Crynant - History

History

In the Middle Ages, there was a small monastic cell in Crynant where monks and other pilgrims would break their journeys. The village first appeared on maps as Capel Creunant (Creunant Chapel) which may have referred to the monastic outpost. Crynant remained a rural agricultural community of scattered farms until the 19th century, and the discovery of coal.

The first colliery was Maes Mawr Colliery opened in 1874 and can still be seen at the site of the old Blaenant Colliery at the top end of Brynawel Pen Pentre, a terrace of old cottages, the first street to be built in the village. Men seeking work down the mines began arriving in Creunant, and the current village started taking shape, centred on the Square. Pen Pentre, the Square, Maes Mawr and Station Road all date from the 19th century. Station Road referred to the fact that the Neath and Brecon Railway ran through the village (built in the mid 1860's).

Cefn Coed Colliery opened in 1928 and was claimed to be the deepest anthracite mine in the world. It closed in 1968.

However, none of the former collieries are operational today, and all but one have largely been reclaimed by nature. The only colliery with some of its buildings still in a good state of repair is Blaenant Colliery, which was an extension of the old Cefn Coed. The Cefn Coed Colliery Museum now housed there is named after the original mine. Blaenant was the last colliery to close. Until the late 1980s, there was another large colliery in the village, Treforgan Colliery, which has since been demolished. Part of the former site was used to establish Crynant Business Park (see below). Scattered around the village are the remains of older collieries (such as Tynewydd and Top Jebbs). The end of coal mining changed the face of the village, the valley and the whole of the South Wales Coalfield. The valley is only recently beginning to develop from an economic depression brought with the end of industry, and services are limited.