamman. It is home to Amman United RFC which was founded in 1903 and is a feeder club for the Scarlets regional team. Players who have gone on to rugby at international level include Claude Davey, Tom Day and Trevor Evans of the British Lions. Rugby international Shane Williams bought a disused industrial unit on Station Road which he converted into a CrossFit franchised gym with bike hire and other facilities (now closed).