Cross Hands

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Around Carmarthenshire

Cross Hands

The community known as Cross Hands is three miles from the end of the M4 motorway at the Pont Abraham roundabout from which there is a link to Ammanford. This roundabout is the start of the A48 dual carriageway which leads to Cross Hands village and its shopping facilities. The county town of Carmarthen is about 11 miles further west along the A48 from Cross hands.

The village lies close to the start of the Gwendraeth river at Llyn Llech Owain lake and at the head of the Gwendraeth Valley which extends to the sea at Kidwelly, 15 miles distant.

A large business and retail park, across the dual carriageway from the old village and directly off the Cross Hands Roundabout, has been built on the site of a former drift mine. A wide variety of commercial and retail outlets can be found here, including a MacDonalds, several furniture outlets, small supermarkets and car dealerships. Another business park has been established on the village side of the A48 to cater for further expansion.

The commercial centre of Cross Hands extends from the roundabout on the A48 to the old cross roads and beyond, along Carmarthen Road, Pontadulais Road and the road to Tumble. It consists of around 40 to 50 shops and small businesses

When coal was king the railway was the life-blood of many communities but with the demise of coal and the Beeching railway closures many railway lines have all but disappeared.

Parts of the railway line that served the collieries at Cross Hands are still visible today. The line ran from Llanelli and served Cynheidre Colliery above Pontyberem and Mynydd Mawr Colliery at Tumble. It was called the Mynydd Mawr Railway to distinguish it from the railway which ran from Burry Port through Pontyberem to the Cwm Mawr mine at Lower Tumble. The Mynydd Mawr Railway ended at the deep mine at Cross Hands. A branch line which ran to Gorslas is still visible around the edge of Cross Hands Park. From the drift mine another branch line (now a footpath) went to Penygroes.

The only remaining evidence of the drift mine is the building where the pit ponies were stabled and the mine manager’s house which is now a nightclub.

There has been much housing development in the area and Cross Hands is now the centre of a thriving community.

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