18 Facts About Port Talbot

Port Talbot is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately eight miles (thirteen kilometres) from Swansea.

The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south east of the town and is one of the biggest steelworks in the world but has been under threat of closure since the 1980s.

The name 'Port Talbot' first appears in 1837 as the name of the new docks built on the south-east side of the river Afan by the Talbot family.

Port Talbot founded the first church at the town that now takes his name.

Port Talbot passed through Aberafan, which he describes as a "poor village" surrounded by barren ground, though he describes the area as heavily wooded, not much of which remains today.

Related searches

Borough of Port Talbot was created in November 1921, incorporating Margam, Cwmafan and Aberafan.

The 1974 county council re-organisation split Glamorgan into three new counties, and Port Talbot became one of the four districts of West Glamorgan.

South East of Port Talbot is dominated by Pennant sandstone which forms this high relief area including Mynydd Margam, Mynydd Dinas and the other mountains.

Baglan Road in Port Talbot is built upon glacial till from the Devensian period.

Marine fossils found in Port Talbot region include species of bivalves, gastropods and brachiopods.

Sea depth around Port Talbot is 10 to 50 metres with increasing depth with increasing distance from the coast.

Port Talbot docks is a deep water harbour which allows large cargo ships to dock into the area.

The Port Talbot Guardian was a weekly paper published by Media Wales, part of the Trinity Mirror group, but ceased publication in October 2009.

Port Talbot is served by the South Wales Main Line at Port Talbot Parkway railway station.

Port Talbot bus station, located adjacent to the Aberafan Centre in the centre of the town is the main bus transport hub, it is a National Express stop.

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.

Margam Forest to the northeast of the Port Talbot is used as a venue for a stage of the annual Wales Rally GB.

Port Talbot has several protected sites, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and a Ramsar wetland site.