Clydach
Encyclopedia
Clydach is a village and community
in the City and County of Swansea
, Wales
, falling within Clydach
ward. It is located some 6 miles (9.7 km) north east of Swansea city centre. Its population in 2001 was 7,320. Welsh
is the first language of 24 per cent of the population and both Welsh-
and English-language schools are available. The village lies close to the M4 motorway
.
. As the coal in the South Wales Valleys
was a valuable commodity during the industrial revolution
, Clydach experienced growth as a through road for transporting goods between Swansea and the many mines and heavy metal industries. The 16 mile(26 km) long Swansea Canal
was built through the centre of Clydach between 1794 and 1798. It was constructed to transport up to 400,000 tonnes of coal
a year from Ystalyfera
to Swansea port. The canal remained profitable until 1902, when losses were first reported. This decline in revenue and profits was largely due to the competition from its rival the Swansea Vale Railway
. The last commercial cargo carried on the Swansea Canal
was in 1931 when coal was conveyed from Clydach to Swansea. Boats continued to operate on the canal after that date but only for maintenance work, with horse-drawn boats last recorded at Clydach in 1958. Only 5 miles (8 km) of the canal's original length of 16 miles (25.7 km) remain.
The current population has recovered from the reduction seen in the early 1980s following the demise of mining and the heavy metal industries. The village's current population is currently approximately 7,500.
and Partners, practicing from Clydach Health Centre on Sybil Street.
The practice had six partners and 10,844 patients,
covering, in the main, the villages of Clydach, Glais, Craig Cefn Parc and
Trebanos. However there are a substantial number of patients living in
Morriston, Pontardawe, Birchgrove, Ynysforgan and Velindre areas. The
practice is the only provider of primary care services located within the village
itself.
The practice was well established in the area and had been a training practice
for approximately 28 years when ideas for renevation arose. The practice delivered a number of enhanced services and a number of GPs had Special Interests. Enhanced services at the time of proposed renovation/development included Minor Surgery, Near Patient Testing. The practice had a specialist interest in Dermatology, Rheumatology and Sports Medicine. In line with the
training ethos of the practice, 2 GP Registrars, 1 Clinical Fellow and 4 medical
students per month worked in the Health Centre.
There was a range of ancillary staff employed in the practice (15 Clinical and
11 Ancillary Practice staff,) together with some 14 Trust staff who provide
services from Clydach Health Centre. The single story flat roof Health Centre
was constructed in the early 1970s. The building was originally intended to
provide accommodation for one General Practitioner and a limited community
healthcare service. The building has been extended twice but any further
expansion was not viable in terms of the size and location of the plot.
Fundamentally the building is no longer fit for purpose with cramped waiting
room, haphazard layout, lack of clinical rooms and treatment room facilities
plus severe storage problems. This led to a small fire breaking out,
which, fortunately, occurred during the day but the Swansea NHS Trust Fire
Officer issued a report regarding his concerns over the safety of the
building. Access to the building is also a cause for concern with a severe lack
of parking space for staff and patients. Offsite parking on the surrounding
residential roads caused a considerable level of nuisance to the locality.
This surgery has been demolished for well over a year and in its place, housing is nearing completion. The health centre has moved to a modern design incorporating a pharmacy with ample car parking just off Clydach's High Street
Some of these services transferred into the hospital from the Clydach Health Centre releasing accommodation for the development of primary care services, whilst others transferred from accommodation, which no longer met the needs of the current services.
and Swansea City Council. A grant of over £130,000 was made available for local high street businesses to improve the frontage to their stores.
In December 2003 it was reported by the BBC
that Trading Standards
were investigating how 500 Air Canada
in-flight breakfasts came to be on sale at the market. The microwave meals of scrambled egg, bacon, sausage and mushrooms were being sold for 20p. They were supposed to be on a flight departing London Heathrow earlier that morning.
the inventor of the nickel carbonyl process
at the turn of the 20th century. It started production in 1902. It is Europe
’s largest nickel
refinery
. It is 100% owned by Vale
and produces nickel powder, nickel pellets and other various nickel-coated materials. It also has a Nickel Foam production plan that until recently was the sole provider of the Nickel foam required in the power cells of the Toyota Prius
, production has since moved to a plant in China.
The plant was the heart of the village and one of the largest employers in the Swansea valley for many years. By 1910 over 40% of the village’s population worked in the refinery. Today, with improvements in processing and a rationalisation of products, the refinery now only employs just over 240 people, equating to 3% of the village's population.
There is a bronze statue of Ludwig Mond, commissioned after his death in 1909, amongst the daffodils opposite The Mond’s redbrick Edwardian
entrance.
The refinery has been progressive in ensuring the reduction of emissions and pollutants. The River Tawe
, which runs alongside the refinery, is once again home to breeding salmon
and trout
. The refinery is, however, a top-tier Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations (COMAH) site, due to the inherent nature of its process.
of the Church in Wales
, the parish church being St. Mary's on High Street. Other English-language churches include Bethel Evangelical Church, Clydach Methodist Church, Calvary Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God), and St. Benedicts (Roman Catholic). Only two Welsh-language churches remain: Capel-y-Nant (ecumenical) and Calfaria (Welsh Baptist). A number of Welsh-speaking churches in the community have recently closed, though their buildings still remain. This include St. Johns (High Street), and Hebron (Hebron Road). Also in Clydach is Bethania English Baptist Church, Graig-felin. There is also a kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses located on Capel Road (one of the oldest in Wales)
which was created by Inco (the precurser to Vale). Until the mid 1980s however, when a relief road was built to reduce traffic travelling through the village, the course was prone to flooding due to its close proximity to the river. During heavy rains flooding on the golf course is still common.
Forge Fach continues to assist in the social and economic regeneration of Clydach and Graigfelen, offering a range of activities & facilities for the benefit of all members of the community. These include exercise classes, social meeting groups, diet & fitness, ‘First Strike Karate & Kickboxing Club’, ‘The Performance Factory Stage School’ & ‘Shhiva’ Hip Hop Academy. The City & County of Swansea’s Lifelong Learning department & Swansea University’s Dept of Adult Continuing Education use the centre to run a number of adult education classes in subjects such as Drawing & Painting, Crochet, Jewellery Making, IT & Welsh. Forge Fach also acts as an educational venue for the local St. John Ambulance Division, where members of the community can improve their First Aid skills.
Forge Fach is situated next to the Forge Fach Waterfalls, part of the River Clydach.
s and arches.
The Cwm Clydach nature reserve used to be the home to the Nixon and Bell Drift mine. It was affectionately known as Nixons and was one of the main employers until the 1960–1961. It was used after as a pumping station, and would drain water from the Abergelli and Graig Merthyr collieries and then on te then Brynmill colliery at Grovesend.
The colliery was a rock top colliery and there was even a steam boiler underground, which was rare in a colliery, but as there was no gas in the mine at that area it was safe enough.
Little remains of the colliery now, and there is a walk up the valley past other remnants of other NCB and private mines.
The village used to be the home to the Cwmtawe Lower Comprehensive school, it was the junior part of the three tier school system, the other partners being GCG lower school and Cwmtawe Upper School Pontardawe.Three schools were split, the lower schools were for the 11–13 years olds, and then the last three years of compulsory education was at the Cwmtawe Upper school in Pontardawe.
Today Clydach is in the catchment area of Birchgrove Comprehensive School.
However, many residents attend Cwmtawe Comprehensive School in Pontardawe.
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
in the City and County of Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, falling within Clydach
Clydach (electoral ward)
Clydach is the name of an electoral ward, a community and a town in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, UK. The town has its own elected community council serving the community....
ward. It is located some 6 miles (9.7 km) north east of Swansea city centre. Its population in 2001 was 7,320. Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
is the first language of 24 per cent of the population and both Welsh-
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
and English-language schools are available. The village lies close to the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
.
History
In the early 19th century, Clydach was a small village in the Swansea ValleySwansea Valley
The Swansea Valley , one of the South Wales Valleys is the name often given to the valley of the River Tawe area in South Wales, UK. It reaches southwest and south from the Brecon Beacons National Park down to the city of Swansea. Today, administration of the area is divided between the City and...
. As the coal in the South Wales Valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
was a valuable commodity during the industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, Clydach experienced growth as a through road for transporting goods between Swansea and the many mines and heavy metal industries. The 16 mile(26 km) long Swansea Canal
Swansea Canal
The Swansea Canal was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for some from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were needed to enable it to rise over its length...
was built through the centre of Clydach between 1794 and 1798. It was constructed to transport up to 400,000 tonnes of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
a year from Ystalyfera
Ystalyfera
Ystalyfera is a former industrial village in the upper Swansea Valley, on the River Tawe, about north-east of Swansea. It is an electoral ward and a community in the unitary authority of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, comprising a resident population of just over 3,000 people, approximately 60% of whom...
to Swansea port. The canal remained profitable until 1902, when losses were first reported. This decline in revenue and profits was largely due to the competition from its rival the Swansea Vale Railway
Swansea Vale Railway
|-|colspan="2" width="320"|-History:First opened in 1816 as a tramroad for conveying coal from Scott's Pit, near Birchgrove, to wharves on the River Tawe nearly four miles to the south, the Swansea Vale route grew to become a feeder railway for several mines and metal-working industries in the...
. The last commercial cargo carried on the Swansea Canal
Swansea Canal
The Swansea Canal was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for some from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were needed to enable it to rise over its length...
was in 1931 when coal was conveyed from Clydach to Swansea. Boats continued to operate on the canal after that date but only for maintenance work, with horse-drawn boats last recorded at Clydach in 1958. Only 5 miles (8 km) of the canal's original length of 16 miles (25.7 km) remain.
Population
The end of the 19th century and the early 20th century saw a significant growth in the village’s population. With the opening of The Mond in 1902 the village experienced significant growth as the factory became the main employer within the village. The figures below show the population for the parish of Rhyndwyglydach.| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1801 | 722 |
| 1811 | 884 |
| 1821 | 948 |
| 1831 | 1,137 |
| 1841 | 1,438 |
| 1851 | 1,578 |
| 1861 | 1,720 |
| 1871 | 2,208 |
| 1881 | 3,529 |
| 1891 | 4,018 |
| 1901 | 4,462 |
| 1911 | 6,994 |
| 1921 | 8,789 |
| 1931 | 9,444 |
| 1951 | 9,214 |
| 1961 | 8,566 |
The current population has recovered from the reduction seen in the early 1980s following the demise of mining and the heavy metal industries. The village's current population is currently approximately 7,500.
Clydach Primary Care Centre
General Medical Services (GMS) were originally being provided by Dr Bowenand Partners, practicing from Clydach Health Centre on Sybil Street.
The practice had six partners and 10,844 patients,
covering, in the main, the villages of Clydach, Glais, Craig Cefn Parc and
Trebanos. However there are a substantial number of patients living in
Morriston, Pontardawe, Birchgrove, Ynysforgan and Velindre areas. The
practice is the only provider of primary care services located within the village
itself.
The practice was well established in the area and had been a training practice
for approximately 28 years when ideas for renevation arose. The practice delivered a number of enhanced services and a number of GPs had Special Interests. Enhanced services at the time of proposed renovation/development included Minor Surgery, Near Patient Testing. The practice had a specialist interest in Dermatology, Rheumatology and Sports Medicine. In line with the
training ethos of the practice, 2 GP Registrars, 1 Clinical Fellow and 4 medical
students per month worked in the Health Centre.
There was a range of ancillary staff employed in the practice (15 Clinical and
11 Ancillary Practice staff,) together with some 14 Trust staff who provide
services from Clydach Health Centre. The single story flat roof Health Centre
was constructed in the early 1970s. The building was originally intended to
provide accommodation for one General Practitioner and a limited community
healthcare service. The building has been extended twice but any further
expansion was not viable in terms of the size and location of the plot.
Fundamentally the building is no longer fit for purpose with cramped waiting
room, haphazard layout, lack of clinical rooms and treatment room facilities
plus severe storage problems. This led to a small fire breaking out,
which, fortunately, occurred during the day but the Swansea NHS Trust Fire
Officer issued a report regarding his concerns over the safety of the
building. Access to the building is also a cause for concern with a severe lack
of parking space for staff and patients. Offsite parking on the surrounding
residential roads caused a considerable level of nuisance to the locality.
This surgery has been demolished for well over a year and in its place, housing is nearing completion. The health centre has moved to a modern design incorporating a pharmacy with ample car parking just off Clydach's High Street
Clydach Hospital
Clydach War Memorial Hospital was re-opened in March 2003 following a £1million refurbishment. The hospital provides community based, clinic services and an operational base for the voluntary carer organisation "Cross Roads".Some of these services transferred into the hospital from the Clydach Health Centre releasing accommodation for the development of primary care services, whilst others transferred from accommodation, which no longer met the needs of the current services.
High Street
The centre of Clydach High Street, the main commercial area of the town has had major investments in improving its facilities. These include reshaping and resurfacing of the road, new flagstones to replace tarmac pavements, new trees, new seats and cycle racks. Work was commissioned by Cwmni Clydach Development Trust, with funding for the schemes provided by the Welsh Development AgencyWelsh Development Agency
The Welsh Development Agency was a QUANGO and later an Assembly Sponsored Public Body established in 1976 to encourage business development and investment in Wales, to clear derelict land and to encourage growth of local businesses...
and Swansea City Council. A grant of over £130,000 was made available for local high street businesses to improve the frontage to their stores.
Clydach Market
Clydach has a market that is open from 06:00 until 13:00 on Wednesdays and from 09:00 until 16:00 on Sundays.In December 2003 it was reported by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
that Trading Standards
Trading Standards
Trading Standards is the name given to local authority departments in the UK formerly known as Weights and Measures. These departments investigate commercial organisations that carry out trade in unethical ways or outside the scope of the law.-History:...
were investigating how 500 Air Canada
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...
in-flight breakfasts came to be on sale at the market. The microwave meals of scrambled egg, bacon, sausage and mushrooms were being sold for 20p. They were supposed to be on a flight departing London Heathrow earlier that morning.
Clydach Refinery
Clydach Refinery, affectionately known as 'The Mond', was built by Ludwig MondLudwig Mond
Dr Ludwig Mond , was a German-born chemist and industrialist who took British nationality.-Education and career:...
the inventor of the nickel carbonyl process
Mond process
The Mond process, sometimes known as the carbonyl process is a technique created by Ludwig Mond in 1890 to extract and purify nickel. The process was used commercially before the end of the 19th century...
at the turn of the 20th century. It started production in 1902. It is Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
’s largest nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
refinery
Refinery
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.-Types of refineries:Different types of refineries are as follows:...
. It is 100% owned by Vale
Vale
In geography, a vale is a wide river valley, usually with a particularly wide flood plain or flat valley bottom. Vales commonly occur between the escarpment slopes of pairs of chalk downs, where the chalk dome has been eroded, exposing less resistant underlying rock, usually clay.- Places :* Vale...
and produces nickel powder, nickel pellets and other various nickel-coated materials. It also has a Nickel Foam production plan that until recently was the sole provider of the Nickel foam required in the power cells of the Toyota Prius
Toyota Prius
The Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation...
, production has since moved to a plant in China.
The plant was the heart of the village and one of the largest employers in the Swansea valley for many years. By 1910 over 40% of the village’s population worked in the refinery. Today, with improvements in processing and a rationalisation of products, the refinery now only employs just over 240 people, equating to 3% of the village's population.
There is a bronze statue of Ludwig Mond, commissioned after his death in 1909, amongst the daffodils opposite The Mond’s redbrick Edwardian
Edwardian architecture
Edwardian architecture is the style popular when King Edward VII of the United Kingdom was in power; he reigned from 1901 to 1910, but the architecture style is generally considered to be indicative of the years 1901 to 1914....
entrance.
The refinery has been progressive in ensuring the reduction of emissions and pollutants. The River Tawe
River Tawe
The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...
, which runs alongside the refinery, is once again home to breeding salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
and trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
. The refinery is, however, a top-tier Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations (COMAH) site, due to the inherent nature of its process.
Religion
There are a number of churches in Clydach, serving both English and Welsh language speakers. Clydach is a parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of the Church in Wales
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
, the parish church being St. Mary's on High Street. Other English-language churches include Bethel Evangelical Church, Clydach Methodist Church, Calvary Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God), and St. Benedicts (Roman Catholic). Only two Welsh-language churches remain: Capel-y-Nant (ecumenical) and Calfaria (Welsh Baptist). A number of Welsh-speaking churches in the community have recently closed, though their buildings still remain. This include St. Johns (High Street), and Hebron (Hebron Road). Also in Clydach is Bethania English Baptist Church, Graig-felin. There is also a kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses located on Capel Road (one of the oldest in Wales)
Inco Golf Club
The town is home to an 18-hole golf courseGolf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
which was created by Inco (the precurser to Vale). Until the mid 1980s however, when a relief road was built to reduce traffic travelling through the village, the course was prone to flooding due to its close proximity to the river. During heavy rains flooding on the golf course is still common.
Forge Fach Community Resource Centre
Following the demolition of the old Clydach swimming pool, or 'The Baths', or 'Dannys baths' as the locals called it, the Cwmni Clydach Development Trust, commissioned a new multi purpose Community Resource Centre at Forge Fach, at a cost of approx. £1.8 million, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, City & County of Swansea & Clydach Community Council. The centre opened in 2006. It provides a range of facilities including a community café, a full Day Care Nursery, a Multi-Purpose Hall, ICT.suite, training & conferencing facilities plus an external multi-use games area. In addition there are a number of fully serviced offices rented by local businesses.Forge Fach continues to assist in the social and economic regeneration of Clydach and Graigfelen, offering a range of activities & facilities for the benefit of all members of the community. These include exercise classes, social meeting groups, diet & fitness, ‘First Strike Karate & Kickboxing Club’, ‘The Performance Factory Stage School’ & ‘Shhiva’ Hip Hop Academy. The City & County of Swansea’s Lifelong Learning department & Swansea University’s Dept of Adult Continuing Education use the centre to run a number of adult education classes in subjects such as Drawing & Painting, Crochet, Jewellery Making, IT & Welsh. Forge Fach also acts as an educational venue for the local St. John Ambulance Division, where members of the community can improve their First Aid skills.
Forge Fach is situated next to the Forge Fach Waterfalls, part of the River Clydach.
Dynamic Rock
2006 saw the opening of the Old Public Hall, which was converted into an indoor climbing centre and was renamed Dynamic Rock. It is now home to the Swansea Indoor Climbing Centre. The walls are 12m high and feature overhangs, slabs, pillars, arêteArete
Areté is the term meaning "virtue" or "excellence", from Greek ἈρετήArete may also be used:*as a given name of persons or things:**Queen Arete , a character in Homer's Odyssey.***197 Arete, an asteroid....
s and arches.
Cwm Clydach
The Cwm Clydach RSPB Reserve is situated on the outskirts of the village, en route to Craig Cefn Park near the New Inn Pub.The Cwm Clydach nature reserve used to be the home to the Nixon and Bell Drift mine. It was affectionately known as Nixons and was one of the main employers until the 1960–1961. It was used after as a pumping station, and would drain water from the Abergelli and Graig Merthyr collieries and then on te then Brynmill colliery at Grovesend.
The colliery was a rock top colliery and there was even a steam boiler underground, which was rare in a colliery, but as there was no gas in the mine at that area it was safe enough.
Little remains of the colliery now, and there is a walk up the valley past other remnants of other NCB and private mines.
Education
Clydach Infants, Clydach Junior and Graigfelen Primary schools are the main primary schools for residents. There is also a Welsh medium primary school, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Gellionnen, on Gellionnen Road, and a Roman Catholic primary school, St Joseph's, on Pontardawe Road.The village used to be the home to the Cwmtawe Lower Comprehensive school, it was the junior part of the three tier school system, the other partners being GCG lower school and Cwmtawe Upper School Pontardawe.Three schools were split, the lower schools were for the 11–13 years olds, and then the last three years of compulsory education was at the Cwmtawe Upper school in Pontardawe.
Today Clydach is in the catchment area of Birchgrove Comprehensive School.
However, many residents attend Cwmtawe Comprehensive School in Pontardawe.