I.

Introduction

West Glamorgan, former county, southern Wales, bounded on the north by Powys, on the east by Mid Glamorgan, on the south by the Bristol Channel, and on the west by Dyfed. It was the smallest county in Wales after South Glamorgan, with a land area of 818 sq km (315 sq mi). Swansea was the administrative centre. West Glamorgan was created under the local government reforms of 1974 out of the county borough of Swansea and part of the former county of Glamorganshire, which was split into three. It ceased to exist on April 1, 1996, when it was divided into two new local government areas: the county of Swansea and the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. This was a result of administrative changes implemented under the Local Government Act 1994, which provided for the replacement of the two-tier system of county and district councils introduced in 1974 by a single-tier system of unitary authorities.

II.

Land and People

The area that was occupied by the former county has a varied coastline of salt marshes, estuaries, sandy bays, high limestone cliffs, and sheltered coves. The south comprises a narrow coastal plain that carries the railway, the M4 motorway, and the coastal road. To the north the land rises to 610 m (2,000 ft) becoming mainly open moorland with farms on the fringe. West Glamorgan also included the Gower Peninsula, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The rivers Neath and Tawe cut through the sandstone plateau of the interior of the area of the former county from north-east to south-west, flowing into Swansea Bay.

The population of West Glamorgan was concentrated in and around Swansea, and along the coastal strip around Port Talbot (population, 1991, 37,647). The other main settlements in the area of the former county include Neath (1991, 45,965), Mumbles, and seaside resorts such as Port Eynon and Rhossilli on the Gower coast. Inland there are no towns of any size. About 15 per cent of the population of the area speaks Welsh. As well as the county council based in Swansea, West Glamorgan had four district councils: Swansea, Lliw Valley, Neath, and Port Talbot.

III.

Economy

The lower valleys of the Neath and the Tawe rivers have had a long history of industrialization. Nascent industries were fuelled first by wood from the local forests and then by coal from the south Wales coalfield. Iron, tin, and copper ores were shipped in from north Wales and Cornwall to be smelted; Swansea was the copper-smelting capital of the world in the 19th century. Steel production later became the main industry. The area, dependent largely on one industry, suffered badly during the economic depression of the 1930s. Anthracite, mined in the north and west of the county, revived the economic fortunes of the industrial area for a time. Swansea has since turned to new industries and its port has been turned into a marina. Port Talbot, however, has remained a centre of steel production and has also developed a large petrochemicals industry based on oil piped from Milford Haven to the nearby oil terminal at Llandarcy.