Port Talbot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Port Talbot | |
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Welsh: Aberafan/Porth Talbot |
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| Population | 49,654 |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Principal area | Neath Port Talbot |
| Ceremonial county | West Glamorgan |
| Constituent 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 |
| UK Parliament | Aberavon |
| European Parliament | Wales |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Neath Port Talbot | |
Port Talbot (Welsh: Aberafan or Porth Talbot) is an industrial town in the traditional county of Glamorgan, south Wales, with a population of approximately 50,000. Port Talbot is also the name of an electoral ward and a community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, which are closely related to the town.
Contents |
[edit] History
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. It built its wealth on the abundance of coal in the vicinity and on the abundant water available in the River Afan to power machinery and operate the docks.
The town got its new name from the Talbot family, who were related to the pioneer photographer, William Henry Fox Talbot. They were patrons of Margam Abbey, an ancient Cistercian foundation, and also built Margam Castle (1830-1839, architect: Thomas Hopper), a mock Gothic residence, now partially restored and open to the public along with the surrounding park.
Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803-1890) was a wealthy landowner (and Liberal Member of Parliament for Glamorgan from 1830 until his death) who saw the potential of his property as a site for an extensive ironworks, which opened in early 1831. (This was just part of the industrialisation taking place across south Wales then; copper had been smelted at Neath since 1584, there were tinworks and ironworks at Pontardawe, and Swansea was developing into a world centre of metal-working.) CRM Talbot was also chairman and a major shareholder of the South Wales Railway.
His only son Theodore died in 1876 following a hunting accident. It was therefore his daughter Emily Charlotte Talbot (1840-1918) who 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 Dock Company opened a dock at Port Talbot and the Llynfi 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). By 1900, the dock was exporting over 500,000 tons of coal; it reached a peak of over three million tons in 1923.
During the early twentieth century, the docks and Port Talbot Steelworks attracted considerable investment, and this was followed by the establishment of a chemical plant at Baglan Bay by British Petroleum in the 1960s.
In 1970 a new deep-water harbour was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. It was capable of discharging vessels of 100,000 dwt[1] each, 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 180,000 dwt.
The town saw serious decline in the late seventies and early eighties caused by the withdrawal or cutting back of major employers, especially the steel works. The borough council has been absorbed into the larger unitary authority of Neath Port Talbot.
[edit] The Mittal Affair: "Cash for Influence"
Controversy erupted in 2002 as Plaid MP Adam Price exposed the link between U.K. prime minister Tony Blair and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal in the Mittal Affair, also known as 'Garbagegate' or Cash for Infuence.[1][2][3] Mittal's LNM steel company, registered in the Dutch Antilles and maintaining less than 1% of its 100,000 plus workforce in the UK, sought Blair's aid in its bid to purchase Romania's state steel industry.[4] The letter from Blair to the Romanian government, a copy of which Price was able to obtain, hinted that the privatisation of the firm and sale to Mittal might help smooth the way for Romania's entry into the European Union.[5]
The letter had a passage in it removed just prior to Blair's signing of it, describing Mittal as "a friend."[6]
In exchange for Blair's support Mittal, already a Labour contributor, donated £125,000 more to Labour party funds a week after the 2001 UK General Elections, while as many as 6,000 Welsh steelworkers were laid off that same year, Price and others pointed out.[7] Mittal's company, then the fourth largest in the world, was a "major global competitor of Britain's own struggling steel industry, Corus, formerly known as British Steel." [8] Corus and Valkia Limited were two of the primary employers in South Wales, particularly in Ebbw Vale, Llanwern, and Port Talbot.[9].
[edit] Sport
Sporting teams in Port Talbot include Aberavon Rugby Club (founded in 1876) who play in the Rugby Union Welsh Premier Division, and Aberavon Quins RFC and Neath Port Talbot Steelers club who play in the Rugby League Conference. Football clubs Afan Lido F.C. and Port Talbot Town F.C. compete in the League of Wales, and also the First Division Welsh Champions Goytre United F.C..
[edit] Education
There are five comprehensive schools situated within the Port Talbot area:
- Glan Afan
- Dyffryn Comprehensive Lower (Taibach) and Upper (Margam)
- St Joseph's R.C.
- Cymmer Afan
- Sandfields
A campus of Neath Port Talbot College is located in the Margam area. The Margam campus was previously called Afan College.
[edit] Media
In 2005 the area was granted its first dedicated radio station when Afan FM, a local group - [2] - were awarded a 5 year Community FM Radio licence to serve Port Talbot and its neighbouring town of Neath. It will broadcast a "music-based information service" targeting young people aged 11-25.
Afan FM currently transmits to the area on 107.9FM and online via its website at www.afanfm.co.uk. The station is based at its new broadcasting centre on Aberavon Seafront.
Local Bands
Kid Keep Dancing, Friends Electric, The Nv-Us, I Call Shotgun, The Kept, Ki Rose, Lights Alive, Blackchalk, Eleventh Apparation
[edit] Geography
The town is built along the eastern rim of Swansea Bay with Swansea being located on the opposite side. The beach along the edge of the bay is known as Aberavon Sands which are protected from erosion by a groyne at the mouth of the River Afan. The north eastern edge of the town is marked by the River Neath. Unquestionably, the most famous landmark in the town is the Port Talbot Steelworks.
[edit] Transport
Port Talbot is served by the South Wales Main Line at Port Talbot Parkway railway station where there are direct Inter-City 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. 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, narrow lanes, short narrow slip roads and concrete walls on both sides has a speed limit of 50 mph enforced with a speed camera in the Eastbound direction. The urban stretch through Port Talbot city 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. However some commuters oppose this plan since it would add more time to their journey. A new dual carriageway relief road 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 Juntion 38 ending near Junction 41.
Port Talbot Tidal Harbour is used mostly for the import of iron ore for use by nearby Port Talbot Steelworks. There have been proposals for the development of an intermodal freight terminal at the port.
[edit] Economy
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 gas plant and a gas-fired power station.
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.[10] 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 Energy park to the west, Margam country park to the east and the Afan valley to the north. The 1970s town centre is ripe for a future face lift. The area around the town's railway station is now dominated by billboards and a derelict cinema.
[edit] Blue Flag Beach
The beach area of the town has recently been improved and the council have announced it has been awarded the European Blue Flag status for water quality and beach facilities. ref http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/pressreleases/pressrelease.cfm?id=2688
[edit] Notable Port Talbot people
(in alphabetical order)
- 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 (2007) plays Fagan in the BBC comedy High Hopes.
- Actor and comedian Rob Brydon 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.
- Christopher Evans (businessman) originally from Port Talbot, Wales,
- Anthony Hopkins was born and raised in Margam, Port Talbot.
- Politician Geoffrey Howe was born in Port Talbot in 1925 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 [3] in the centre of the town. He was convicted of assault on an army officer and executed.
- Paul Potts, an opera singer and the winner of Britain's Got Talent in 2007, lives in Port Talbot.
- Welsh actor Michael Sheen was born in Newport but he was brought up in Port Talbot.
- George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy was born in Tydraw Street, Port Talbot.
- Painter Andrew Vicari was born in Port Talbot.
[edit] References
- ^ Plaid reveals Labour steel cash link Monday, 11 February, 2002, extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Lakshmi Mittal, steel mill millionaire Thursday, 14 February, 2002, extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Q&A: 'Garbagegate' Thursday, 14 February, 2002 extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Q&A: 'Garbagegate' Thursday, 14 February, 2002 extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Plaid reveals Labour steel cash link Monday, 11 February, 2002, extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Q&A: 'Garbagegate' 14 February, 2002, extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Plaid reveals Labour steel cash link Monday, 11 February, 2002, extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Q&A: 'Garbagegate' Thursday, 14 February, 2002 extracted 11-01-07
- ^ Steel firm condemns 'Mittal aid' Monday, 18 February, 2002, 14:47 GMT extracted 11-01-07
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7105124.stm
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Neath Port Talbot electoral wards |
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Aberavon • Aberdulais • Allt-Wen • Baglan • Blaengwrach • Briton Ferry East • Briton Ferry West • Bryn and Cwmavon • Bryncoch North • Bryncoch South • Cadoxton • Cimla • Coedffranc Central • Coedffranc North • Coedffranc West • Crynant • Cwmllynfell • Cymmer • Dyffryn • Glyncorrwg • Glynneath • Godre'r Graig • Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen • Gwynfi • Lower Brynamman • Margam • Neath East • Neath North • Neath South • Onllwyn • Pelenna • Pontardawe • Port Talbot • Resolven • Rhos • Sandfields East • Sandfields West • Seven Sisters • Tai-Bach • Tonna • Trebanos • Ystalyfera |
Communities of Neath Port Talbot |
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Aberavon • Baglan • Baglan Bay • Blaengwrach • Blaenhonddan • Briton Ferry • Bryn • Cilybebyll • Clyne and Melincourt • Coedffranc • Crynant • Cwmavon • Cwmllynfell • Dyffryn Clydach • Glyncorrwg • Glynneath • Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen • Margam • Margam Moors • Neath • Onllwyn • Pelenna • Pontardawe • Port Talbot • Resolven • Rhyd-y-fro • Sandfields East • Sandfields West • Seven Sisters • Taibach • Tonna • Ystalyfera |
es:Port Talbot pl:Port Talbot zh:塔爾伯特港
