Like the neighbouring village of Garnant it experienced a coal-mining boom in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the last big colliery closed in 1947 and coal has been extracted fitfully since then.

The location of Garnant and Glanamman was known as Cwmamman ("Amman valley") before coal was discovered; until the 18th century it was a remote wilderness with just a few farms and rough mountain roads.

The arrival of the railway in 1840 meant that coal could be exported on an industrial scale through Llanelli docks, and the construction of two stations at Glanamman and Garnant promoted a distinction between the two communities.

[2] Cwmamman, the old name for the location of Glanamman and Garnant, was revived for the urban council covering the two villages which now have much smaller populations than in their heyday at the turn of the 20th century.

The village is about 13 miles (21 kilometres) north of Swansea on the edge of the Black Mountain, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

The effect of the mining boom can be seen in the expansion of Cwmamman parish (including Garnant and surrounding villages) from just over 3,000 in 1851 to over 11,000 in the early 20th century.

The first chain driven Bicycle in Wales and one of the first in the World was manufactured by the Defiance Cycle Company Glanamman and ridden to Swansea in 1885.

Brynseion Chapel's location at the corner of the High Street and the main road marks the centre of the village,[7] but both it and Saint Margaret's Church (see below) are now closed.

[9] Garnant Park (formerly Cwmamman Recreation Ground) was part of Lord Dynevor's Glanrafon Farm estate just east of Glanamman.

[11] Players who have gone on to rugby at international level include Claude Davey, Tom Day and Trevor Evans of the British Lions.

Rugby international Shane Williams bought a disused industrial unit on Station Road which he converted into a CrossFit-franchised gym with bike hire and other facilities (now closed).