South Wales
South Wales (Template:Lang-cy) 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 exact extent of South Wales is loosely defined, but it is generally considered to be the area surrounding the M4 motorway, including the counties of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire and, sometimes extending westwards to include south Carmarthenshire and south Pembrokeshire. In the western extent 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 would use the more southerly Heads of the Valleys Road as the clearly identifiable boundary.
About 1.9million people live in South Wales.
South Wales incorporates the cities of Cardiff, Newport and (depending on the boundaries used) Swansea. The area also includes the South Wales Valleys towns and villages and the more rural settings of the Brecon Beacons National Park, Vale of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire.
History
South Wales' valleys 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 poets such as William Wordsworth. This 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 these docks, at the time the largest coal exporting docks in the world.
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 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 England, Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall and even Italy came and set up homes in the valleys and cities. Very many came from other mining areas such as Somerset, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and the tin mines of Cornwall, 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 Monmouth, 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 lead to outbreaks of Cholera, and on the social and cultural side, the near-loss of the Welsh language in the area.
The 1930's depression saw the loss of almost half of the coal pits in the area, and this number declined further in the years following World War II. This number is now very low, with only Tower Colliery remaining as a working coal mine today.
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.
Famous Industrialised Areas in the 19th Century
Merthyr Tydfil (Tydfil the Martyr): The town's Dowlais Ironworks was founded to exploit the 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 voracious furnaces and in time produced coal for export . By 1831 the population of Merthyr was 60,000 - more at that time than Cardiff, Swansea and Newport combined. The town was the birthplace of Joseph Parry, composer of the haunting Welsh tune Myfanwy and his humble home can be compared with the nearby mock-Gothic Cyfartha Castle built in 1825 for William Crawshay the local ironmaster.
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 now nationalised but even the National Coal Board failed to appreciate the true nature of the monster they helped to create. In October of 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 thirty foot high black wave tore downhill across the Glamorganshire canal and swept away houses on its path towards the village school. One hundred and fourteen children and twenty eight 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 coal industry. Accidents 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.
The River Ebbw valley which stretches from 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 and collapses. Now the valleys' heavy industrial past is overprinted with urban regeneration, tourism and multinational investment.
Language
The language of the vast majority of people in South Wales is English, but there is a small percentage who speak Welsh. However in western parts of Glamorgan, particularly the Neath and Swansea Valleys, 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.
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 Y Cymmer in Porth the Rhondda, Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw in Pontypool and Ysgol Glantaf in Cardiff, which have 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 European languages such as Polish.
Culture
- See also: Culture of Wales
The traditional pastimes of the area include rugby and music. Today music ranges from the traditional Welsh Male Voice Choirs of the Valleys to the South Wales Hardcore Scene. Bands such as Lostprophets, Bullet for My Valentine, Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, Funeral for a Friend, The Automatic, Skindred, Midasuno, SaidMike, elsid, Kids In Glass Houses and The Blackout all come from the South Wales area.
Industry today
The former heavy industries of coal and iron production have long disappeared, largely replaced by service 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 centres 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.
The television and film media are fast becoming a major industry in south Wales, with the development, by the BBC, of a vast dedicated production studio in Nantgarw, just north of Cardiff, 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 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.
Local media
- Radio stations covering the area include 96.4 FM The Wave and Swansea Sound (Swansea), 106.3 Bridge FM (Bridgend), Real Radio (covers both South and West Wales), Red Dragon FM and South Wales Gold (Cardiff) and Scarlet FM (Llanelli). In northern areas, one may be able to receive the Magic 756 Radio Maldwyn.
Other facts
The state of New South Wales in Australia is probably named after the area.