Gwavas is a residential council estate on the southern outskirts of the town of Newlyn

Newlyn

Newlyn is a town and fishing port in southwest Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Newlyn forms a conurbation with the neighbouring town of Penzance and is part of Penzance civil parish...

 in west Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It is situated immediately west of Gwavas Road and takes its name from nearby Gwavas Farm.

The name Gwavas derives from the Cornish

Cornish language

Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...

 "gwaf" meaning winter, and "bos" meaning abode.

The estate was built by Penzance

Penzance

Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...

 Borough Council in 1937 following limited slum clearance in the harbour area of Newlyn . The slum clearance programme was intended to be much larger but many houses were saved following the famous Rosebud

PZ 87 The Rosebud

The Rosebud - PZ 87 - was the Newlyn based fishing boat that was at the centre of the attempt by Newlyn villagers to save their condemned properties in the 1930s...

 Campaign.
Situated on hilly ground, Gwavas contributes to much of the Penzance

Penzance

Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...

 South Ward's high standing on the UK government's index of deprivation

Department of Environment Index

The Department of Environment Index is an index of urban poverty designed to assess relative levels of deprivation in local authorities in England. The DoE has three dimensions of deprivation: social, economic and housing.-References:...

 . Most of the housing stock is now in the ownership of Penwith Housing Association

Penwith Housing Association

The Penwith Housing Association is a social housing provider based in Cornwall, UK. It was formed in 1994 following the sale of Penwith District Council's housing stock. The housing association is one of the largest providers of housing in Cornwall with the number of residents being counted in the...

 following the sale of Penwith

Penwith

Penwith was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, whose council was based in Penzance. The district covered all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which included an area of land to the east that fell outside the...

council housing stock in 1994.