Tonna, Neath facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tonna
St Anne's Church in Tonna.
Tonna
Population	2,499 (2011 census)
OS grid reference	SS774990
Principal area	Neath Port Talbot
Ceremonial county	West Glamorgan
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEATH
Postcode district	SA11
Dialling code	01639
Police	South Wales
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
EU Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Neath
Welsh Assembly	Neath
Councillors	Leanne Jones (Labour)
List of places UK Wales Neath Port Talbot 51°40′35″N 3°46′23″W / 51.676389°N 3.773056°W / 51.676389; -3.773056

Tonna (Welsh: Tonnau) is the name of a village and a coterminous electoral ward and community in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, located to the north-east of Neath town, of which it is effectively a suburb.

Ivy Tower

Immediately between Tonna and the adjoining parish of Llanilltud ("Llantwit-juxta-Neath") is a cottage once occupied by the Welsh-born engineer and naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who had arrived at his theory of evolution independently of Charles Darwin, with whom he later corresponded. Eventually Wallace and Darwin jointly presented the first paper on Natural Selection to the Linnean Society.

The village's rugby union team is Tonna RFC.

Toponymy

Once mainly agricultural fields, the name derives from the archaic Welsh tonnau, meaning lea or grassland and not, as is sometimes assumed, the modern Welsh for "waves". Some areas of pasture remain.

Government and politics

The electoral ward of Tonna falls within the parliamentary constituency of Neath. The ward consists of a small built-up area of Tonna village to the northwest with rest of the ward consisting of woodland and pasture. Tonna is bounded by the wards of Aberdulais to the north; Resolven to the northeast; Pelenna to the southeast; Cimla and Neath North to the southwest; and Cadoxton to the west.

In the 2017 local council elections, the electorate turnout was %. The results were: