South Wales
Encyclopedia
South Wales is an area of Wales
bordered by England
and the Bristol Channel
to the east and south, and Mid Wales
and West Wales
to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom
, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city
of Cardiff
(population approximately 324,800), as well as Swansea
and Newport
. The Brecon Beacons
national park
covers about a third of South Wales, containing Pen y Fan
, the highest mountain south of Snowdonia
.
The extent of South Wales is loosely defined, but it is generally considered to be the area surrounding the M4 motorway
, including the historic counties of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire
and sometimes extending westwards to include south Carmarthenshire
and south Pembrokeshire
. In the western extent, from Swansea
westwards, local people would probably recognise that they lived in both South Wales and in West Wales
- there is considerable overlap in these somewhat artificial boundaries. The northern border is particularly ill-defined, but the A40
may be a good approximation whilst others consider the more southerly Heads of the Valleys Road
as the boundary.
and upland mountain ridges were once a very rural area of great natural beauty, noted for its river valleys and ancient forests and lauded by romantic poet
s such as William Wordsworth
as well as poets in the Welsh language, although the interests of the latter lay more in society and culture than in the evocation of natural scenery. This natural beauty changed to a considerable extent during the early Industrial Revolution
when the Glamorgan
and Monmouthshire
valley areas were exploited for coal
and iron
. By the 1830s, hundreds of tons of coal were being transported by barge to ports in Cardiff
and Newport
. In the 1870s, coal was transported by railway networks to Newport Docks
, at the time the largest coal exporting docks in the world, and by the 1880s coal was being exported from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan
.
The Marquess of Bute
, who owned much of the land north of Cardiff
, built a steam railway system on his land that stretched from Cardiff into many of the South Wales Valleys
where the coal was being found. Lord Bute then charged taxes per ton of coal that was transported out using his railways. With coal mining
and iron
smelting
being the main trades of South Wales, many thousands of immigrants from the English Midlands
, Scotland
, Ireland
, Cornwall
and even Italy
came and set up homes and put down roots in the region. Very many came from other coal mining areas such as Somerset
, the Forest of Dean
in Gloucestershire
and the tin
mines of Cornwall
such as Geevor Tin Mine
, as a large but experienced and willing workforce was required. Whilst some of the migrants left, many settled and established in the South Wales valleys
between Swansea
and Abergavenny
, English speaking communities with a unique identity. Industrial workers were housed in cottages and terraced houses close to the mines and foundries in which they worked. The large influx over the years caused overcrowding which led to outbreaks of Cholera
, and on the social and cultural side, the near-loss of the Welsh language
in the area.
The 1930s inter-war Great Depression in the United Kingdom
saw the loss of almost half of the coal pits in the South Wales coalfield
and this number declined further in the years following World War II
. This number is now very low, following the UK miners' strike (1984-1985), and the last 'traditional' deep-shaft mine, Tower Colliery
, closed in January 2008.
Despite the intense industrialisation of the coal mining
valleys, many parts of the landscape of South Wales such as the upper Neath
valley, the Vale of Glamorgan
and the valleys of the River Usk
and River Wye
remain distinctly beautiful and unspoilt and have been designated SSSI, Sites of Special Scientific Interest. In addition to this, many once heavily industrialised sites have reverted to wilderness, some provided with a series of cycle tracks and other outdoor amenities. Large areas of forestry and open moorland also contribute to the amenity of the landscape.
(Welsh
: Merthyr Tudful) grew around the Dowlais Ironworks
which was founded to exploit the locally abundant seams of iron ore, and in time it became the largest iron
producing town in the world. New coal mines were sunk nearby to feed the furnace
s and in time produced coal for export. By the 1831 census
, the population of Merthyr was 60,000 - more at that time than Cardiff
, Swansea
and Newport
combined and its industries included coal mines, iron works, cable factory, engine sheds and sidings and many others. The town was also the birthplace of Joseph Parry
, composer of the haunting hymn tune Myfanwy.
The Heads of the Valleys towns, including Rhymney
, Tredegar
and Ebbw Vale
rose out of the industrial revolution; producing coal, metal ores and later steel
.
Aberfan
: The Merthyr Vale colliery began to produce coal in 1875. Spoil from the mine workings was piled on the hills close to the village which grew nearby. Tipping went on until the 1960s. The industry was by then nationalised but even the National Coal Board
failed to appreciate the true nature of the danger they helped to create. In October 1966, heavy rain made the giant coal tip unstable. The recent dumping of small particles of coal and ash known as 'tailings' seems to have been partly responsible. A 30 feet (9.1 m) black wave tore downhill across the Glamorganshire Canal
and swept away houses on its path towards the village school. 114 children and 28 adults were killed.
The Rhondda
Valleys (Rhondda Fach and Rhondda Fawr) housed around 3,000 people in 1860 but by 1910 the population had soared to 160,000. The Rhondda had become the heart of a massive South Walian coal industry. Mining accident
s below ground were common and in 1896 fifty-seven men and boys were killed in a gas explosion at the Tylorstown Colliery. An enquiry found that the pit involved had not been properly inspected over the previous fifteen months.
Ebbw Vale - the valley of the Ebbw River
which stretches from the town of Ebbw Vale
to Newport
includes the mining towns and villages of Newbridge, Risca
, Crumlin, Abercarn
and Cwmcarn
. The Carboniferous
Black Vein coal seams in the area lay 900 feet below the surface and the mining activity associated with it was responsible for many tragic subsurface explosions, roof collapses and mining accident
s.
Now the Valleys' heavy industrial past is overprinted with urban regeneration, tourism and multi-national investment. Large, empty factory units, or ones turned over to retail use, witness to the lack of success in replacing older industries.
, but there are also many who speak Welsh
. In western parts of Glamorgan
, particularly the Neath
and Swansea Valley
s, there remain significant Welsh-speaking communities such as (Ystradgynlais
and Ystalyfera
) which share a heritage with the fellow ex-Anthracite mining areas of eastern Carmarthenshire
, as much as the Glamorgan
valleys.
The local slang
dialect
and phrases of the South Wales Valleys
communities have been referred to as 'Wenglish', with often comic effect http://talktidy.com/s.html. The dialect is found also in such coastal towns as Barry, as featured in the BBC hit comedy series Gavin and Stacey. Compared with such regional English dialects as those of Yorkshire, the local speech seems to be very little studied or appreciated.
Welsh, however, is now a compulsory language up to GCSE level for all students who start their education in Wales
. This has meant the strength of the language, as a 2nd language, has increased considerably in the last 20 years. Several schools offering Welsh-language education operate in this area, for example Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari
in Pontyclun
, Ysgol Gyfun Y Cymmer
in Porth
the Rhondda
, Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun
in Penywaun
in the Cynon Valley
, Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw
in Pontypool
, Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni
in Blackwood, Ysgol Gymraeg Plasmawr
in Cardiff
& Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg
in Church Village
, Ysgol Gyfun Maes Yr Yrfa in Carmarthenshire which have all done much to enhance the status of the language among young people.
A significant number of people from ethnic-minority communities speak another language as their first language, particularly in Cardiff
and Newport
. Commonly spoken languages in some areas include Punjabi
, Bengali
, Arabic, Somali
and Chinese
, and increasingly Eastern Europe
an languages such as Polish
.
and music
. Today music ranges from the traditional Welsh
Male Voice choir
s of the Valleys such as Treorchy Male Choir
to the South Wales hardcore scene which plays a dominant role in the Cardiff music scene. Bands such as Lostprophets
, Bullet for My Valentine
, Feeder
, Stereophonics
, Manic Street Preachers
, Funeral for a Friend
, The Automatic
, Skindred
, Foreign Legion
, Kids In Glass Houses
and The Blackout
all come from the South Wales area. In the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries there was a vigorous literary and musical culture centred round eisteddfodau held in the area . Despite a few timid attempts to emulate this literature in English, it can be argued that few writers seem to connect either with the landscape or the literary tradition The one exception, to some extent, can be considered to be Dylan Thomas .
The largest denomination, however, became the Calvinist Methodists (later the Presbyterian Church of Wales), whose distinctive grey stone chapels can be seen in many parts. These were mainly Welsh language congregations. Anglicanism in South Wales became autonomous from the Church of England with the Welsh Disestablishment Act in 1920, but the immediate demise of the denomination feared at that time has not taken place . The Roman Catholic community, despite systematic persecution, survived in the 17th to 19th centuries, especially in Brecon and among minor gentry such as the Vaughans of Welsh Bicknor, on the Monmouthshire - Herefordshire border . Among members of worldwide origin in later urban Catholic congregations were the Bracchis, Italians in the café and catering trades often from Bardi in the Apennines Post-war diversity has brought such developments as interesting buildings used as mosques, especially in Cardiff and Newport, Sikh gurdwaras, including one on the mountain near Abercynon and a growing number of Evangelical and Pentecostal congregations. These often add a strongly international element into local life, such as the "Pont" twinning project between Pontypridd and Mbale, Uganda, and the creation of "Fairtrade" relationships with primary producers worldwide .
and iron
production have disappeared since the economic struggles of the 1970s, with the closures of that decade continuing sharply into the 1980s, and by July 1985 just 31 coal pits remained in the region.Further closures left the region with just one deep mine by the early 1990s,and this finally closed in January 2008, by which time it had transferred to private ownership after being sold off by the National Coal Board
.
These industries have since largely replaced by service sector industries.
The cities along the M4 corridor
are home to a number of high-profile blue-chip companies such as Admiral Insurance
, Legal & General
and the Welsh based Principality Building Society
. A large number of telephone call centre
s are located in the region and in particular in the Valleys area. Merthyr Tydfil
is home to the principal UK call centre for German mobile telephone company, T-Mobile
. Many jobs are also provided in small-scale and family businesses . It is clear from anecdotal personal contacts, apart from official figures, that the new industries have so far failed to cope with the task of providing stable employment for the large number of employable people resident in the area.
The television
and film
sectors are fast becoming a major industry in South Wales, with the development, by the BBC
, of a vast dedicated production studio in Nantgarw
, near Pontypridd, for the highly successful Doctor Who
series. Lord Attenborough
is shortly due to open the first completely new film studio in the UK in over fifty years. Dragon International Film Studios
, a huge purpose-built studio complex located alongside the M4 motorway
between Bridgend
and Llantrisant
, contains a number of large soundstages which have already attracted the interest of a number of Hollywood directors and producers alike, looking for suitable facilities in Europe
.
The Welsh national media is based in Cardiff, with the BBC
, ITV and S4C
all having their studios and offices in the capital.
Cardiff also has its own television station, Capital TV, based in the Link Trade Park in Penarth Road, Cardiff. The channel broadcasts to most of Cardiff on terrestrial frequency 49. The company runs alongside with local media studes centre, Media4Schools which produces small videos in co-operation with local schools (CardiffTV4School and ValeTV4Schools).
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...
bordered by England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
to the east and south, and Mid Wales
Mid Wales
Mid Wales is the name given to the central region of Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the National Assembly for Wales covered the counties of Ceredigion and Powys and the area of Gwynedd that had previously been the district of Meirionydd. A similar definition is used by the BBC...
and West Wales
West Wales
West Wales is the western area of Wales.Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, an area which historically comprised the Welsh principality of Deheubarth., an area called "South West Wales" in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics....
to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the 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 home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
(population approximately 324,800), as well as 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...
and Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
. The Brecon Beacons
Brecon Beacons
The Brecon Beacons is a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of popular peaks south of Brecon, including South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan, and which together form the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park...
national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
covers about a third of South Wales, containing Pen y Fan
Pen y Fan
Pen y Fan is the highest peak in South Wales and southern Britain, situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park. At above sea-level, it is also the highest peak in Britain south of the Snowdonia mountain range...
, the highest mountain south of Snowdonia
Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...
.
The extent of South Wales is loosely defined, but it is generally considered to be the area surrounding 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...
, including the historic counties of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
and sometimes extending westwards to include south Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
and south Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
. In the western extent, from 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...
westwards, local people would probably recognise that they lived in both South Wales and in West Wales
West Wales
West Wales is the western area of Wales.Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, an area which historically comprised the Welsh principality of Deheubarth., an area called "South West Wales" in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics....
- there is considerable overlap in these somewhat artificial boundaries. The northern border is particularly ill-defined, but the A40
A40 road
The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road in all legal documents and Acts...
may be a good approximation whilst others consider the more southerly Heads of the Valleys Road
A465 road
The A465 is a major road in south Wales. It is more commonly known as the Heads of the Valleys Road because it joins together the north ends of the South Wales Valleys...
as the boundary.
History
The South Wales ValleysSouth 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...
and upland mountain ridges were once a very rural area of great natural beauty, noted for its river valleys and ancient forests and lauded by romantic poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
s such as William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
as well as poets in the Welsh language, although the interests of the latter lay more in society and culture than in the evocation of natural scenery. This natural beauty changed to a considerable extent during the early 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...
when the Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
and Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
valley areas were exploited for 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...
and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
. By the 1830s, hundreds of tons of coal were being transported by barge to ports in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
. In the 1870s, coal was transported by railway networks to Newport Docks
Newport Docks
Newport Docks is the collective name for a series of docks in the city of Newport, South Wales.-Background:Newport was a small fishing port and market town until the coming of the industrial age at the beginning of the 19th century...
, at the time the largest coal exporting docks in the world, and by the 1880s coal was being exported from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
.
Marquess of Bute
Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute.-Family history:...
, who owned much of the land north of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, built a steam railway system on his land that stretched from Cardiff into many of 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...
where the coal was being found. Lord Bute then charged taxes per ton of coal that was transported out using his railways. With coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
being the main trades of South Wales, many thousands of immigrants from the English Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, 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...
and even Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
came and set up homes and put down roots in the region. Very many came from other coal mining areas such as Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, the Forest of Dean
Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
and the tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
mines of 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...
such as Geevor Tin Mine
Geevor Tin Mine
Geevor Tin Mine is a tin mine in the far west of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, between the villages of Pendeen and Trewellard. It was operational between 1911 and 1990 during which time it produced about 50,000 tons of black tin. It is now a museum and heritage centre left as a living history...
, as a large but experienced and willing workforce was required. Whilst some of the migrants left, many settled and established 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...
between 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...
and Abergavenny
Abergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...
, English speaking communities with a unique identity. Industrial workers were housed in cottages and terraced houses close to the mines and foundries in which they worked. The large influx over the years caused overcrowding which led to outbreaks of Cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, and on the social and cultural side, the near-loss of the Welsh language
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...
in the area.
The 1930s inter-war Great Depression in the United Kingdom
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
saw the loss of almost half of the coal pits in the South Wales coalfield
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
and this number declined further in the years following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. This number is now very low, following the UK miners' strike (1984-1985), and the last 'traditional' deep-shaft mine, Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...
, closed in January 2008.
Despite the intense industrialisation of the coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
valleys, many parts of the landscape of South Wales such as the upper Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
valley, the Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
and the valleys of the River Usk
River Usk
The River Usk rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain of mid-Wales, in the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially it flows north into Usk Reservoir, then east by Sennybridge to Brecon before turning southeast to flow by Talybont-on-Usk, Crickhowell and...
and River Wye
River Wye
The River Wye is the fifth-longest river in the UK and for parts of its length forms part of the border between England and Wales. It is important for nature conservation and recreation.-Description:...
remain distinctly beautiful and unspoilt and have been designated SSSI, Sites of Special Scientific Interest. In addition to this, many once heavily industrialised sites have reverted to wilderness, some provided with a series of cycle tracks and other outdoor amenities. Large areas of forestry and open moorland also contribute to the amenity of the landscape.
Famous industrialised areas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Merthyr TydfilMerthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
(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...
: Merthyr Tudful) grew around the Dowlais Ironworks
Dowlais Ironworks
The Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the 18th century, it operated until the end of the 20th, at one time in the 19th century being the largest steel producer in the UK...
which was founded to exploit the locally abundant seams of iron ore, and in time it became the largest iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
producing town in the world. New coal mines were sunk nearby to feed the furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
s and in time produced coal for export. By the 1831 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, the population of Merthyr was 60,000 - more at that time than Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, 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...
and Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
combined and its industries included coal mines, iron works, cable factory, engine sheds and sidings and many others. The town was also the birthplace of Joseph Parry
Joseph Parry
Joseph Parry , was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of Myfanwy and Aberystwyth used in Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika the National anthem of South Africa.The cottage at 4 Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, where Parry was born, is now open to the...
, composer of the haunting hymn tune Myfanwy.
The Heads of the Valleys towns, including Rhymney
Rhymney
Rhymney is a town and a community located in the county borough of Caerphilly in south-east Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. Along with the villages of Pontlottyn, Fochriw, Abertysswg, Deri and New Tredegar, Rhymney is designated as the 'Upper Rhymney Valley' by the local...
, Tredegar
Tredegar
Tredegar is a town situated on the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in south-east Wales. Located within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the Industrial Revolution in South Wales...
and Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River, south Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough...
rose out of the industrial revolution; producing coal, metal ores and later steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
.
Aberfan
Aberfan
The Aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip that occurred in the Welsh village of Aberfan on Friday 21 October 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults.-Mining debris:...
: The Merthyr Vale colliery began to produce coal in 1875. Spoil from the mine workings was piled on the hills close to the village which grew nearby. Tipping went on until the 1960s. The industry was by then nationalised but even the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
failed to appreciate the true nature of the danger they helped to create. In October 1966, heavy rain made the giant coal tip unstable. The recent dumping of small particles of coal and ash known as 'tailings' seems to have been partly responsible. A 30 feet (9.1 m) black wave tore downhill across the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
and swept away houses on its path towards the village school. 114 children and 28 adults were killed.
The Rhondda
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
Valleys (Rhondda Fach and Rhondda Fawr) housed around 3,000 people in 1860 but by 1910 the population had soared to 160,000. The Rhondda had become the heart of a massive South Walian coal industry. Mining accident
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
s below ground were common and in 1896 fifty-seven men and boys were killed in a gas explosion at the Tylorstown Colliery. An enquiry found that the pit involved had not been properly inspected over the previous fifteen months.
Ebbw Vale - the valley of the Ebbw River
Ebbw River
The Ebbw River is a river in South Wales.The main Ebbw River is formed by the confluence of the two minor Ebbw rivers, Ebbw Fach, and Ebbw Fawr ....
which stretches from the town of Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River, south Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough...
to Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
includes the mining towns and villages of Newbridge, Risca
Risca
Risca is a town of approximately 11,500 people in South Wales, within the Caerphilly County Borough and the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is today part of the Newport conurbation , though it is not a Ward of Newport City Council...
, Crumlin, Abercarn
Abercarn
Abercarn is a small town community in Caerphilly county borough, Wales, 10 miles north-west of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.-History:...
and Cwmcarn
Cwmcarn
Cwmcarn is a village situated in the Ebbw valley in south Wales, in the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It grew with 19th-century coal mining, but is now known for its extensive mature forestry and greenery, that attract thousands of visitors and mountain biking enthusiasts each year.-...
. The Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
Black Vein coal seams in the area lay 900 feet below the surface and the mining activity associated with it was responsible for many tragic subsurface explosions, roof collapses and mining accident
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
s.
Now the Valleys' heavy industrial past is overprinted with urban regeneration, tourism and multi-national investment. Large, empty factory units, or ones turned over to retail use, witness to the lack of success in replacing older industries.
Language
The language of the vast majority of people in South Wales is EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, but there are also many who speak 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...
. In western parts of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, particularly the Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
and Swansea Valley
Swansea 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...
s, there remain significant Welsh-speaking communities such as (Ystradgynlais
Ystradgynlais
Ystradgynlais is a town on the River Tawe in south west Powys; it is the second largest town in Powys, Wales. The town grew around the iron-making, coal-mining and watch-making industries....
and 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...
) which share a heritage with the fellow ex-Anthracite mining areas of eastern Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
, as much as the Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
valleys.
The local slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
and phrases of 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...
communities have been referred to as 'Wenglish', with often comic effect http://talktidy.com/s.html. The dialect is found also in such coastal towns as Barry, as featured in the BBC hit comedy series Gavin and Stacey. Compared with such regional English dialects as those of Yorkshire, the local speech seems to be very little studied or appreciated.
Welsh, however, is now a compulsory language up to GCSE level for all students who start their education in 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...
. This has meant the strength of the language, as a 2nd language, has increased considerably in the last 20 years. Several schools offering Welsh-language education operate in this area, for example Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari
Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari
Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari is a Welsh medium comprehensive school for 11-18 year olds situated in the village of Llanharry, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.-Welsh medium education:...
in Pontyclun
Pontyclun
Pontyclun is a village in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is served by the South Wales Main Line and has its own local rugby union club...
, Ysgol Gyfun Y Cymmer
Ysgol Gyfun Y Cymmer
Ysgol Gyfun Cymer Rhondda is a Welsh-medium secondary school located in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, situated near Porth.-History:...
in Porth
Porth
Porth is a town and a community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Valley and is regarded as the gateway to the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach valleys because both valleys meet at Porth...
the Rhondda
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
, Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun
Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun
Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun is a Welsh Medium comprehensive school in the Cynon Valley in the village of Penywaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.The school was established in 1995...
in Penywaun
Penywaun
Penywaun is a village in the Cynon Valley situated between Aberdare and Hirwaun, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.-Background:The population of Penywaun is approximately 3,300....
in the Cynon Valley
Cynon Valley
The Cynon Valley , is a famous former coal mining valley within the South Wales Valleys of Wales. The Cynon Valley lies between the other mining Valley of Rhondda and the iron industrial Valley of the Merthyr Valley. Its main towns are Aberdare located North of the Valley and Mountain Ash located...
, Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw
Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw
' is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school located in Trevethin, Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales and named for Saint Gwynllyw.- History :The school was founded in 1988 as the first Welsh-medium school in the former Gwent LEA area and is housed in accommodation previously used for Trevethin Comprehensive...
in Pontypool
Pontypool
Pontypool is a town of approximately 36,000 people in the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales....
, Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni
Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni
Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni is a Welsh-medium school situated in the village of Fleur-de-Lys in the Rhymney Valley. Cwm Rhymni was founded in 1981 with little more than 100 pupils and as of 2007 this number has grown to over 1,000....
in Blackwood, Ysgol Gymraeg Plasmawr
Ysgol Gymraeg Plasmawr
Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr is a Welsh secondary school in Cardiff. It opened in September 1998 in buildings that had formerly been used as Waterhall School and more recently as the Lower School site for Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, and became Cardiff's second Welsh-medium comprehensive school...
in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
& Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg
Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg
Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen is a Welsh Medium comprehensive school in the village of Church Village near Pontypridd, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales...
in Church Village
Church Village
Church Village is a large village in the historic parish and community of Llantwit Fardre, located within the Taff Ely district of the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales...
, Ysgol Gyfun Maes Yr Yrfa in Carmarthenshire which have all done much to enhance the status of the language among young people.
A significant number of people from ethnic-minority communities speak another language as their first language, particularly in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
. Commonly spoken languages in some areas include Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
, Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, Arabic, Somali
Somali language
The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....
and Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, and increasingly Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an languages such as Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
.
Culture
The traditional pastimes of the area include rugbyRugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
. Today music ranges from the traditional Welsh
Music of Wales
Wales has a strong and distinctive link with music. The country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song". This is a modern stereotype based on 19th century conceptions of Nonconformist choral music and 20th century male voice choirs, Eisteddfodau and arena singing, such as sporting...
Male Voice choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
s of the Valleys such as Treorchy Male Choir
Treorchy Male Choir
Treorchy Male Voice Choir is a choir based in Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley, Wales, United Kingdom.Choirs have existed in the Rhondda Valley for more than a hundred and fifty years and Treorchy is one of the best known from the area...
to the South Wales hardcore scene which plays a dominant role in the Cardiff music scene. Bands such as Lostprophets
Lostprophets
Lostprophets is a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997. Founded by vocalist Ian Watkins, bassist Mike Lewis, drummer Mike Chiplin and guitarist Lee Gaze, they were originally a side-project to hardcore punk band Public Disturbance. To date, Lostprophets have released four studio...
, Bullet for My Valentine
Bullet for My Valentine
Bullet for My Valentine are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is composed of Matt Tuck , Michael Paget , Jason James , and Michael Thomas . They were formed under the name Jeff Killed John and started their music career by covering songs by Metallica and Nirvana...
, Feeder
Feeder
-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...
, Stereophonics
Stereophonics
The Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band now living in turners x that formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in Cynon Valley, Wales. The band currently comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist and backing vocalist Richard Jones, drummer Javier Weyler, guitarist and backing...
, Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
, Funeral for a Friend
Funeral for a Friend
Funeral for a Friend are a Welsh post-hardcore band, from Bridgend. Formed 2001, they have released five studio albums, seven EPs, sixteen singles, one DVD, and one compilation album.-Formation and Early Years:...
, The Automatic
The Automatic
The Automatic , are a Welsh rock band. The band is composed of Robin Hawkins on vocals, bass and synthesizers, James Frost on guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals and occasional bass, Iwan Griffiths on drums and Paul Mullen on vocals, guitar and synthesizer - since 2007...
, Skindred
Skindred
Skindred is a Welsh rock band from Newport. The band was formed in 1998 following the disbandment of vocalist Benji Webbe's previous band, Dub War. Skindred's musical style mixes alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and reggae...
, Foreign Legion
Foreign Legion (band)
Foreign Legion was a punk band from South Wales, often referred to as the longest running punk group in Wales.-1984–1991:Foreign Legion formed in 1984 from the ashes of a band called Society . The band released their first EP on their own label 'Rent a Racket'. Their first full-length album...
, Kids In Glass Houses
Kids in Glass Houses
Kids in Glass Houses are a Welsh rock band from Cardiff, and are considered a significant part of the Cardiff music scene. The band's name is inspired by the lyrics "not throwing stones at you anymore" from Glassjaw song "Tip Your Bartender". The band achieved success on the strength of the singles...
and The Blackout
The Blackout (band)
The Blackout is a post-hardcore band from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, formed in 2003. After some time backing Lostprophets on their Liberation Transmission Tour, along with Dopamine, Covergirl, Kids In Glass Houses, The Guns and Men, Women and Children, they released their first mini-album The Blackout!...
all come from the South Wales area. In the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries there was a vigorous literary and musical culture centred round eisteddfodau held in the area . Despite a few timid attempts to emulate this literature in English, it can be argued that few writers seem to connect either with the landscape or the literary tradition The one exception, to some extent, can be considered to be Dylan Thomas .
Religion
The South Wales landscape is marked by numerous chapels, places of worship (past and present) of the various Christian Nonconformist congregations. The Baptist congregation at Ilston, Gower, felt compelled to move to Swansea, Massachusetts , but after the restoration of Anglican worship in 1662 several "gathered" churches survived belonging to the Baptist, Independent and Presbyterian denominations. In the 18th century members of some of these congregations became dissatisfied with the theological innovations of some trained ministers, and created new congregations such as Hengoed near Ystrad Mynach In the same century, churches were sometimes involved in the Methodist movement, especially Groeswen and Watford near Caerphilly, which both received frequent visits from John WesleyThe largest denomination, however, became the Calvinist Methodists (later the Presbyterian Church of Wales), whose distinctive grey stone chapels can be seen in many parts. These were mainly Welsh language congregations. Anglicanism in South Wales became autonomous from the Church of England with the Welsh Disestablishment Act in 1920, but the immediate demise of the denomination feared at that time has not taken place . The Roman Catholic community, despite systematic persecution, survived in the 17th to 19th centuries, especially in Brecon and among minor gentry such as the Vaughans of Welsh Bicknor, on the Monmouthshire - Herefordshire border . Among members of worldwide origin in later urban Catholic congregations were the Bracchis, Italians in the café and catering trades often from Bardi in the Apennines Post-war diversity has brought such developments as interesting buildings used as mosques, especially in Cardiff and Newport, Sikh gurdwaras, including one on the mountain near Abercynon and a growing number of Evangelical and Pentecostal congregations. These often add a strongly international element into local life, such as the "Pont" twinning project between Pontypridd and Mbale, Uganda, and the creation of "Fairtrade" relationships with primary producers worldwide .
Industry today
The former heavy industries of coalCoal
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...
and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
production have disappeared since the economic struggles of the 1970s, with the closures of that decade continuing sharply into the 1980s, and by July 1985 just 31 coal pits remained in the region.Further closures left the region with just one deep mine by the early 1990s,and this finally closed in January 2008, by which time it had transferred to private ownership after being sold off by the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
.
These industries have since largely replaced by service sector industries.
The cities along the M4 corridor
M4 corridor
The M4 corridor is the area in the United Kingdom adjacent to the M4 motorway, which runs from London to South Wales. The area is a major hub for high-technology companies...
are home to a number of high-profile blue-chip companies such as Admiral Insurance
Admiral Insurance
Admiral, part of the Admiral Group, is a car insurance specialist which launched in January 1993. Its head offices are in Capital Tower, Cardiff, Wales. It also has offices in Swansea and Newport and Halifax, Nova Scotia...
, Legal & General
Legal & General
Legal & General Group Plc , commonly known as Legal & General, is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its products include life insurance, general insurance, pensions and investments. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Egypt, France, Germany,...
and the Welsh based Principality Building Society
Principality Building Society
Principality is a Welsh building society based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. With assets of just under £6bn it is the largest building society in Wales and the seventh largest in the United Kingdom. Principality Building Society is mutual, which means it is owned by its members rather than...
. A large number of telephone call centre
Call centre
A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing,...
s are located in the region and in particular in the Valleys area. Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
is home to the principal UK call centre for German mobile telephone company, T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
. Many jobs are also provided in small-scale and family businesses . It is clear from anecdotal personal contacts, apart from official figures, that the new industries have so far failed to cope with the task of providing stable employment for the large number of employable people resident in the area.
The television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
sectors are fast becoming a major industry in South Wales, with the development, 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...
, of a vast dedicated production studio in Nantgarw
Nantgarw
Nantgarw is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Cardiff.From an electoral and administrative perspective Nantgarw falls within the ward of Taffs Well, a village some 2.5 miles south, but historically fell within the boundaries of Caerphilly, which is a major town...
, near Pontypridd, for the highly successful Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
series. Lord Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
is shortly due to open the first completely new film studio in the UK in over fifty years. Dragon International Film Studios
Dragon International Film Studios
The Dragon International Film Studios, also known as Valleywood, is a complex of film and television studios currently being constructed at Llanilid in Wales, United Kingdom about 14 miles from the Welsh capital, Cardiff...
, a huge purpose-built studio complex located alongside 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...
between Bridgend
Bridgend
Bridgend is a town in the Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of the capital, Cardiff. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town...
and Llantrisant
Llantrisant
Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...
, contains a number of large soundstages which have already attracted the interest of a number of Hollywood directors and producers alike, looking for suitable facilities in 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...
.
Local media
Radio stations in the area include:- Real RadioReal Radio (Wales)Real Radio Wales is a Regional Radio station owned and operated by GMG Radio and forming part of the Real Radio network. The station broadcasts from studios at Morganstown in Cardiff on various FM frequencies, DAB via the MXR Severn Estuary multiplex and across the UK on digital satellite TV...
- Red Dragon FMRed Dragon FMCapital South Wales is a British independent local radio station broadcasting from Cardiff Bay . The station serves Cardiff, Newport and the surrounding areas, broadcasting to a potential audience of around 1 million people...
- The Wave 96.4 FM
- Swansea SoundSwansea SoundSwansea Sound is a British independent local radio station broadcasting to Swansea and surrounding areas, aimed at a core 40+ demographic. Swansea Sound was the first local radio station in Wales, and has won several awards, including the number one regional station in South Wales....
- Bay Radio
- 97.1 Radio Carmarthenshire
- 102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire
- 97.5 Scarlet FM
- 106.3 Bridge FM106.3 Bridge FMBridge FM is the local commercial radio station broadcasting in south Wales' Bridgend County Borough and the surrounding areas on a frequency of 106.3 MHz....
- Afan FMAfan FMXS is a community radio station serving the Neath Port Talbot county borough. The station is owned and operated by Neath Port Talbot Broadcasting CIC and provides a range of dance and alternative music together with information services, primarily for 11-25 year-olds, from studios in the Water...
- BBC Radio WalesBBC Radio WalesBBC Radio Wales is the BBC's national radio station broadcasting to Wales in the English language. Operated by BBC Wales, it began broadcasting on 12 November 1978 following the demise of the old "Radio 4 Wales" when BBC Radio 4 became a national network and moved from medium wave to long wave...
- BBC Radio CymruBBC Radio CymruBBC Radio Cymru is BBC Cymru's Welsh-language radio station, broadcasting throughout Wales from studios in Cardiff, Bangor, and Aberystwyth on FM since 1977. At the time of its launch it was one of the few FM-only radio services in the UK...
- Nation RadioNation RadioNation Radio launched on 16 June 2008 as a regional radio station broadcasting to the South Wales area from Neath.Nation Radio took over the Ofcom broadcasting licence held by Xfm South Wales when GCap Media sold the station to Town and Country Broadcasting for an unspecified fee on 30 May 2008....
- Kiss 101Kiss 101Kiss 101 was a radio station in Bristol broadcasting out to South Wales and South West England playing Hip Hop, dance music and R&B. It now forms part of a national Kiss station, which also includes Kiss 105-108 and Kiss 100 and is owned by Bauer Radio.-History:The station originally started...
The Welsh national media is based in Cardiff, with the BBC
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
, ITV and S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
all having their studios and offices in the capital.
Cardiff also has its own television station, Capital TV, based in the Link Trade Park in Penarth Road, Cardiff. The channel broadcasts to most of Cardiff on terrestrial frequency 49. The company runs alongside with local media studes centre, Media4Schools which produces small videos in co-operation with local schools (CardiffTV4School and ValeTV4Schools).
See also
- South East WalesSouth East WalesSouth East Wales is a loosely-defined region of Wales generally corresponding to the former counties of South Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan and Monmouthshire...
- West WalesWest WalesWest Wales is the western area of Wales.Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, an area which historically comprised the Welsh principality of Deheubarth., an area called "South West Wales" in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics....
- Mid WalesMid WalesMid Wales is the name given to the central region of Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the National Assembly for Wales covered the counties of Ceredigion and Powys and the area of Gwynedd that had previously been the district of Meirionydd. A similar definition is used by the BBC...
- North WalesNorth WalesNorth Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
- Geography of WalesGeography of WalesWales is a generally mountainous country on the western side of central southern Great Britain, between the Irish Sea to the north and the Bristol Channel to the south. It is part of the United Kingdom, and is bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean, St George's Channel and Irish...
- Subdivisions of WalesSubdivisions of WalesFor local government purposes, Wales is divided into 22 single-tier principal areas, which are responsible for the provision of all local government services, including education, social work, environment and roads services...
- M4 CorridorM4 corridorThe M4 corridor is the area in the United Kingdom adjacent to the M4 motorway, which runs from London to South Wales. The area is a major hub for high-technology companies...
- South Wales coalfieldSouth Wales CoalfieldThe South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
- South Wales ValleysSouth Wales ValleysThe 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...
- New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...