| Clydach | |
Clydach Refinery |
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Clydach
Clydach shown within Swansea |
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| Population | 7,320 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | SN689013 |
| Community | Clydach |
| Principal area | Swansea |
| Ceremonial county | West Glamorgan |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SWANSEA |
| Postcode district | SA6 |
| Dialling code | 01792 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | Gower |
| Welsh Assembly | Gower |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Swansea | |
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.
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In the early 19th century, Clydach was a small village in the Swansea Valley. 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 (8.0 km) of the canal's original length of 16 miles (26 km) remain.
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.
General Medical Services (GMS) were originally being provided by Dr Bowen 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
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.
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 Agency 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 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 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.
Clydach Refinery, affectionately known as 'The Mond', was built by Ludwig Mond 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,[1] due to the inherent nature of its process.
There are a number of churches in Clydach, serving both English and Welsh language speakers. Clydach is a parish 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)
The town is home to an 18-hole golf course 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.
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.
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, arêtes and arches.
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.
Clydach is served by National Cycle Route 43.
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.
There are a number of football teams that play in Clydach including, FC Clydach, Inco, Clydach Sports and Sunnybank WMC. All of which play in the Neath Football League.