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JULY ‘25
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Perched high above Ystradgynlais and nestled at
the edge of the Brecon Beacons, the small village
of Penwyllt may feel quiet today — but its past tells
a very different story. For local readers from
Penwyllt, this is your story: one of quarries, kilns,
and a community built from stone and steam. And
for those further down the valley, it’s a story just as
much yours — Penwyllt’s lime and limestone
helped fuel the furnaces, build the buildings, and
power the industries that shaped the upper
Swansea Valley. Once a vital hub of activity,
Penwyllt's history still clings to the hillsides, and its
legacy deserves to be remembered.
From Limestone to Lime
The story of Penwyllt begins – and ends – with
limestone. The nearby hills are rich in this vital
resource, which was quarried extensively to supply
the raw material for lime-burning, building stone,
and iron-making. Lime, produced by heating
limestone in kilns, was essential for both
agriculture (improving acidic soils) and industry (as
a flux in iron smelting).
The Penwyllt Quarry, just above the hamlet, was
one of several sites in the area where vast
quantities of limestone were extracted. The rock
was hauled down the hillside to the lime kilns,
which still stand in impressive, ghostly ruins today.
These kilns once roared with heat, fed by coal and
stone, producing quicklime that was either bagged
and sold locally or shipped further afield.
The Coming of the Railway
Industrial growth in Penwyllt was turbocharged by
the arrival of the Swansea Vale Railway in the
mid-19th century. Penwyllt became an important
stop on the route between Swansea and Brecon,
and its station connected the village to markets
across South Wales. Stone and lime could now
travel efficiently, and coal and materials could be
brought in more easily.
The Dulais Valley line and its offshoots not only
linked Penwyllt with larger towns like Ystradgynlais
and Neath but also brought in a steady flow of
workers and materials. The railway station, signal
box, and sidings formed part of the village’s
industrial identity, now largely lost but fondly
remembered by those who knew the area in its
heyday.
Bricks, Beacons and Brecon
In addition to quarrying, brick-making was another
The Industrial Legacy of Penwyllt: Echoes in Stone and Steam
Photo by Leighton Collins
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key industry in Penwyllt. The Penwyllt Brick Works
produced firebricks using local clay, catering to the
nearby collieries and ironworks. At its peak, the
brickworks, quarry and kilns provided steady
employment for dozens of families who lived in
cottages dotted along the hillside.
While Penwyllt’s population was never large, it
swelled during the industrial era. Workers’ housing,
chapels, and even a school stood as testament to a
bustling village community that lived by the
rhythm of the quarry and rail.
Not far from Penwyllt is Craig-y-Nos Castle, once
the home of opera diva Adelina Patti. Although
Patti’s glamorous world may seem a world away
from Penwyllt’s soot and stone, the castle and the
quarry were part of the same Victorian landscape –
one fuelled by coal, industry, and the shaping of
the land.
Decline and Dereliction
By the mid-20th century, industry in Penwyllt
began to fade. The demand for lime and bricks
declined, local collieries closed, and the railways –
so vital to its success – were victims of the
Beeching cuts. The station at Penwyllt closed in the
1960s, and over the following decades, the quarry
and kilns fell silent.
What remains is a stark but striking landscape. The
abandoned lime kilns, some of the finest in Wales,
still stand as industrial monuments. The quarry,
overgrown and rugged, tells a silent story of toil.
And the Old Station House and Penwyllt Inn (now
long closed) serve as reminders of a time when this
remote spot bustled with life.
A Place Worth Remembering
Today, Penwyllt sits at the crossroads of industry
and nature. It’s a favourite spot for walkers, cavers,
and railway enthusiasts – part of the Fforest Fawr
Geopark and near the entrance to Ogof Ffynnon
Ddu, the deepest cave in Britain. But the stones
and bricks scattered across the hillside whisper of
something more – the ambition, hardship and
community that once thrived here.
As we explore the old quarry paths or gaze across
the lime kilns’ arches, we’re not just seeing ruins –
we’re witnessing the legacy of a proud working
landscape.
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How long have you been painting?
I've always loved drawing & painting. When it came to
school options for "O" levels, I wasn't able to choose
Art as well as Music, realising that I needed a tutor
more for Music, I gradually became a self-taught artist
whilst pursuing a career as a professional musician. I
trained at The Royal College of Music then won a
travel scholarship to study Opera in Florence. Whilst
there, I visited the amazing Art galleries and my
childhood passion for painting was awoken.
I returned from Italy in 1998 determined to pursue
both careers...finding that Art and music influence
one another. Within a year I had my first London
exhibition which was a huge success, so there was no
going back after that. I decided to focus on becoming
a professional artist and chose to teach Music rather
than be a travelling performer.
What is your process for putting a painting
together? do you sketch out certain parts before
getting the paint on? How does it work?
I do sketch outdoors, on location...it helps so much to
memorise the sensations. I also use photos as
reference... very useful for figurative compositions.
Occasionally I use videos as reference as it unlocks a
static image and prevents tightness. I tend to wait
until an idea for a painting comes to me...usually
months or indeed years after the actual moment. I
then paint with a sense of nostalgia and I have to
draw upon my imagination through the process of
recalling a memory.
I like the idea of the artist painting a "mind map"...so
when I wait for the Muse to suggest a past experience,
it seems my paintings will better reflect what's really
important.
I often delve straight in, applying paint quickly and
boldly to the canvas... therefore keeping a sense of
spontaneity. I know when to stop and put my brushes
down...it's once my soul feels as though I'm back there
in that precise moment. The past becomes the present
again. It's a process I absolutely love...dwelling on all
the senses to bring a painting back to life.
Meet the Artist - Dai David Art
This month’s front cover features a stunning painting by Dai David, a gifted local artist and teacher
whose work beautifully captures the essence of our surroundings. I sat down with Dai to learn more
about his creative process—and to find out what it is about the Upper Swansea Valley that keeps
drawing him back to the canvas.
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What makes the Swansea Valley such a special
place to paint?
The Upper Swansea Valley is so very special to me as I
was incredibly lucky to grow up here, my house
looking over to Cribarth and Fan Gihyrich as well as
the splendid grandeur of Fan hir. Memories abound
...for example, as soon as I could ride a bike, I'd take
off roaming the verdant lanes. Me and my
psychedelic- orange chopper would freely explore the
natural beauty of the area.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, as I was focusing
moreover on music in this period, this inexplicable
childhood joy I found in such awesome scenery was
to prove formative in my development as a future
artist.
My music took me off to University then a scholarship
to the Royal College of Music and ultimately a travel
award to train as an opera singer in Florence.
This Italian sojourn afforded me the opportunity to
explore the magnificent Art galleries and it was then I
decided to re-explore my childhood love for art
(swapping my earlier bumper pack of rainbow
felt-tips & colouring-in book for oil paints & canvas!)
As soon as I returned home (then living in England), I
began "juggling" two careers, both as musician &
artist. My first dabbles in painting as an adult were
memory images of the mountains where I grew up.
My first London Art show was hugely successful and I
was subsequently invited to hold an exhibition at The
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden...a joyous fusion
of my singing & painting careers.
This quickly brought me to move back home to South
Wales so I could fully immerse myself in our
wonderful land. I also found (of course) the musical
talent to be so strong in the area, I now divide my
time painting and teaching piano & singing to
amazingly, gifted private pupils with whom I've put
on many sell-out musical shows on the prestigious
stage at Craig Y Nos castle, marrying the beauty of
Music with the beauty of Here!
By Dai David Art
@daidavidart
davidevlewis@gmail.com
www.daidavid.com
Where is your favourite spot in the Swansea
Valley?
My absolute favourite spots are located around
Penycae, Glyntawe and further up the old Trecastle Rd
to the source of the River Tawe. Another favourite spot
is, of course, the wild and beautiful Penwyllt
landscape... it's indeed a place I hope to do many
paintings of in the future.
Is there anywhere which is difficult to capture in
paint?
No place is too difficult to portray in Art if you have
enough love for the subject and I feel that the 20 years
I lived away served perfectly to fuel my gratitude for
this area.
:RL[[`!
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Tucked behind the Cwmtwrch Welfare Hall, Valley
Escape isn’t just an escape room – it’s a non-profit
offering story-driven challenges that raise money
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charities
like
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Alzheimer’s
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Celebrating its third anniversary this month, the
project has welcomed hundreds of players and
become a much-loved fixture in the local
community – offering entertainment with a heart.
The latest escape game, “Brewster’s Millions”, tasks
teams with unlocking the fortune of Eloise
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What truly sets Valley Escape apart is the people
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councillor, whose drive and commitment have
been key to its growth.
Another volunteer is a Syrian refugee, recently
granted British citizenship, who brings skills in
game design, maintenance and hosting, while
studying Mechanical Engineering at Swansea
University. His creative input has helped shape the
immersive puzzles and keeps the experience
running smoothly.
These stories reflect what Valley Escape is really
about: offering opportunities, building confidence,
and uniting the community through creativity and
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As a non-profit, Valley Escape keeps its prices as low
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Plan Your Escape
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• When: Flexible booking slots throughout the week
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Whether you're looking for a thrilling challenge or a
meaningful way to support your local area, book
your adventure at Valley Escape today!
Answer pg 26
Plan Your Escape!!
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WHAT'S ON
JULY 2025
BRECON RD, YSTRADGYNLAIS, SA9 1JJ
WWW.THEWELFARE.CO.UK | 01639 843163
live EVENTS
CINEMA
EABHAL
10 July | 8pm | £10-£20 PWYC
Scottish folk band.
THE SALT PATH
14 July | 2pm
15 July | 1pm
17 July | 2pm & 7pm
LAS THEATRE:
CASPIAN’S STORM
23 July | 11.30am & 1.30pm
£5-£15 PWYC | Ages 3+
Outdoor family theatre with
puppetry, music and humour.
PROTEIN
4 July | 7pm
7 July | 2pm & 7pm
8 July | 1pm
ATREYEE LIVE IN CONCERT
5 July | 5.30pm | £15
A melange of multiple
genres of Indian music.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
18 July | 12.30pm
21 July | 1pm
22 July | 3pm & 6pm
24 July | 1pm & 4pm
HUMAN TRAFFIC
18 July | 7pm
Classic and vintage films
screened every month.
Annual Membership: £30
Non-members: £4 per film
MILDRED PIERCE (PG)
Weds 9 July, 2pm & 7pm
RASHOMON (12A)
Fri 25 July, 2pm & 7pm
CLASSIC FILM CLUB
DISNEY PIXAR’S ELIO
28 July | 2pm
29 & 30 July | 1pm & 4pm
31 July | 1pm & 4pm
MILDRED PIERCE
(Dementia Friendly Screening)
11 July | 1pm
(Mami a Babi Screening)
(Mami a Babi Screening)
(Relaxed Screening)
(Relaxed Screening)
Answer pg 26
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MAR CH NAD FFE R MW Y R
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Second Sunday of every month
11AM - 3PM
13 July
10 August
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10 Awst
In the summer of 1954, Ystradgynlais hosted the
National Eisteddfod — a moment of real pride and
significance for our valley. The songs, the stories, the
crowds — all of Wales looking this way.
Seventy years later, the Urdd Eisteddfod came to
Margam Park and the valley rightly got involved.
Afterall, it is just down the road. Close… but still not
quite us.
And it’s got me wondering: have we stopped
expecting anything to come our way? Maybe we've
got so used to being overlooked that we've started
to believe we don’t deserve the spotlight. That
there’s no point trying, because nothing ever really
changes. No big events. No major investment. Just a
quiet valley — lovely to live in but rarely seen from
the outside.
I’ve always loved the name The Swansea Valley.
From a marketing point of view it is beautiful. It has
warmth and weight. “Swansea” gives us seaside
sparkle; “valley” gives us hills, heritage and heart. It
has become my answer to ‘where are you from?’
when we venture further afield. People don’t know
the name but they know Swansea and its not rocket
sciense to work out where it is from there but I’d
love people to know the name and I don’t think its a
crazy pipe dream.
But currently, if you try typing it into Google —
your first click will be a dry Wikipedia page
mentioning poor transport links. That’s all.
Type in “Gower” and the first page to pop up is Visit
Wales – a Welsh Government funded website
backed by £9 million funding. Next on the list is a
Swansea council website – with their £350,000
annual tourism pot.
I really feel that we are missing a trick by not
having a genuine identity labeled the Swanea
Valley.
Our valley is split between three councils —
Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Powys — and we
fall through the cracks. Clydach is Swansea,
Pontardawe
and Ystalyfera
are
NPT,
and
Ystradgynlais and Abercraf are in Powys. These
boundaries might work on a map, but they don’t
reflect how the valley feels or functions. We don’t
act like one place, and so nobody sees us as one
place. There’s no joint marketing, no shared
identity, no common voice.
When it comes to council marketing, you can
understand why NPT prioritise Aberavon and the
Afan Valley (as it is all theirs), why Swansea waste
little on Clydach as its just a village on the edge of
the boundary – as with Ystradgynlais in Powys.
Do We Expect Too Little for the Swansea Valley?
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And yet when people visit, they see the difference
our valley offers immediately. Mike, who delivers
our printed magazines, covers all over Wales and
England — and every time he drops ours off, he
says, “This is the best valley, this one.” And he means
it.
The shift starts as soon as you leave Junction 45 of
the M4. Trees thicken. Hills rise. You pass through
Glais and Clydach, then the dramatic sweep into
Pontardawe with St Peter’s Church and Elephant
Rock standing proud. Up past Ystalyfera, waterfalls
tumble down Varteg. From Ystradgynlais, you can
see the sleeping giant lying across the mountain.
Beyond, Craig-y-Nos looms in the mist, steeped in
history and legend.
But we drive past it every day and barely notice.
Maybe that’s the danger — we’ve stopped seeing
what’s right in front of us. I remember walking the
cycle path with my brother (who lives in Sussex)
and his German partner. They were stunned — not
just by the beauty, but by the fact that so little was
made of it. The historical remains directly off the
path are just that, crumbling mysteries that nothing
is made of - Where’s the walking trail? they asked.
Where’s the map? The description of what these
buildings once were?
I was even more baffled after visiting the Black
Forest in Germany myself— beautiful, yes, but not
more beautiful than what we’ve got here. The
difference? They promote it. They value it. They
expect people to want to visit. We don’t. And
maybe that’s partly where we’re going wrong.
We don’t appreciate what we have here and lets
not go overboard – Rhossilli, Port Eynon, Three
Cliffs Bay, they are always going to attract more
visitors than here but if each Gower village was left
to themselves to promote the peninsular then
they would struggle to gain the reach that they do
collectively, the same with the German villages in
the ‘Black Forest’ and yet we are left doing exactly
that.
‘The Swansea Valley’ needs an identity. A
collaborative approach to promoting the valley as
a whole. Can we genuinely bemoan Visit Wales not
promoting Pontardawe? Clydach? Ystradgynlais?
Ystalyfera? As individual villages? No! but if we
create a Swansea valley brand then there would be
no excuse for us not to be backed.
There are around 40,000 people in the Swansea
Valley. A similar size to Neath, Llanelli and
Wrexham. Only Cardiff, Swansea and Newport are
considerably bigger. Combined, we are over double
the size of Carmarthen, Bangor, Aberystwyth and
Rhyl.
There could be huge advantages if we were to
promote a Swansea Valley brand. Individually,
Ystradgynlais should be grateful for its one-time
hosting of a major Welsh event. Collectively, we
should be hosting such events regularly.
We should have a joint tourism board. A proper
website showcasing all we have here. Our councils
do sometimes work well together. The refuse centre
in Cwmtwrch is a great example but you can’t help
feeling
that
we
still
suffer
from
the
defragmentation.
The closure of Pontardawe Swimming Pool is a fine
example. All eyes are solely on Neath Port Talbot
Borough Council. All blame. All solutions need to
come from NPT. Any funding, upkeep etc.. is their
problem. Yet it serves the valley. Swansea residents
in Clydach, Powys residents in Ystradgynlais. At
some point, Maesydderwen swimming pool will
face a similar problem - this isn’t a county problem
but a valley one.
I would absolutely love to see a sign on the A4067
that read - “Welcome to the picturesque Swansea
Valley” - just as you leave the M4. I would love to see
the distance to the Swansea Valley added to signs at
Cardiff along the likes of Bridgend and Neath.
Communities of 40,000 get that – the ones that are
identified that is.
And how about coordinated events — not just the
brilliant things already happening like Pontardawe
7s, but new, valley-wide ideas that tie us together?
• A Swansea Valley Walking Festival, with guided
trails in every village
• A Valley Marathon — from Clydach to Craig-y-Nos
(or downhill if we’re being kind!)
• A Swansea Valley Barbarians rugby team — made
up of the best players from across the valley
• A multi-town music festival, with First Cymru
shuttle buses linking every venue
• A shared events calendar, so we build a rhythm —
not a clash
Crucially: using the Swansea Valley brand.
Because right now, there are brilliant people in
every
corner
of
this
valley
keeping
our
communities alive. They run events, coach teams,
fundraise, organise, build websites, manage social
media — often with little help or recognition.
They’re doing the hard work already — but
imagine what they could achieve with support,
visibility and a shared voice.