Брин: Уэльс ауылының тарихы мен тұрғындары

Bryn (meaning: hill) is a village and community in Neath Port Talbot County Borough in Wales. It has a population of 913. The village is located in the hills between Cwmafan, in the Afan Valley, and Maesteg in the Llynfi Valley, approximately 6 mile (10 km) from Port Talbot and 2 mile (3 km) from Maesteg. The name of the village now familiarly 'Bryn', is Bryntroedygam. So wrote the first vicar of St Theodore's in Port Talbot. There was a farm situated above Meadow Row named Bryn Troed y Garn as shown on the 1876 OS map, as many more immigrants came to 'Bryntroedygam' it seemed the name of the village was to be shorted to Bryn. 12% of the village (112 out of 913 people) speak Welsh. The population rose to 923 by 2011.

Bryn is one of 19 local community councils and is part of the 'Bryn and Cwmavon' division for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Its served by three councillors.

There are many different places of worship in Bryn, although the number is still in decline. Some have been demolished, some have been turned into dwellings and some left to ruins.

In 1840 the Bryn Methodists who were attending services at Dyffryn and Pontrhydyfen decided to have their own place of worship. They took over a small mill (Y Felin Fach) on the west bank of Nant Ffrwdwyllt opposite Farteg Fawr farm. It was a derelict building which they restored and converted and used with payment of a rent of 1s a year. It was a simple thatched roof with a few rough benches. As more houses were built to accommodate workers that came to the village, the mill had reached full capacity. A larger chapel was clearly needed, and so a plot of land was bought from the Talbot estate on higher ground above the mill which became chapel terrace. The chapel opened in 1856. In 1914 the old 'Seion' chapel was demolished, and a new one was built in its place at a cost of between £1,600 and £1,700. After many years of discussion, a vestry was built and opened in 1929. By 1986 the membership had dropped to 10, and therefore it became impossible to continue, and the chapel was closed in October that year. The vestry has been converted into a bungalow, and the church had soon after got demolished.

The first Baptists appeared in Bryn in 1848, services were held in a barn belonging to the colliery company, probably near Coalyard Row. It had 40 members and 40 in Sunday school. There was a very bad case of Cholera in 1849, and a surge in religious activity helped to establish a Baptist Chapel. This was the second chapel in Bryn. Built in 1858 with seating for 120 downstairs and 80 upstairs, the chapel had a boost of 45 members in 1859–60. Baptisms took place in the stream below Meadow Row, certainly up until 1900. Pollution from the colliery stopped the tradition. It was replaced with a well under the 'big seat' of the chapel. Members of the chapel had to pay weekly for the rental of chapel seats; this stopped in 1970. Tickets were given out during singing schools, held after the evening service. Only those with a good attendance were allowed to go up to the gallery to sing. In its heyday the members would produce dramas and operas; Mayor John Harry Jones was one of the members and also became its secretary. The chapel is now a grade 2 listed building which was turned into a dwelling in 2003.

The Carmel chapel opened in 1860. It was founded for the need of more room, with the increase of workers used in the collieries. Members of the Seion helped to dig the foundations which would help lower building costs that totals £196. Of this money, £121 was collected in advance and the rest was to be paid in 6 years. In 1869 £70 was spent on improving the building, with this being paid by 1877, fortunately before the first colliery closed; when many of its members left the village in search for jobs, membership fell to only 14. Although when Bryn Navigation colliery began sinking in 1902 the chapel had a much needed boost of followers. Eventually it was decided to build a new chapel. The first part, completed in 1928, was intended to be a vestry, with the second floor to be added later to constitute the chapel itself. Again, economic depression in the 1930s interfered with the plans, and with the cost totalling £1750 for the 80 strong members, the decision was made to continue to use the vestry building as the chapel. Today, after its closure, another chapel in Bryn has been turned into a dwelling.

This is the youngest church in Bryn, the formation service was held in 1917 when the chapel was accepted into the English Baptist Association; at that time they had 13 members, against a devastating war in Europe and the Middle East.

The first Apostolic church was founded in Bryn in 1926. It first used the ambulance room which was owned by the Bryn colliery; its services were every Thursday and Sunday. A new church was built near the old co op; at its strongest point it had a membership of 58 and finally closed in 1953. All these places of worship were a center for culture, with children being taught Welsh and sol fa, which were important at the time when the school was regarded as national (church school).

This church was one of the many benefactions of Miss Emily Charlotte Talbot, to whom the ownership of the Talbot estate passed on the death of her father in 1980. Even before the church was constructed, there were church worshipers in the village; they used the old school room adjoining Bryn farm. They took the initiative to send a petition to Talbot for the provision for a church in Bryn, possibly for her generosity in founding St Theodores in 1897. Talbot responded wholeheartedly, and not only committed herself to pay for the church (£5,500), but also the parsonage (£1,100) and the church hall built in 1915 for (£760). On 15 May 1902 a legal document was completed for the usage of the land which the church had already been built upon. On the afternoon of Thursday, 30 August 1900, the foundation stone was laid by Talbot. The church was completed in 1902.

Bryn acquired its first public house in 1850, it was at the lower end of Farteg Row, which in the 1851 census was listed as number 13. It is not known whether it was originally built to be a public house or whether it was converted. It is most likely to have been converted, as the population of Bryn greatly increased by 1841. It was named the 'Royal Oak Inn' (1851) then 'No 1 lower Bryn Coliery Cottages' (1861) 'then 13 Farteg Row' (1871), and to avoid any more confusion it was finally named '13 Farteg Row, Royal Oak Public House' (1881). Griffith Rowland was its innkeeper until he died in 1874. His wife Ann Rowland became its successor. The family have another connection in the village, Rowland cottages were built in 1861 by Griffith Rowland; number 2, 3 and 4 were built at first, with number 1 being built at a later date. These cottages were intended to house Griffith's daughters. One of his daughters, Margaret, lived at number 4 with her husband Thomas Daniel, until her mother died in 1883, and they took over the Royal Oak Inn. The family remained the licencees until the new pub was opened in 1898. They stayed at the new pub until 1928 when they retired and ended a 70 year chapter for the Rowlands. The old pub was lived in until the 1950s when it was demolished. To this day, the new pub is still a public house which serves homemade food.

Bryn was once a very self contained village with its own petrol station and numerous shops, as well as having a brickworks and a various coal mines. With the advances of more modern transport, the people of Bryn now had the luxury to travel to the nearby towns of Port Talbot and Maesteg to shop; with the improved PTR day trips were becoming the norm to the seaside of Aberavon and Porthcawl. Bryn still has a shop that contains basic essentials as well as newspapers and confectionery items. The local post office closed around 2006.

Bryn also served as a camp for the British Royal Artillery during WW2. Bunkers can still be seen today. Many men were stationed here. The CO (commanding officer) had his private bunker.

The Port Talbot (Margam) stage of the World Rally GB used to pass through Bryn and finish in Margam park, although they had been known to change the course to drive the opposite way. It now runs in North Wales.

Bryn has been featured on BBC Wales News when many local residents had seen and captured on film a mysterious large cat, "The beast of Bryn".