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Upper Cwmtwrch
Upper Cwmtwrch maps
Historic maps of Upper Cwmtwrch and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Upper Cwmtwrch maps
Upper Cwmtwrch photos
We have no photos of Upper Cwmtwrch, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Ystalyfera| Cwmgiedd| Ystradgynlais| Tairgwaith| Upper Brynamman| Lower Brynamman| Gwaun Cae Gurwen| Abercraf| Brynamman| Rhydyfro| Cilybebyll| Garnant| Pontardawe| Rhos| Alltwen| Glanamman| Craig-Y-Nos| Trebanos| Resolven| Clydach| Carreg Cennen
Upper Cwmtwrch area books
Displaying 1 of 1 books about Upper Cwmtwrch and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Upper Cwmtwrch
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Upper Cwmtwrch.
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Ystalyfera
I was born in Cwmtwrch and brought up in Ystalyfera. I lived on Wern Road for a number of years where my father had an Electric Shop. I attended Wern School, the Tech in Pontardawe and then Ystalyfera Grammar. Later we moved to Penywern Road. I enjoyed living in Ystalyfer very much, scrambling up the Varteg and Mynydd y Grug. We played a lot on the patches and along the canal. My teachers at Wern School were Malcolm Webb, Miss Evans, Rachel Annie Davies and Tom Ellis Phillips)Headmaster).
I often wonder what became of the many friends that I had at that time. I wonder if any are still in the area.
The Railway
I was born in 1941 in Cefncoed House, Pentwyn, overlooking Gwys Railway Station, Upper Cwmtwrch. I lived there for 7 or 8 years before moving to the Gurnos, Lower Cmwtwrch. My family lived in a compound made up of five houses built by my grandfather, Richard Lougher, for his children.
The village had a road, a railway, and the River Twrch running through it. In Upper Cwm the road crossed the river in three places with the railway crossing the river and road in one place. The railway also crossed the River Gwys, a tributary of the Twrch.That's enough about crossings.
When I think about Cwm the images that come to my mind are those of the railway, Gwys Station, and the steam engines that stopped there. As children we would travel by train up the valley to visit my grandparents in Brynamman - only six miles away. The highlight of the year was the family trip, by rail, to the Mumbles. We would get on the train... Read more
West Glamorgan memories
Holidays
Every year my family would travel to Cwmllynfell for our summer holidays. We went to visit family there (Morgan Morgan of Harries road) I remember the freedom of playing out, making bows and arrows and exploring. We always had to visit all our close relatives apart from Dadcu. There was uncle Dai and Aunty Betty. Uncle Will and Aunty Eir who kept a shop, Aunty Gwenny, who knew how to do bobbin lace, Uncle Harry and Nesta and Ann who had a small farm on the Bryn, and of course Aunt Hannah, a spinster who lived on the Bryn and managed her house in, what seemed to a young girl, to be strange circumstances... eg putting coal and cement together to make "Pele"
I have loads more memories of those years from 1950s onwards
Evacuee
I was evacuated to Cwmllynfell and lived in Railway Road with Uncle Tom and Aunt Alice. Uncle Tom was manager of a local Co-op. Next door lived Vincent, a miner, with his parents. I have happy memories of walks in the hills, collecting winberries and swimming in river pools, little schooling, and the kindness of everyone to a little London evacuee! Jim
Childhood Memories
I spent my childhood summer holidays with my Nanny at 7 Crown Row, Cwymtwrch, a whitewashed cottage on the main road. My Aunty Annie lived further up the road, opposite the grocers shop. Next door lived my 'Aunty Molly', she had a son called David. We used to play a game with marbles on a board his dad made him. He also played the organ. I remember all the children used to put on plays in one of the neighbour's sheds, we used to buy crepe paper and make our outfits. My aunty's name was Annie Harris, my uncle was Dae John. My father was Jim Williams, he was a miner and died at the age of 43 as a consequence. I still have a cousin in Cwmfllynfell called Marion and her husband is Tal. My aunty's garden backed on to the railway and I used to rush out to wave to the driver. There was a stream just behind the railway and we used to go on long walks.... Read more
The CWM
As a child we spent many weekends in Cwmtwrch. My grandparents Horrace & Betsy Williams lived there. We spent a lot of time down at the river skipping rocks and cooling off. My grandmother always cleaned the telephone booth across the street from her house - I can still smell the Dettol when I think of it. I have great memories of being there, Dado in his green house taking care of his beautiful flowers, and Mamo carrying buckets of coal into the house for the stove. I remember building a kite and flying it at the top of the hill in a field. We often hopped on the bus to go to Swansea and eat lunch at the Windsor Cafe. This summer I will be bringing my husband and 2 kids to Cwmtwrch for the first time, my Aunt kept the house as a cottage, so I am really looking forward to seeing the place again.
Childhood Memories of Lower Cwm
Sometime in the late 1940s my family moved from Upper Cwmtwrch to the Gurnos Council Estate in Lower Cwmtwrch and lived there for the next nine years. I have many memories of the place. The main source of entertainment was the cinema. On Saturday morning I would get on the bus to Cwmllynfell to attend the cinema in the Workingmen's Hall situated on the Square. Most of them were cowboy films. A shilling was sufficient to buy the bus and cinema tickets and leave enough for a packet of chips! I still attended the primary school in Upper Cwm. On one occasion, after school, I climbed a Yew tree on the bank of the River Twrch to look at a pigeon's nest. When the bus arrived suddenly I slid down the tree quickly. When on board I noticed that one of my jacket sleeves was missing. At first I thought someone had cut it off with a scissors! Then it dawned upon me - it had... Read more
