Tycroes is quite a large village situated on the south western outskirts of Ammanford, separated from the town by the Fferws Brook. The village has developed in a roughly triangular form along the Pontarddulais Road (A483) which runs from the south west to the north east; Heol Ddu, which goes from west to east; and Penygarn Road, which runs roughly north to south. The first edition of the 25inch OS maps, published in 1880, shows a village far smaller than the Tycroes of today. It did already have some amenities though - a school; a post office; a public house called the Bridgend and two chapels - Moreia Independent chapel (NPRN 6404) and Caersalem Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel (NPRN 6410), both built in 1876. There was also another village - Mynydd-b?ch - situated a little to the south west of Tycroes. By the twenty-first century, Mynydd-b?ch had been engulfed by Ty-croes, so that all that remains now is a small housing estate bearing the name Mynyddbach. More houses had been built in the area by the time the second edition of the 25inch OS maps was published in 1906. Mynydd-b?ch had a school and Betheda Welsh Baptist Sunday School (NPRN 6407). In Tycroes, the Bridgend public house had changed its name to the New Bridgend.
There was more development in the village throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Two more places of worship were opened - St. Edmunds church (NPRN 421091), built in 1913-14 and Neuadd Efengylu (Evangelical Gospel Hall - NPRN 97140), built in 1932. Both are still in use as places of worship, as are Caersalem Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel and Betheda Welsh Baptist chapel/Sunday school. Although the school in the centre of Tycroes has closed, there is still a school on the site of the one in Mynydd-b?ch, which educates approximately 200 children aged three to eleven. Other amenities in Tycroes include a rugby club; a post office and small supermarket; a florist; a pharmacy; an Indian takeaway and a fish bar. On the southern outskirts of the village is Filtration Anthracite, a company which 'produces anthracite filter media from the finest Welsh anthracite. It is used throughout the world in the production of drinking water and is to be found in over 135 UK water treatment works and in 29 countries.'
Sources: modern and historic OS maps; google street view; Coflein database; www.westerncarbons.co.uk; www.welshspicetakeaway.co.uk; Estyn report on Ysgol Gynradd Tycroes, published in November 2015.
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 6th December 2018.