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Carmarthenshire

Unitary authority in south Wales; a former county, it was part of Dyfed between 1975 and 1996.

Area

2,390 sq km/923 sq mi

Towns Carmarthen (administrative headquarters), Llanelli

Physical

rivers Tywi, Taf, Teifi; Black Mountain range in the east, southern spur of the Cambrian Mountains in the north, including Mynydd Mallaen (459 m/1,1,506 ft); along the coast are extensive sands and marshes. Carmarthenshire is dominated by the Vale of Tywi, but there are numerous grassy hills, mostly under 300 m/1,000 ft; the valleys are fertile and the hillsides afford good pasturage

Features Brecon Beacons National Park on the eastern border; the largest Iron Age Hillfort in Wales at Garn Goch; the National Coracle Centre at Cenarth; Pumpsaint Gold Mines; Museum of the Woollen Industry at DreFach-Felindre; home of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in the village of Laugharne, 6 km/3.7 mi southeast of St Clears; Aberglasney Garden, a 16th century garden and house in the Tywi Valley, with a yew tunnel thought to be one of the oldest living garden features in Europe; the National Botanic Garden of Wales, in the Regency park of Middleton Hall, was established in 2000 as a Millennium project and contains the Great Glasshouse, the largest single-span glasshouse in the world. The Llanelli Millennium Coastal Park includes 101 ha/250 acres of wetland habitat, a golf course, and water-sports centre

Industries

coal mining (in decline), quarrying, electrical and electronic components manufacture

Agriculture

dairy farming, stock-raising

Population

(2001) 172,800

Carmarthen Dyfed Llandovery

Llanelli Taf