Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is located five miles east of the nearest town of Ammanford and nearly
fifteen miles north of Swansea. Nearby villages include Cwmgors, Lower Brynaman & Tairgwaith.
Etymology
The name Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen is believed to be an alteration of what was originally gwaun cegerwen (i.e. "white hemlock heath" in Welsh, ceger being a dialect form of cegid).[2] In local usage, the name is often shortened to "Y Waun", meaning "the heath" in Welsh.
History
Gwaun-cae-Gurwen was a mining village in the west Wales anthracite district. There were six or seven pits in the early 1920s.[3]
Schools
Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Gwauncaegurwen (Gwaun-cae-Gurwen Welsh Primary School) used to be on Heol y Dŵr (Water Street) which is where the Pwll y Wrach estate is based. It has since been moved to Heol Newydd (New Road), overlooking the village, and the former school transformed into a wood workshop.
Secondary-age children in the area have the choice of going to Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera in Ystalyfera (for full Welsh-medium education),[4] Ysgol Dyffryn Aman (for Welsh- and English-medium education),[5] or Cwmtawe Community School (for English-medium education).[6]
Welsh language
The Welsh Language Board reported in 2009 that 67.9% of the population of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen can speak, read or write in Welsh. 10–19 year olds were the group with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers.[7]
At one time, almost all of the land of The Waun was owned by the Jones Family who also owned the "Pwll-y-Wrach Estate". It was run by the Head and later by their sons (and spouses). They still own parts of the land of the village but most has been sold off. Both farmhouses connected to the Estate are still standing. They are: Pwll-y-Wrach and Glangwrach. Pwll-y-Wrach is the main house where the head of the family lived.
It is no longer a farming estate but continues to own much of the land in the village. The name means the Witch's Pool in English, because of an old Welsh myth that the witches lived in it because of the greeny-blue colour and would sometimes come out to haunt the locals.
