Salvation Data 0800 075 0720

Port Talbot
Welsh: Aberafan/Porth Talbot
Port Talbot Centre
Port Talbot  Port Talbot shown within Wales
Population	35,633
OS grid reference	SS755895
Principal area	Neath Port Talbot
Ceremonial county	West Glamorgan
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PORT TALBOT
Postcode district	SA12, SA13
Dialling code	01639
Police	South Wales
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
EU Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Aberavon
Welsh Assembly	Aberavon
List of places: UK • Wales • Neath Port Talbot

Port Talbot

The town grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan (English name Aberavon), which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan became industrialised following the establishment of a copperworks in 1770. A dock was opened in 1839 and named for the Talbot family,^[2] local landowners who were related to the pioneer photographer, William Henry Fox Talbot. The Talbots were patrons of Margam Abbey, an ancient Cistercian foundation, and also built Margam Castle. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803-1890) (Liberal Member of Parliament for Glamorgan from 1830 until his death) saw the potential of his property as a site for an extensive ironworks, which opened in early 1831.

CRM Talbot's daughter Emily Charlotte Talbot (1840-1918) inherited her father's fortune and became just as notable in the development of ports and railways. With assistance from engineers Charles Meik and Patrick Meik, she set about creating a port and railway system to attract business away from Cardiff and Swansea. The Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company opened a dock at Port Talbot and the Llyfni Railway in 1897, followed by the Ogmore Valley Extension and the South Wales Mineral Junction Railway (almost all these lines were closed as part of the Beeching Axe cuts in the mid 1960s, but some bridges and viaducts remain and many of these railway routes have re-emerged as recreational cycle tracks). By 1900, the dock was exporting over 500,000 tons of coal; it reached a peak of over three million tons in 1923. In the same year, the borough of Port Talbot was created, incorporating Margam, Cwmavon and the older town of Aberavon.^[2]

In 1952 the completion of the Abbey Works made Port Talbot the home of one of Europe's largest steelworks and (with 18,000 employees) the largest employer in Wales. This was followed by the establishment of a chemical plant at Baglan Bay by BP in the 1960s. In 1970 a new deep-water harbour was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, capable of discharging iron ore vessels of 100,000 deadweight,^[3] a tenfold improvement on the old dock. By the early 21st century, due to further modification and dredging, the harbour is capable of harbouring vessels of over 170,000 deadweight.^[4] Following the demise of the West Glamorgan county council, the Port Talbot borough council was reorganised with Neath into the new unitary authority of Neath Port Talbot in 1996.

The town is built along the eastern rim of Swansea Bay in a narrow strip of coastal plane surrounding the River Afan estuary. Swansea is visible on the opposite side of Swansea Bay. The local beach along the edge of the bay is known as Aberavon Sands which is situated between the River Afan and the River Neath. The other beach in Port Talbot is Margam Sands (or more popularly known as Morfa Beach). The north eastern edge of the town is marked by the River Neath. A very significant landmark in the town is the Port Talbot Steelworks.

Air quality is relatively poor over a large area of the town. In 2007 there were 45 exceedences of the European and National allowed Pm10 limits, which are set at 35 exceedences.

Aberavon Rugby Club (founded in 1876) who play in the Rugby Union Welsh Premier Division

Aberavon Quins RFC

Neath Port Talbot Steelers club who play in the Rugby League Conference

Afan Lido F.C.

Port Talbot Town F.C. compete in the League of Wales, and also the First Division Welsh Champions

Goytre United F.C.

Margam United F.C Based at the Saltings football field in Knights Road, Margam.

Corus F.C. who play at home at the SCOW fields in Abbots Close

Taibach RFC

Cymmer Afan

Dyffryn Comprehensive Lower (Taibach) and Upper (Margam)

Glan Afan Comprehensive School

Sandfields

St Joseph's R.C.

The South Wales Miners' Museum is located in Cynonville, Cymmer.

Port Talbot Historical Society is a society founded in 1954 and based in Sandfields Library, in the Communities First area of Sandfields.

The group is dedicated to the research and recording of local history and have published a number of books over the years. There is a core of 10 -15 active members who will be engaged in the Community Archives Wales project aiming to archive this information digitally.

In 2005 the area was granted its first dedicated radio station when Afan FM, the inspiration of a group of local young people headed by 19-year-old Craig Williams - [3] - was awarded a 5 year licence by Ofcom to serve Port Talbot and its neighbouring town of Neath. Afan FM currently transmits to the area on 107.9FM and online via its website. The station is based at its new broadcasting centre on Aberavon Seafront. The station also transmits to the neighbouring town of Neath on 97.4FM.

The area is also served by The Wave (96.4MHz), Swansea Bay Radio (102.1MHz), Real Radio (106MHz) and Nation Radio (107.3MHz) as well as the BBC. Radio Phoenix also operates a Hospital Radio service for the patients & staff of Neath Port Talbot Hospital in Baglan Moors.

The town is served by several newspapers. The Port Talbot Guardian was a weekly paper published by Media Wales, part of the Trinity Mirror group, but ceased publication in October 2009. The Swansea-based daily South Wales Evening Post and the weekly Courier and Tribune are also distributed in the town and are published by South West Wales Publications, part of the Northcliffe Media group.

Neath Port Talbot Council publish a quarterly newsletter entitled "Pride" - which is delivered to every home in the Neath Port Talbot area.

Can i gymru is usually filmed in Port Talbot.

Port Talbot is served by the South Wales Main Line at Port Talbot Parkway railway station where there are local as well as direct intercity trains to Swansea, Cardiff, London and Manchester. Port Talbot bus station, located adjacent to the Aberafan Centre in the centre of the town is the main bus transport hub in the town. It is a National Express stop. Local bus services are provided by First Cymru, South Wales Transport & Veolia Transport Cymru . The bus station's layout is very distinctive for the fact that buses always have to perform a 270° clockwise turn to exit the station.

The M4 motorway cuts through the town from south east to north west, crossing a central area on a concrete viaduct, junctions 38 to 41 serve Port Talbot, with junctions 40 and 41 being in the commercial heart of the town. This busy urban stretch of the M4, with tight bends, 2-lane carriageways, short narrow slip roads and concrete walls on both sides, was the first length of motorway in Wales when it opened to traffic in 1966.^[5] The road has a speed limit of 50 mph enforced with a speed camera in the Eastbound direction. The stretch through Port Talbot town centre is a particular traffic congestion blackspot and there have been calls to close the slip roads at junctions 40 and 41 to improve traffic flow.^[6] However some commuters oppose this plan since it would add more time to their journey. A new dual carriageway relief road, the Port Talbot Peripheral Distribution Road (PDR)[4], is planned for completion in 2012. The new carriageway will serve as a distributor road to the south west of Port Talbot, beginning at M4 Junction 38 ending near Junction 41.

The Port Talbot Docks complex consist of an inner set of floating docks and an outer tidal basin. Construction of the tidal basin began in 1964 and the whole basin covers about 500 acres.^[7] The tidal basin is capable of handling ships of up to 170,000 dwt and is used mostly for the import of iron ore and coal for use by nearby Port Talbot Steelworks. The inner floating docks were constructed in 1898^[8] and were closed in 1959. They were re-opened in 1998 for commercial shipping but in March 2007 for the import of some steel products ^[9] and are capable of handling ships of up to 8,000 dwt.^[10] There have been proposals for the development of an intermodal freight terminal at the port.

Heavy industry is a visible feature of Port Talbot's economy. The coastal strip of the town features Port Talbot Steelworks, a large BOC industrial gases plant and a gas-fired power station. Three further power plants are being planned or commissioned, they are at Margam adjacent to the BOC plant, near the Aberavon Beach sea front and a recently announced £60m project within Corus to utilise by-product gases.

On 20 November 2007, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) granted consent for the world's largest biomass power station to be built at Port Talbot.^[11] This is expected to begin operation in 2010, and to provide enough electricity (from wood from environmentally-managed forests, mostly in North America) to supply half the homes in Wales with electricity.

Potential future development currently centres around the peripheral distributor road to the south, Baglan Industrial Park and Baglan Energy park to the west, Port Talbot Docks to the southwest, Margam Country Park to the east and the Afan valley to the north. In March 2009 Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council announced a regeneration project for Port Talbot town centre and docks, with a masterplan for new homes, offices, light industry, retail developments and improvements to the railway station.^[12]

The beach area of the town has been improved and the council announced it has been awarded the Blue Flag beach status for water quality and beach facilities. ^[13].

Martyn Ashton, British mountain bike trials former world champion and multiple British champion, lives in Port Talbot.

Keith Barnes, Australian rugby league great was born in Port Talbot before emigrating aged 13.

Robert Blythe, Welsh actor, was brought up in Tan y Groes St. Currently (2009) plays Fagin Hepplewhite in the BBC comedy High Hopes.

Di Botcher, Welsh comedy actress

Rob Brydon, Actor and comedian was brought up in Baglan, Port Talbot.

Richard Burton, was born in Pontrhydyfen, Port Talbot as Richard Jenkins and had his early education in Port Talbot where he met his mentor, Philip H. Burton.

Peg Entwistle, successful Broadway theatre actress whose 1932 suicide from atop the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles forever tagged her as "The Hollywood Sign Girl" was born at 5 Broad Street, Port Talbot on 5 February 1908.^[14]

Christopher Evans, businessman, originally from Port Talbot, Wales,

Bernard Fox (actor) born Bernard Lawson.

James Hook, rugby player, current Ospreys and Wales fly-half

Sir Anthony Hopkins, actor, was born and raised in Margam, Port Talbot.

Geoffrey Howe, was born in Port Talbot and spent his early years there. When he was made a life peer in 1992 he chose the title Baron Howe of Aberavon.

Michael Locke, aka 'Pancho' of TV series Dirty Sanchez, was born and raised in Baglan, Port Talbot.

Dic Penderyn, was born as Richard Lewis in Aberavon in 1803, in the centre of what is now Port Talbot but before the town was named as such in 1840. He is buried at St. Mary's Church [5] in the centre of the town. He was convicted of assault on an army soldier and executed.

Paul Potts, an opera singer and the winner of Britain's Got Talent in 2007, lives in Port Talbot.

Michael Sheen, Welsh actor was born in Newport but he was brought up in Port Talbot.

George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy was born in Tydraw Street, Port Talbot.

Andrew Vicari, Painter was born in Port Talbot.

Freddie Williams, world speedway champion in the early 1950s was from Margam.

Colin Pascoe, former Swansea City, Sunderland and Wales international;

Port Talbot Coastguard celebrates its centenary in 2008 with a proud history of rescues in the last 100 years. The crew are now the mud rescue team for the Swansea Bay area.

2007 was a typically busy year with a beached whale making world news. They also took part in flood relief efforts in Gloucester and while all are volunteers, they spent Christmas morning responding to pagers after it was thought a whale had come ashore once more which turned out to be a log, much to everyone's relief. Updates can be found at http://www.ptcg.co.uk