Llanelli Totally Explained

Everything about Llanelli totally explained

Llanelli (English: Church of St. Elli), the largest town in the county of Carmarthenshire and West Wales, sits on the Loughor estuary on the West Wales coast, approximately west of the city of Swansea and east of the administrative town of Carmarthen. Amongst other things, it's famous for its proud rugby tradition. Formerly an industrial town, its now the focus of 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.

History

ť see also Timeline of Llanelli history

Historically a minor town, Llanelli grew significantly in the 18th century and 19th century with the mining of coal and later the tinplate industry and steelworks. Many of these industries were served by the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway which opened in 1803.
Llanelli 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.

Economy

Brewing

Llanelli has a proud brewing tradition, with the Felinfoel brewery in Felinfoel, located just outside the town.

Buckley's brewery

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 Brains Brewery, and production was transferred to their Cardiff brewery. However, Brains continue to produce The Reverend James, a bitter named in memory of the Reverend.

Sport

Rugby Union - Stradey Park is the rugby union ground, home to Llanelli rugby club. It was one of the stadiums used during the 1999 Rugby World Cup, hosting the Argentina v Western Samoa game on October 10. Stradey Park is now being re-developed and the Llanelli Scarlets will have a new home at the newly built Parc y Scarlets in Pemberton.
The Welsh folk song Sosban Fach ("Little Saucepan") is mostly associated with Llanelli RFC. Many rugby clubs have notable scalps collected from touring international sides, but on 31 October 1972, Llanelli claimed perhaps the greatest by beating the New Zealand All Blacks. The Scarlets side emerged 9-3 winners at Stradey Park. The celebrations continued in the town's drinking dens late into the evening and it truly was the day when the pubs ran dry in the town of Llanelli .
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, 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.
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, Llanelly 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 near Trimsaran

Local Attractions

Some local attractions include:-

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 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. west of Llanelli)
Burry Port Marina (approx. west of Llanelli)
Park Howard Museum 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. north of Llanelli)
The Gower peninsula. Penclawdd in north west Gower is located about 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. 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. Millions of pounds are also being spent on regenerating the town centre shopping district. 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 (March)

Llanelli triathlon - Organised by Clwb Triathlon Llanelli (May)

Kidwelly Carnival and Airshow - held at nearby Kidwelly (July)

Wales Ladies Championship of Europe - golf tournament (August)

Into the Future Festival - educational event about the environment and technology, organised by the county council (August)

Llanelli Big Day Out - pop and live music event (August)

Llanelli Beer Festival - official CAMRA event (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 isn't visible, most especially in the town centre, where the river is completely covered by roads and buildings.

Transport

Llanelli is located on the south coast of West Wales, 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. 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's 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 St. John Lloyd's, Bryngwyn, Glan-y-Môr (Burry Port), 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.

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" isn't the same as "l" but are unable to pronounce it quite correctly, it's 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 near Abergavenny.

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 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

Bigyn

Bynea

Llanerch

Machynys

Morfa

New Dock

Sandy

Seaside

Stradey

Town centre

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.

Jonathan Davies, rugby player

Ray Gravell, Rugby player for Wales, the British Lions and Llanelli RFC, actor and broadcaster.

Terry Griffiths, world snooker champion (1979).

Gareth Jenkins, coach: Llanelli RFC (1982-2003), Llanelli Scarlets (2003-2006), Welsh national rugby team (2006-2007).

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, Labour 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, father of pop singer Lily Allen.

Huw Edwards, newsreader, BBC News.

Pam Ferris, Actor.

Jessica Garlick, Eurovision Song Contest 2002 UK entrant and Pop Idol finalist

Christopher Rees, Singer, Songwriter, Musician.

Donald Swann, of the 1950s TV singers, Flanders and Swann, was born in Llanelli.

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

Facts and figures

In the United Kingdom Census 2001 the 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. 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.

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.Further Information

Get more info on 'Llanelli'.

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