The villages of Crofty and Llanmorlais are on the northern coast of the Gower Peninsula, approximately nine miles north west of Swansea. Both villages grew substantially in the twentieth century, meaning that the two are now almost indistinguishable, although Llanmorlais is smaller than Crofty, and is located slightly further south.
The first edition of the 25inch OS maps, published in 1879, depicts Crofty as a very small hamlet centred around Crofty Inn (NPRN 410342). Interestingly, Llanmorlais is recorded as Glan-morlais, presumably because it is located on the shores of the Morlais river. It is even smaller than Crofty and appears to only be a farm or a small collection of buildings. There is a colliery, also known as Glan-morlais, situated immediately to the east. When the second edition of the 25inch OS maps was published in 1898, Glan-morlais had become Llanmorlais and it had a station on the Penclawdd branch of the L & NWR line, although the colliery was labelled as 'old coal pit.' What appears to be a row of workers housing had also been built. Meanwhile, at Crofty, several more houses had been built. The village also had a Calvinistic Methodist chapel called Zoar (NPRN 9635), which was first built in 1884 before being rebuilt in 1906. It remains open as a place of worship today, as part of the Presbyterian Church in Wales.
Twenty-first century Llanmorlais has a community centre, whilst Crofty has several amenities including the Crofty Inn, Zoar Chapel, a post office, an outdoor activity centre and quite a large industrial estate on its northern outskirts.
Sources: modern and historic OS maps; www.ebcpcw.cymru (Presbyterian church in Wales website); www.goweradventures.co.uk
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 30th January 2019