Ystradgynlais

Ystradgynlais (; ) is a town in southwest Powys, Wales. It is located on the River Tawe, and was within the boundaries of the former county of Brecknockshire. The town has a high proportion of Welsh language-speakers. The community includes Cwmtwrch, Abercraf and Cwmgiedd, with a population of 8,092 in the 2011 census; it is the second-largest town in Powys. It forms part of the Swansea Urban Area where the Ystradgynlais subdivision has a population of 10,248.

Key facts

UK place.country: Wales
UK place.static_image_name: Ystradgynlais Town, Junction.jpg
UK place.static_image_caption: Junction at Heol Eglwys
UK place.population: 8,092
UK place.population_ref: (2011)
UK place.constituency_welsh_assembly: Brecon & Radnorshire
UK place.official_name: Ystradgynlais
UK place.community_wales: Ystradgynlais
UK place.unitary_wales: Powys
UK place.lieutenancy_wales: Powys
UK place.constituency_westminster: Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe
UK place.post_town: Swansea
UK place.postcode_district: SA9
UK place.postcode_area: SA
UK place.dial_code: 01639
UK place.os_grid_reference: SN793106

via Wikipedia infobox

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

9 sections

Contents

History
Culture
Transport
Sport
Watchmaking
Notable people
Sport
References
External links

==History== The place-name Ystradgynlais, meaning 'vale of the river Cynlais' – Cynlais may be a personal name, or derive from cyn ('chisel') and glais ('stream') – is first recorded in 1372. In the 1600s there were only a couple of houses by the church and a pub (now the rectory). In 1801 there were only 993 residents in the town living in only 196 houses. The first documented written evidence of iron working in the area was at Ynyscedwyn and is of a deed of release dated 1729. By 1750 there were seven furnaces in south Wales, one of which was at Ynyscedwyn.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ystradgynlais” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.