Gowerton

Gowerton
Welsh: Tre-gŵyr
Gowerton
 Gowerton shown within Swansea
Population 8,183 [1]
OS grid referenceSS595965
Principal areaSwansea
Ceremonial countyWest Glamorgan
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town SWANSEA
Postcode district SA4
Dialling code 01792
Police South Wales
Fire Mid and West Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK ParliamentGower
Welsh AssemblyGower
List of places
UK
Wales
Swansea

Coordinates: 51°38′53″N 4°02′35″W / 51.648°N 4.043°W / 51.648; -4.043

Gowerton (Welsh: Tregŵyr) is a village and community in Swansea situated about 4 miles north west of Swansea city centre, Wales. Gowerton is often known as the gateway to Gower. Gowerton's original name was Ffosfelin. The village falls within the Gowerton electoral ward of Swansea.

In 1980, the Welsh National Eisteddfod was hosted on the 'Elba' area of the village, the Eisteddfod stone (Gorsedd stones) is located on the round-about opposite the garage on the road to Penclawdd.

Geography

Gowerton is bordered by Penclawdd, Dunvant, Waunarlwydd, Kingsbridge, Three Crosses, Loughor and Garden Village

People from Gowerton are often referred to as 'starch' on account of when the local area processed Steel destined for the far reaches of the Empire. The Steel owners and white collar workers all resided in the Gowerton area hence the name 'starch'.

This contrasts with the manual workers who resided in neighbouring Penclawdd and are known by the affectionate term 'donks', though there is some debate as to whether this is a referral to the predominance of donkeys on the marshes gathering the world famous cockles.

Gowerton is twinned with La Gacilly in the Bretagne région of France.

Politics

Gowerton elects a community council of nine members.[2]

Education

Gowerton has three schools: Gowerton Primary school, Gowerton Comprehensive School and Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr (Welsh medium comprehensive school).

Religion

Gowerton once had five church buildings: St John's Church (built 1882), Tabernacl, Temple United Reformed Church, Bethel and Bethania. However, only two, St John's Church and Temple URC still remain. The Bethel and Tabernacl buildings lie ruined and Bethania has been demolished.

Transport

Bus services are provided by First Cymru and NAT.[3] These depart Gowerton from Hill Street or Sterry Road.

First Cymru provide a half-hourly service through the village to Swansea and Gorseinon with the service 16,[4]

Gowerton railway station is served by the West Wales Line. Gowerton once had two railway stations, but today only one remains. This was made single-track in 1986. Work began in November 2012 to restore the double track to Gowerton by mid-2013, this has now been completed.[5]

Sport

The local rugby club is Gowerton RFC.

Gowerton's Elba Sports Complex is home to Swansea Senior League Second Division, Gowerton FC.

Gowerton is also notable for both its golf range and a nine-hole, par 3 golf course.

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.