Place:Dylais Lower, Glamorgan, Wales

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

Dylais Lower (or Lower Dylais or Lower Dulais) was a civil parish in the Neath Rural District between 1894 and 1974. It was in the mountainous region north of the town of Neath. The largest settlement is the village of Crynant which is sufficiently close to the border with the neighbouring parish of Dylais Higher for some authorities to consider that being its location.

Originally Dylais Lower was part of the ecclesiastical parish of Cadoxton juxta Neath.

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Crynant (Welsh: Y Creunant) is a village in the Dulais Valley in the historic county of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies 7¾ miles north-east from the town of Neath in Neath Port Talbot, lying between the mountains of Mynydd Marchywel to the west, Hirfynydd to the east and Mynydd y Drum to the north.

Crynant is a long village, lying on the narrow valley floor and lower slopes of Hirfynydd. Originally there were separate villages (essentially separate farms), such as the region of Treforgan, but all have now merged into a single village. The River Dulais flows through the village.

Creunant is also the name of a community (or civil parish), coterminous with the village, and evolving from Dylais Lower, in Neath Port Talbot County Borough. It is spelled Crynant on maps. The population in the UK census of 2011 was 1,921.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Cryant. Includes a summary of the collieries that existed in the community.

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Glamorgan Lots of leads to other sources and descriptions of former parishes.
• The FamilySearch Wiki on Glamorgan has recently been updated (early 2016) and looks remarkably like Wikipedia. Their map "Glamorgan Parish Map.jpg" enlarges to show all the original parishes. The sub-section "Parishes of Historic Glamorgan" lists all the parishes of Glamorgan and the newer preserved counties and principal areas in both English and Welsh. (Currently this website is still under construction.)

Maps

The first three maps are provided by A Vision of Britain through Time

• A map of 1832 showing larger towns and some villages (not as good as the England county maps in this series).
• Ordnance Survey map of Glamorgan illustrating the parishes, rural districts, urban districts and boroughs as revised to 1899.
• A 1930s Ordnance Survey map of Glamorgan illustrating the parishes, rural districts, urban districts and boroughs as revised to 1944.

These maps were found on Wikimedia Commons

• Glamorgan Administrative Map 1947 separating the various types of administrations with colour coding. These division were most likely in place until 1974.
• A map of Wales outlining the prinicipal areas of Mid Glamorgan and South Glamorgan
• A map of Wales outlining the prinicipal areas of West Glamorgan
• A map of the Vale of Glamorgan principal area with the western part of Cardiff included

These maps of Glamorgan post-1974 were found on another site and are very useful for sorting out the up-to-date geography of the area

• A map of West Glamorgan showing the two principal areas and the towns located in them.
• A map of South Glamorgan showing the two principal areas and the towns located in them.
• A map of Bridgend, Merthyr and Rhondda showing the three principal areas and the towns located in them. The description states that this is "formerly part of Mid Glamorgan".
• A map of Caerphilly, Blaenau and Torfean showing the three principal areas and the towns located in them.