:''For the parliamentary constituency of Llanelli, see
Llanelli (UK Parliament constituency)''
:''For the Llanelli Rural area, see
Llanelli Rural''
'Llanelli' (
English: ''Church of St. Elli''), the largest town in the
county of
Carmarthenshire and
West Wales, sits on the Burry estuary on the west Wales coast, approximately 13 miles west of the city of
Swansea and 12 miles east of the administrative town of
Carmarthen. Amongst other things, it is famous for its proud
rugby tradition. Llanelli is a fast growing town with large residential, leisure and retail developments.
Llanelli is also surrounded by many small villages and communities known collectively as
Llanelli Rural. A large proportion of these communities, more notably those that immediately surround the town are often unofficially referred to as Llanelli.
[2]
History
:''see also
Timeline of Llanelli history''
Parish Church of St. Elli
Historically a minor town, Llanelli grew significantly in the 18th and 19th centuries with the
mining of
coal and later the
tinplate industry and
steelworks. It became such a significant regional producer of tin that it was referred to as "Tinopolis" by the latter half of the 19th century. The closure of coal mines and competition from overseas steel plants meant that Llanelli, like many other towns in
South Wales, saw significant and sustained economic decline from the late 1970s.
Facts and figures
★ At the 2001 census, the combined population of both the town of Llanelli and Llanelli rural was recorded as 44,475.
★ People from Llanelli are sometimes nicknamed "Turks". The origin of this name is uncertain. One theory is that many Turkish sailors once called at the port of Llanelli during their voyages.
★ It is also recorded that almost 47% of the population have a combination of skills in the
Welsh language.
[3] However, according to the 2001 census, only 29.69% of the population of Llanelli town are able to speak Welsh.
★ Llanelli has hosted the
National Eisteddfod five times: in 1895, 1903, 1930, 1962, and 2000.
★ The Reverend James Buckley was an ordained
Methodist minister, born in
Oldham,
Lancashire in 1770. After moving to Llanelli towards the end of the 17th century, he became involved in the establishment of a small
brewery in the town. After the death of the owner, the Rev. Buckley came into the possession of the brewery and changed its name to
Buckley’s Brewery. In 1998, the brewery was purchased by
S A Brain & Company Ltd, and production was transferred to their
Cardiff brewery. However, S A Brain continue to produce ''The Reverend James'', a
bitter named in memory of the Reverend.
[4]
★ Llanelli has a proud brewing tradition, with another brewery in
Felinfoel, located just outside the town.
[5]
★ Llanelli was the focus of TV show ''Most Haunted Live'' in June 2006 for a three-night investigation with Yvette Fielding and David Wells.
★ The first
Welsh medium
primary school, Ysgol Dewi Sant was established in Llanelli in 1947 by the
Local Authority.
★ During the 1950s, Trefor and Eileen Beasley campaigned to get
Llanelli Rural Council to distribute tax papers in Welsh by refusing to pay taxes until their demand was met. The council reacted by sending in the bailiffs and selling their furniture to recover the money owed. Fortunately, their neighbours bought the furniture and returned it to them. The council finally reversed this policy during the 1960s when they accepted that the Welsh language should be equal with the English language.
Sport
Stradey Park
'Rugby Union' -
Stradey Park is the famous
rugby ground, home first to
Llanelli RFC and, from 2003, also home to the
Llanelli Scarlets regional rugby team. It was one of the stadiums used during the
1999 Rugby World Cup, hosting the
Argentina v
Western Samoa game on
October 10. The
Welsh folk song ''
Sosban Fach'' ("Little saucepan") is mostly associated with Llanelli RFC.
There is also a strong junior rugby core in Llanelli, including club sides such as Felinfoel, New Dock Stars and the Llanelli Wanderers. In 2005, Coedcae School won the Inter-Schools Cup of Wales with an 8 - 5 victory over Brynteg Comprehensive.
'Rugby League' - Llanelli's rugby league club are called the
West Wales Sharks and play in the
Welsh Conference Premier.
'Football' -
Stebonheath Park is the home of
football club Llanelli A.F.C.. Although Llanelli has a rich rugby heritage, football is also a very popular pastime. As a result there are many active local football teams such Trostre Sports AFC, which is one of the area's best local football teams.
'Bowls' - Llanelli hosts the annual Welsh International Open, which is part of the World
Bowls Tour. The event is held at the Selwyn Samuel Centre.
'Golf' - The Llanelli area has three
golf courses, including the Machynys Peninsula Golf & Country Club,
[6] which is and has been the host of the
Wales Ladies Championship of Europe since 2005.
'Motorsports' - The
Pembrey Circuit is known as the home of Welsh
Motorsport, providing racing for cars, motorcycles, karts and trucks.
Media
The town has its own radio station,
Scarlet FM and newspaper, the
Llanelli Star.
Llanelli is home to Tinopolis, one of the
UK’s largest independent media producers. The company has many subsidiaries, which produce over 2,500 hours of broadcast television, including
English language television programs such as
Question Time for the
BBC and
Welsh language television programs such as
Wedi 7 for
S4C.
[7]
Llanelli was the focus of popular TV show ''Most Haunted Live'' in June 2006 for a three-night investigation with
Yvette Fielding and David Wells. The programme was brought to the town by Llanelli's resident paranormal investigation team
Ghost Watch Wales and included a stay in Parc Howard, Llanelli house and Kidwelly castle.
Leisure and tourism
Over the past decade, the emphasis on heavy industry that once played an important part in the district has changed to an emphasis on creating tertiary sector employment in leisure and tourism. Llanelli is now being developed as a leisure and tourism destination, with many ongoing developments such as the new Llanelli Scarlets rugby stadium, the Old Castle Works leisure village (see below) and a National Hunt racecorse at Ffos Las in
Trimsaran[8]
Local Attractions
Some local attractions include:-
★ The
Millennium Coastal Park The Coastal Park as it is Referred to locally runs adjacent to the towns of Llanelli and Burry Port. The park attracts over one million visitors a year, which makes it one of the most popular visitor destinations in the UK, as well as a centre for a host of outdoor pursuits.
★ The
Millennium coastal path, which spans 21 km (13 miles) of coastline from
Loughor to
Pembrey, offers views of the
Gower Peninsula and the opportunity for traffic-free cycling.
★
Pembrey Country Park is situated on the outskirts of Llanelli, and consists of about 2 km² (500 acres) of parkland.
Cefn Sidan, a beach within the park that has won the coveted
Blue Flag award, is approximately 13 km (8 miles) long and half a mile to the sea at its narrowest at low tide. It also has a lifeguard-patrolled area.
★
WWT National Wetlands Centre, located about 1 mile east of Llanelli, is one of nine
wetland nature reserves managed by the
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
★
Llanelly House is one of Llanelli's most historical properties, an excellent example of an early 18th century
Georgian town house. The house, located directly opposite the
parish church, is currently in a poor state of repair, however the
town council has recently purchased it with plans to completely restore the house for
civic and public use. The then
Member of Parliament for
Carmarthenshire,
Thomas Stepney originally built the house in 1714. It is written that
John Wesley, the early leader of the
Methodist movement, stayed at the house several times during his many visits to the town. The house has also starred in the first series of the
BBC television show,
Restoration.
★
Kidwelly Castle,
Kidwelly. (approx. 10 miles west of Llanelli)
★
Burry Port Marina (approx. 3 miles west of Llanelli)
★ Park Howard Museum
[9] is set in the grounds of Park Howard. The museum houses a collection of Llanelli Pottery an art collection and material related to the history of the town.
★
Middleton, the National Botanic Garden of Wales (approx. 10 miles north of Llanelli)
★ The
Gower Peninsula. Penclawdd in north west Gower is located about 3 miles across the estuary. Much of the west Gower can be viewed from the Llanelli coast.
Leisure
Theatre Elli, the town's only theatre so far, is part of the Llanelli Entertainment
Centre.
[10] It is one of the few recreational facilities in the town at the moment, however there are plans currently under development for a multi-screen cinema, an arts theatre (likely to replace Theatre Elli) and ten pin bowling on the former Old Castle Works site located near
North Dock and
Sandy.
[11] Millions of pounds are also being spent on regenerating the town centre shopping district.
[12] These plans are in addition to the proposed new stadium for the
Llanelli Scarlets in the
Pemberton area.
Throughout the year, there are many festivals, carnivals and events held in or near Llanelli. Some of these include:-
★ Welsh International Open, a competition of the World Bowls Tour (February)
★ Llanelli half marathon
[13] (March)
★ Llanelli triathlon - Organised by Clwb Triathlon Llanelli
[14] (May)
★ Kidwelly Carnival and Airshow - held at nearby
Kidwelly[15] (July)
★ Wales Ladies Championship of Europe - golf tournament
[16] (August)
★ Into the Future Festival - educational event about the environment and technology, organised by the
county council[17] (August)
★ Llanelli Big Day Out - pop music event
[18] (August)
★ Llanelli Beer Festival - official
CAMRA event
[19] (August)
★ Llanelli Christmas Carnival (November)
Location
'Latitude and Longitude:' (51.68, -4.16) (
World gazetteer)
'Nearby towns and cities (closest - furthest):'
Burry Port,
Gowerton,
Kidwelly,
Carmarthen,
Swansea,
Whitland,
Neath,
Tenby
The town lies on the
river Lliedi, although much of the river is not visible, most especially in the town centre, where the river is completely covered by roads and buildings.
Transport
Llanelli is located on the
West Wales coast, but is linked to many national locations via good road, rail and air services. The town is linked to the
M4 motorway via the A4138. There is also a link to Swansea via the
Loughor bridge on the A484. Llanelli is served by regular local bus services between
Swansea and
Carmarthen and
National Express Coaches between many major UK destinations.
Rail provides an important link to the town via
Llanelli railway station which is located at Great Western Crescent south of the Town Centre. The station is connected to
Fishguard and
Swansea along the
West Wales Line. The station is also the terminus of the
Heart of Wales Line, which connects the town to
Mid Wales and
Leominster and
Shrewsbury via the
Welsh Marches Line. There are twice daily train services connecting the town with
London Paddington and regular services to
Cardiff Central, and
Manchester Piccadilly. The
district of Llanelli is also served by four local railway stations at
Bynea,
Llangennech,
Burry Port and
Kidwelly.
Cycling to Llanelli is another option as the town is connected to the
National Cycle Network from the north on
NCR 43, and along the coast from the east and west on NCR 4.
[20] These routes are directly connected to the town centre via a cycle path.
The nearest passenger airport is
Cardiff International Airport (50 miles) although there is a nearby minor airport at
Pembrey.
Education
Primary and Secondary
Llanelli has the same standard education model as most of
Wales where
Welsh medium and
English medium students are segregated into different schools. The majority of children attend the English medium schools. The English medium secondary schools are Bryngwyn,
Glan-y-Môr (
Burry Port), St. John Lloyd's and Coedcae.
There is also a network of Welsh medium primary schools (that include nursery classes), which feed into the only Welsh medium secondary school, Ysgol Gyfun y Strade (Stradey High School).
There is also a special school for children with disabilities based at Heol Goffa School, and a
public school, St. Michael’s, based in the
Bryn area.
Further and Higher Education
Coleg Sir Gâr (Carmarthenshire College) has a campus at Graig near Pwll. It provides a college education for most of the towns further education students as well as a limited variety of vocational undergraduate degrees through the
University of Wales. There are also sixth form collages at Ysgol Gyfun y Strade (Welsh medium) and St. Michael’s (English medium).
Prince Phillip Hospital is also home to a postgraduate centre for medical training run by
Cardiff University’s School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education.
[21]
Etymology of Llanelli
Pronunciation and spelling
The town's name is often mispronounced by non-speakers of
Welsh, particularly those from outside the
UK. The "ll"s in the name are pronounced as
voiceless alveolar lateral fricatives, a
phoneme unfamiliar to most
English-speakers. In
England, where many people are aware that "ll" is not the same as "l" but are unable to pronounce it quite correctly, it is common to hear "Llanelli" approximated as "Clanethli".
'Llanelli' or 'Llanelly'
The spelling 'Llanelly' is an anglicised form which was used in government and official documents until 1965. This is evident in the name of the local historic building, 'Llanelly House'. It can also lead to confusion with the village and parish,
Llanelly, which is in south-east Wales.
Government
| 'Llanelli (Political)' |
|---|
| Mayor | Cllr. Ray Neil |
| 'Carmarthenshire County Council' | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Cllr. Meryl Gravell |
County
Councillors
(Ward) | Cllr. D.C. Prothero (Bigyn)
Cllr. S.M. Cooke (Bigyn)
Cllr. J.P. Jenkins (Elli)
Cllr. D.A. Tucker (Glanymor)
Cllr. G.F. Mayler (Glanymor)
Cllr. T Devichand (Dafen)
Cllr. W.E. Skinner (Lliedi)
Cllr. W.G. Thomas (Lliedi)
Cllr. K.P. Thomas (Tyisha)
Cllr. M.P. Morris (Tyisha) |
| 'United Kingdom Parliament' | |
|---|---|
| Nia Griffith | Labour |
| 'National Assembly for Wales' | |
|---|---|
| Helen Mary Jones | Plaid Cymru |
'Llanelli Town Hall'
Llanelli is within the
Llanelli parliamentary constituency, which is presently represented by the elected
Labour party member Nia Griffith MP, and the
National Assembly for Wales constituency, which is represented by
Plaid Cymru's Helen Mary Jones AM.
Llanelli is run on a community level by
Llanelli Town Council and
Llanelli Rural Council (depending on the area of town) and
Carmarthenshire County Council on a local government level. Note that Llanelli Rural Council addresses some part of the town, but mainly the
Llanelli Rural community.
Recently, there have been many decisions made by the Carmarthenshire authorities, including the
Carmarthenshire County Council and
Local Health Board that have been very unpopular and damaging to the communities of Llanelli. In reaction to this, there have been calls to reinstate the local government district of Llanelli either as a county or as the City of Llanelli, making the entire area independent of Carmarthenshire.
Twinning
Llanelli is
twinned with the
French town of
Agen.
Town areas
Llanelli Waterside
Llanelli Waterside, a joint venture between
Carmarthenshire County Council and the
Welsh Assembly Government, is a project that aims to drive the regeneration of the Llanelli area by transforming the waterfront into a business, leisure and residential community.
Currently, there are two seafront housing developments under construction. Pentre Nicklaus Village, located on the
Machynys Peninsula has been the subject of recent criticism for being above the price range of local people. Pentre Doc Y Gogledd (North Dock Village) in the historic
North Dock area is currently being developed by David Mclean homes and is currently on the last phase of development.
Famous citizens
Sports
★ Phil Bennett, fly-half, Wales and British Lions.
★ Terry Griffiths, world snooker champion (1979).
★ Gareth Jenkins, coach: Llanelli RFC (1982-2003), Llanelli Scarlets (2003-2006), Welsh national rugby team (2006-present).
★ Derek Quinnell, Rugby player for Wales, British Lions and Llanelli RFC
★ Eirian Williams, snooker referee. | Government and politics
★ Michael Howard, QC, former Leader of the Opposition and former leader of the Conservative Party, Home Secretary (1993-1997).
★ Lord Elwyn Jones, Lord Chancellor 1974-79.
★ Rod Richards, former Conservative member of parliament for Clwyd North West and former leader of the Conservative party at the National Assembly for Wales |
Media and entertainment
★ Keith Allen, British comedian, actor, singer and writer and father of pop singer Lily Allen.
★ Huw Edwards, lead anchor, BBC News.
★ Jessica Garlick, Eurovision Song Contest 2002 UK entrant and Pop Idol finalist
★ Cerys Matthews, Lead singer of Catatonia | Other
★ Rev'd Dr Leslie John Griffiths, The Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, Methodist Minister
★ Richard Taylor, TV Presenter, Author and Minister
★ Sir John Meurig Thomas, chemist
★ Brian Trubshaw, pilot of first flight of British Concorde |
References
1. Census, 2001
2. Carmarthenshire County Council: Area and density of Community Wards
3. Census 2001 results
4. Gorseinon: An odd name for a pub
5. Felinfoel Brewery official site
6. Machynys Peninsula Golf & Country Club
7. Tinopolis
8. National Hunt Racecourse at Ffos Las, Trimsaran.
9. Park Howard Museum
10. Llanelli Entertainment Centre
11. Plans for cultural district at Old Castle Works
12. County Council Report on Regeneration Masterplan
13. Llanelli half marathon website
14. Llanelli Triaethlon Club
15. Kidwelly Carnival & Airshow 2006 website
16. Ladies European Tour 2006 Schedule
17. ItFF 2006 website
18. LBDO 2006 website
19. LBF 2006 website
20. Sustrans
21. Llanelli Postgraduate Centre
External links
Government
★
Llanelli Rural Council
★
Llanelli Town Council
★
Carmarthenshire County Council Guide to Council-run services/Attractions in Llanelli
Local media
★
Llanelli Star Local newspaper
★
Scarlet FM Local radio station
★
Tinopolis Llanelli based independent media producers
Other
★
Llanellitown.com Online Business Directory for Llanelli Town Centre
★
Millennium Coastal Park General information including facilities and contact details
★
Llanelli Community Heritage Society dedicated to heritage and buildings preservation within the Llanelli community
★
Bus timetables
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