A river has flowed along the Afan Valley for thousands of years, since the end of the last Ice Age, over 10,000 years ago, when great glaciers carved out the sides of the mountains. The River Afan probably looks much the same today as it did to the earliest inhabitants of the area, following its slow, meandering course below the steep hillsides before running out into the flat coastal plain at Aberavon, now a part of the modern town of Port Talbot, and from here, the river flows steadily and timelessly into the Bristol Channel.

The village of Aberavon, according to legend, has occupied three different sites over the years, for the coastline has altered with the passing of the centuries. The first two settlements were situated nearer to the sea, but there are no visible signs now to show where, except that in the 1830s a variety of artifacts were unearthed during the building of the docks - finds ranging from Roman to medieval.

The first inhabitants of Aberavon would have been small nomadic groups, similar to those encamped at Merthyr Mawr near Porthcawl. Stone Age axes have been discovered on Aberavon beach; Bronze Age relics on the sands near Margam, now occupied by the deep-water harbour. After bronze came iron, worked by the people known as the Celts. Local life was chiefly devoted to farming: in summer, the herds and flocks were driven up on to the higher ground, and then brought back down to the more sheltered lower regions in winter. Welsh place names bear this out - Hafod in the summer, Goytre in the winter.

During the Roman occupation of Britain, Aberavon lay on the main South Wales coast road, known as the Via Julia Maritima, and although much of this original route no longer exists, it ran not far from today's motorway.

Margam Abbey

Most traces of early Christian worship have disappeared. One of the oldest buildings still in existence is Margam Abbey, founded in 1147. The west front was substantially rebuilt in the early nineteenth century by Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot of Margam Estate, but still retains some of its fine Norman features, such as the arch. At one time, two communities lived here: monks of the Cistercian Order, and lay brethren who tended to the surrounding grange farms. With the Dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII, the abbey was acquired by Sir Rice Mansel, whose tomb is contained in the chapel within the church, and later, by his descendants, the Talbot family, who built Margam Castle nearby.

Little now remains of the extensive abbey buildings, apart from the ruined Chapter House. On the hilltop above Margam Abbey is the stone ruin of Capel Mair, built in the fifteenth century. A closer examination of the building reveals evidence of fine windows in both the east and west walls; surprising, perhaps, for such a small place of worship situated high on the side of a mountain, but undoubtedly in reverence to the abbey that it overlooked.

An iron bridge was constructed and opened in 1903 as the main road entrance to the dock from Aberavon. Now rusting badly, and only safe for use as a footbridge, its original gaslight fittings can still be seen. The river was diverted from its natural course to create a new entrance channel for the dock, and on the north side of the channel are the remains of a wooden mooring pier, probably once used for the exporting of coal from Cwmavon. When viewed from the mountain, the extent of the docks can be seen.

The Talbots built Margam Orangery at the end of the eighteenth century. It is the largest of its kind in Great Britain. Margam Castle, built in the 1830s, stands nearby, massive and imposing, Gothic in style and typical of Victorian extravagance. Theodore Talbot died before his father, so the Estate passed instead to his sister, Miss Emily Talbot, and, on her death in 1918, it was inherited by her nephew, Captain Andrew Talbot Fletcher from Scotland; however, heavy taxation forced him to sell it in 1941, when it was purchased by Sir David Evans-Bevan, a South Wales industrialist. Upon his death in 1973, the Estate was taken over and run by the local authority, as it has been ever since.

Today's Aberavon is greatly changed from the tiny village that it once was, situated on the west bank of the river Afan. At one time, though, it had its own castle, inhabited by successive Lords of Avon, located at this end of Castle Street, where there is evidence of ancient stone walls in the cellars of the end houses. Lord Nelson once stayed in Aberavon, apparently at the Globe Hotel, in its earlier form. In St Mary's churchyard, there is the grave of Richard Lewis, known as Dic Penderyn, the son of a local family that moved to Merthyr. Dic Penderyn got caught up in the Merthyr Rising of 1831, and was sentenced to death for wounding a soldier. A vast crowd attended his funeral, as many believed that he was wrongly convicted.

Aberavon has witnessed considerable change: High Street; Water Street; Lower Cwmavon Road; Cwmavon Road near Velindre; the Municipal Buildings constructed in 1915; Aberavon Market; the junction between Water Street and High Street, often congested by heavy vehicles - the entire area demolished in the 1970s and replaced by late twentieth century redevelopment. There are still clues to the past: this archway in the wall of Water Street still exists, though the upper end of Water Street is partly occupied by the big roundabout of Heilbron Way. Richard Street was knocked down, like so many others, and the top end of the High Street, leading up towards Pentyla Hill.

Where there were houses, now the slip road comes off the motorway. Llewellyn Street survives, overshadowed by an elevated section of the M4. This was the High Street just before demolition; replaced now by Aberavon House. Much of Aberavon has become openly and unashamedly modern, and little has escaped development. The covered Centre enables the population of Port Talbot to shop comfortably, and provides a place to meet and chat with friends. This site, next to Ebenezer Chapel, was for several years a large car park. Now it is occupied by the new Civic Centre. But traces of old Aberavon are still to be found: the Vivian Park Hotel, and streets of neat terraced houses.

As elsewhere, Cwmavon was originally rural, a village of farming people who tended the fields. During the latter part of the eighteenth century, iron ore was found in the surrounding hills, and, with charcoal produced from trees in the local forests, and limestone brought from the Porthcawl area, works were established to make cast iron. Apart from iron and steel, there were tinworks, copper refining and the manufacturing of bricks and chemicals. At its industrial zenith in the late Victorian era, the valley was full of factories. Then, between the 1880s and the First World War, many of the works moved to Port Talbot, or simply closed down, leaving only tinplate, which continued until 1941. For much of the twentieth century, the area was strewn with derelict factories and the flotsam of abandoned workings.

Whilst many of the older terraced houses were pulled down, Ebbw Vale Row remains, as does Jersey Row just around the corner, named after the Earl of Jersey, a local landowner. One of Cwmavon's public houses gives a hint of the past: the picture of The Rolling Mill illustrates lost industry; beside it is a broad stretch of open land restored to grass. Evidence of the once-busy railway has gone from here, and there is not even a clue that it ever existed. Settled into a rural way of life, Cwmavon has new housing developments for a population which mostly works elsewhere.

Baglan is a part of Port Talbot that did not change very much until the twentieth century - at least, that part of the village near the church. For here, it has gone from being rural to urban in not many years, and where once St Catharine's Church stood prominently in the surrounding countryside, it now stands amidst modern development, streets of houses reaching up the mountainside. Yet if Baglan seems to have been a relentlessly growing suburb of Port Talbot, with its own shopping centre and social club, it still manages to retain some of its countrified features. The Baglan Brook babbles sweetly on its way down the hill, past the church and onwards towards the sea. There is still plenty of woodland to lend some privacy to many parts of what is a well-populated area.

A glimpse into the past reveals a story familiar to other parts of the town: the lost buildings. Baglan Hall, home of the Llewellyns, squires of Baglan: a large, sixteenth century house, extended in the early 1800s, and again a hundred years later. The Hall was acquired by Port Talbot Corporation and demolished in 1958, the site used to create a park. Baglan House was a later building, dating from around 1760. For many years it belonged to the Earl of Jersey. Like Baglan Hall, it was purchased by the local authority and demolished in 1961 to make way for new housing. The Upper Lodge of Baglan Hall still stands, as does the Lodge to Baglan House; and Baglan Cottage, now known as the Baglan Bay Hotel.

Along a quiet lane leading out of Baglan towards Cwmavon is Blaen Baglan Farm, a large building of Tudor origin, considerably altered but still retaining some of its early features, such as the Tudor arch doorway. In recent years it has fallen into decline, and needs urgent attention if it is to be prevented from going the same way as many other old houses.
Most traces of Baglan's industrial past have vanished, leaving BP Chemicals to dominate the landscape, and factory units occupying Baglan Moors.

In Taibach, the English Copper Company set up a works in 1770, and copper remained an important industry here until 1953, when Vivian's Copper Mill closed down behind Commercial Road. Now, the site is occupied by the town's fire station. Although Taibach has undergone change, it still bears many similarities to the Taibach of the past, and it is, possibly, the one part of Port Talbot that has altered the least, giving it a timeless atmosphere. The village is bounded on one side by the Ffrwdwyllt river, flowing down from the Goytre Valley and past the steelworks on its way out towards the sea; and on its other side, merging with Margam, is the Rhanallt brook, rather less visible to the observer, passing beneath Margam Road near the Twelve Knights Hotel.

What has disappeared from Taibach is the old terraced rows - Constantinople Row, demolished in 1912, and Balaclava, Inkerman and Stamboul Rows. Incline Row, leading up towards the mountain from Commercial Road, has changed slightly over the years, some dwellings gone, others added, and still displays a sign for Inkerman Row, seemingly for a lost cause, though in fact new bungalows were built behind the motorway.

Along Margam Road once stood a wayside farmworker's cottage, known as Twll Yn Y Wal. Now it has gone, although it has a road nearby named after it. There was an attempt made to move the cottage to St Fagan's Welsh Folk Museum, but this failed, so it was demolished instead. Perversely, its site is the only piece of open ground amidst a row of houses. Gallipoli Row survives in the centre of Taibach, as do several other of the village's early rows; and in the main street, where traffic and pedestrians seem not to get too much in each other's way, stands the building which, for many years, used to be the town's Central Library. Since the Central Library moved to the Aberavon Shopping Centre, it continues to serve as a branch library. Opposite stands the old Margam Urban District Council building.

The Taibach Rugby Clubhouse was formerly known as the Talbot Arms Hotel, and further along Commercial Road, an even older building, The Somerset Arms, once called Somersetshire House, has a much more modern appearance, contrasting with the historic look of the malthouses closeby, which have changed little from the early days. Here, the present is settled comfortably with the past.

This is Station Road, Port Talbot in the 1920s, when traffic was much less evident than it is today.

An even earlier view of the same road shows how the front gardens of Courtland Terrace were removed in order to widen the street. Margam Terrace, which used to be behind Station Road, has gone, to be replaced by the open-air market, but the neat terraces of Gower Street remain, as do those of Rice Street and many others. Some well-known buildings have simply undergone transformation, as in this instance from Oscar Chess's Motorhouse to Page's DIY Limited in Talbot Road.
 

An Intercity train pulls out of Port Talbot railway station, Paddington-bound. The railway played a vital role in Port Talbot's industrial development, and at its height, railway lines ran through the town, across it and around it. The Port Talbot Railway and Dock Company was formed to link the dock with the coal-producing areas of South Wales. Lines ran up the Afan Valley, and in those days Cwmavon had its own station. Many of the works had their own locomotives. Whilst the ground was reasonably level in Port Talbot, once the railway headed up the valley, it became necessary to construct a long viaduct at Pontrhydyfen, a short distance away from the earlier aqueduct, and a series of bridges thereafter.

Most signs of the other railways that existed in Port Talbot have gone, the tracks long since taken up, as here at the top end of Ynys Street. But the routes that they took have not entirely reverted back to nature. Evidence remains in Cwmavon, and further up the valley, near Afan Argoed, disused platforms blend in with the encroaching foliage. The viaduct at Pontrhydyfen bestrides the landscape still, as does its older and somewhat shorter partner, the aqueduct. Aqueduct Terrace, a row of houses that once gazed down upon this industrious zeal, now a casual walkway. The disused bridge stands proudly, but a little forlornly, its span removed, the piers gaping open; but just around the bend in the river, there is one fortunate enough to have been restored with a new span for pedestrians and cyclists - a tall impassive monument to our industrial heritage.

When the might of steam gave way to the convenience and simplicity of the internal combustion engine, the A48 was the only means of passing through Port Talbot. Traffic congestion became a regular occurrence, particularly at the level crossing near Bethany Square. The solution was to build a by-pass at the foot of the mountains, the M48 as it was called, later to become a section of the M4 motorway. In its path lay the tiny village of Groes, so the village had to go. Now there is no trace of it, it is lost beneath the embankment between the roundabout and the motorway. The heart of the town got its relief and redevelopment has continued apace ever since.

A steelworks has occupied the site of the old Margam Moors, built upon the marshes and saltings after the Second World War, but a works was firstly set up behind Cwrt Ucha Terrace in the early part of the century.

The building of the new Abbey Works took place between 1947 and 1951, and inside this enormously-expanded industry, 17,000 people were employed, working in shifts for every hour of the day, every day of the year. A continuous process. Ever since, there has been change: the old open-hearth furnaces now gone. Parts of the works have historic significance - one of the coke ovens is located near the site of the old Morfa colliery, scene of several nineteenth century mining disasters. The deep-water harbour was opened in 1970, permitting huge ore-carriers to dock. A period of job redundancies, and the changing from Government-owned corporation to private company, turning losses into profit, has reduced the workforce to less than a quarter of its former number, and yet, as steel-making continues, day and night, and the town depends on its continuation, the certainties of the past have gone, perhaps forever.

The Twelve Knights Hotel in Margam opened in 1957 to cater for trade brought about by the Abbey Works. On Aberavon's seafront, the Jersey Beach Hotel, a much older building, was destroyed in a disastrous fire in 1908, and subsequently rebuilt in its present form. [It has since been demolished.] Seaside resorts became very popular in Edwardian times, Aberavon being no exception due to its vast expanse of sand; but in recent years, the beach seems to have declined in popularity, perhaps due to there no longer being any amusement activities nearby such as the funfair - but young people still find plenty to amuse them, especially with bucket and spade, and the sea is always a big attraction.

The most noticeable building which now stands on Aberavon seafront is the Afan Lido [now known as the Aquadome], which was opened in 1965 by the Queen. It was a day that many people remember well.

The first Mumbles to Aberavon swim was held in 1928, but this is 1976, and preparations are carefully being made on the beach beneath Mumbles pier. The Mayor, Councillor Sylvan Thomas, starts the event, relayed to the swimmers by Cyril Jenkins, who held the pre-war record. Crowds wait expectantly on Aberavon beach for the first swimmers to come ashore, warmly congratulated on their achievement.

Here, once, there were sand dunes and wild grass, but Aberavon Burrows gave way to the demand for new housing, which swiftly spread as the Sandfields Estate grew to accommodate thousands of families, some of whom were being rehoused from the demolished streets of Aberavon and elsewhere in Port Talbot. This shows the final days of Dock Street. There were instances where an entire street of families was moved and resettled next to their original neighbours in the long rows of new semi-detached houses.

The fire brigade has changed with the times, from the early days of horse-drawn steamer pumps and the first motorised appliances. At the museum in Skewen run by the Welsh Area Fire Engine Restoration Society, known as WAFERS for short, uniforms are on display, from early brass helmets and firemen's axes, to the uniform that became familiar in the 1950s and 1960s, and the more modern firefighting uniform and equipment. The town's fire station has moved - from Water Street, where the name still exists, carved into the stonework on the front of the building, to the site in Station Road, now occupied by a home improvement store. This Dennis appliance was in common use during the Station Road era, as was this engine, fitted with escape ladder. During the last war, the brigade was dispersed to different parts of Port Talbot, but now, one fire station, behind Commercial Street in Taibach, serves the entire community.

This flat coastal stretch of land, with its peaceful valleys, has come to depict much that has changed in Port Talbot, as the past sits beside the present. In the Stones Museum at Margam there are the relics of antiquity, stones painstakingly carved with ancient markings and inscriptions by our ancestors. This is the sheave wheel from St John's colliery, Maesteg, on display at the mining museum, Afan Argoed, with coal-trams that used to run back and fore along the coal-seams. Inside the museum, there is a fascinating collection of miners' equipment through the ages, showing the continuous efforts to improve safety underground. Country that was once blackened by coal has now been restored, such as this hillside at Bryn. With a little help, nature has now claimed back the landscape.

Over 850 years separate one of the town's most modern buildings [Tescos] from the oldest [Margam Abbey.] Nowadays, both are open on Sunday, something that would have been unthinkable not so long ago. On the sides of the mountains, hill-farming provides one of the clearest indications of an age-old tradition; once, this hillside was dotted with small farm cottages, but now they have all gone. Undoubtedly, many secrets and mysteries of the past are hidden beneath these mountain slopes, overlooking the town of Port Talbot.