Glais
| Glais | |
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 The village of Glais in winter as seen from a local mountain known as Glais Mountain. |
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 Glais
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| Glais shown within Swansea | |
| Population | 838 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SN70250048 |
| Community |
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| Principal area | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Swansea |
| Postcode district | SA7 |
| Dialling code | 01792 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | |
| Welsh Assembly | |
Glais is a small semi-rural village of less than 1,000 people located in Swansea, Wales. The village is separated into two different electoral wards by a stream known as Nant-Y-Pal which runs through the middle of the settlement. To the north of Nant-Y-Pal, Glais comes under the Clydach Electoral Ward while to the south Glais falls under the Llansamlet Electoral Ward.
Unusually for place names, Glais is not named after the stream Nant-Y-Pal but instead its name literally translates to Stream.
The word Glais is Welsh for stream or rivulet. Glais is a common element in Welsh place names particularly amongst locations in South Wales, however the village Glais in Swansea is the only example in Wales where the word stands alone. All other locations containing the word Glais occur as a composite element referring to a single particular stream's name thus making Glais quite unique in that its name literally translates as the geographical feature of a stream or rivulet that can be applied anywhere worldwide.
In the early 20th Century Glais was a small village boasting a proud religious community with up to four churches of differing denominations, the oldest of which is a Welsh Dissendent chapel called Pentwyn and was built in 1834 upon a glacial moraine which itself was called Y Garth. The name plate for Pentwyn was later moved to a new Chapel of worship called Seion in 1840 which still exists to the present day.
In 1881 an Anglican Church, St Pauls, was built on School road, formally Cefn Y Garth, and is still a practising church in use with local residents for services of worship and other services. A year later in 1882 and on the same road Glais Primary School was opened to the public for children aged under 11 years old. In 1891 a Tabernacl, Welsh Baptist chapel called Peniel, was built on Station Road on the south side of the village and closed in 1999.
Cattle stock was often driven from as far away as Llandeilo and kept in cattle pens until they were collected by their new owners and moved to their new farm, suggesting Glais might acted as a commercial hub for the farm trade in the early years of the villages history.
The village hosted a racecourse sometime during the 19th and 20th centuries but the first known date references back to 1920 for an equestrian event. The facility was amended for pedestrianism and Greyhound Racing in 1928 after the Swansea Corporation decided to not allow Greyhound Racing at St Helen's in Swansea town's centre. By the 1960s, Glais Stadium had been transformed into a general recreational facility with bowling green, tennis courts and sports fields. The earlier stand was retained.
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Wikipedia