Margam castle is thought to be one of the most haunted place

Sporting teams in Port Talbot include:

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

Tata Steel Multi Sport Club, who organise swim, run, bike and triathlon events for employees and the local community in the Neath Port Talbot area.

Aberavon Quins RFC, (founded in 1891) who play in the WRU Division 2 West

Aberavon Green Stars RFC

Corus (Port Talbot) RFC

Taibach 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

Port Talbot Wheelers cycling club

The town is part of the Ospreys rugby union region, by which it is represented at the top level of the sport.

Margam Forest to the northeast of the Port Talbot is used as a venue for a stage of the annual Wales Rally GB. In the past, the rally route has traversed Margam Country Park.

Afan Forest Park to the north of the town has a number of dedicated mountain biking trails.

Port Talbot has an array of higher level football. With two historically dominant football teams in the town (Port Talbot Town F.C. and Afan Lido F.C.), also Welsh Football League First Division high-flyers Goytre United F.C. are based just outside of Port Talbot. The town's nearest Welsh Premier League team is Neath Athletic A.F.C, which is located only a few miles away from Port Talbot. Llanelli A.F.C., Swansea City A.F.C. and Cardiff City F.C. are also large clubs which are in close vicinity of Port Talbot.

The earliest evidence of humans in Port Talbot has been found on the side of Mynydd Margam where farming ditches can be found at an age of 14,000 BC during the Bronze Age. There were Iron Age hill forts on Mynydd Dinas, Mynydd Margam, Mynydd Emorch and other mountains. Mynydd Hawdef contains remains of an ancient Iron Age village. The Margam deer herd was first introduced by the Romans.[3][4]

Historically in Glamorgan, Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of 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. The Afan was diverted and a dock was opened in 1839 named for the Talbot family,[6] local landowners who were related to the pioneer photographer, William Henry Fox Talbot. The Talbots were patrons of Margam Abbey, 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 1952 the completion of the Abbey Works by the Steel Company of Wales made Port Talbot the home of one of Europe's largest integrated 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 British Petroleum (now BP) in the 1960s. In 1970 a new deep-water harbour was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. This harbour was capable of discharging iron ore vessels of 100,000 deadweight,[7] 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. [8]

Around 400 years ago the Welsh and English border ran through Kenfig. Wales was on the West and the English side was East of Kenfig castle which was on the border between the two nations, the castle was attacked and eventually defeated by the Welsh. Incoming sand caused the residents of Kenfig to move and build a new town now called Pyle

William Abraham (1842–1922, b. Cwmafan), trade unionist and politician

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 Street. Played 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

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

William Evans (1883–1968), writer

Bernard Fox, actor, born Bernard Lawson.

Rhod Gilbert, comedian, lives in Port Talbot

Alan Martin Rugby Union Player, Wales & Lions International.

Richard Hibbard Rugby Union Player, Wales & Lions International.

James Hook, rugby union player, current Perpignan and Wales fly-half

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

Clive Jenkins (1926–1999), trade unionist.

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

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

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

Linda Sharp, champion surfer from Aberavon, won the European surfing championships twice

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

Rhys Taylor, footballer born in Neath on 7 April 1990 who plays for Chelsea

George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy was born in Tydraw Street, Port Talbot and was speaker in the House of Commons.

Andrew Vicari, painter was born in Port Talbot.

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

In April 2011, actor Michael Sheen led a 72-hour National Theatre Wales production of a modern retelling of The Passion. The play began at 0530 BST on Good Friday with a seafront scene, inspired by John the Baptist's baptism of Jesus, which was watched by hundreds who had heard about it by word of mouth.

By the time the first main part of the play was performed on Aberavon Beach at 1500 BST, organisers estimated up to 6,000 people had gathered to watch.

On Saturday, there were sequences in Llewellyn Street, the Castle Street underpass, Aberafan Shopping Centre, the Seaside Social and Labour Club in Sandfields and nearby Abbeyville Court.

On Easter Sunday, the production returned to Aberavon Beach as part of the finale. A trial was performed on Civic Square before a procession from Station Road, with the final scene, "the cross", at Aberavon seafront. By the time the procession had reached the seafront close to where it had begun 72 hours earlier, organisers estimate over 13,000 people had come to watch on the small roundabout.

In April 2012, Michael Sheen returned to attend the world premiere of a two-hour feature-length film The Gospel of Us based on The Passion. The premiere was held at the Apollo Cinemas on the Aberavon seafront close to where The Passion took place. Tickets for the premiere sold out weeks before the showing; all six screens showed the film simultaneously. The film was also shown daily from Easter Sunday to the following Thursday prior to its UK-wide release the next day, 13 April 2012.

Comprehensive schools.

Primary schools

Margam Castle / Park

There are five comprehensive schools situated within the Port Talbot area:

• Cymmer Afan

• Dyffryn Comprehensive Lower (Taibach) and Upper (Margam)

• Glan Afan Comprehensive School

• Sandfields Comprehensive School

• St Joseph's Roman Catholic

• Alderman Davies CW Primary School • Alltwen Primary School • Baglan Primary School • Blaenbaglan Primary School

• Blaendulais Primary School • Bryn Primary School • Bryncoch CW Primary School • Brynhyfryd Primary School

• Catwg Primary School • Central Infant School • Central Junior School • Coedffranc Primary School

• Coed Hirwauin Primary School • Creunant Primary School • Crymlyn Primary School • Crynallt Infant School

• Crynallt Junior School • Eastern Primary School • Gnoll Primary School • Groes Primary School

• Llansawel Primary School • Melin Infants School • Melin Junior School • Mynachlog Nedd Junior School

• Neath Abbey Infants School • Rhos Primary School • St Joseph's RC Junior School• St Joseph's RC Primary School

• Tonmawr Primary School • Tonnau Primary School • Traethmelyn Primary School • Tywyn Primary School

• Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Blaendulais • Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Castell Nedo • Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Cwmnedd

• Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontardawe • Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Rhos Afan • Ynys Fach Primary School

• Ynysmardey Primary School

Margam castle is thought to be one of the most haunted places in wales. One of the stories people have told is "The sound of giggling children is heard frequently through the long corridors and dramatic rooms of the family areas. There have been reports of children in Victorian dress seen drifting in and out of doorways and mischievously moving objects."

Margam park is a great place to go for a family day out there is loads to do you can go on the animal tour you can go on the train, you can go to fairy land or to the adventure play ground.

History of port talbot

Facts...

Sport

With a population of 137,400 (2007), Neath Port Talbot is the seventh largest unitary authority in Wales.

• The Tourism Industry directly employs around 1079 full and part-time workers.

• Over 1.7 million people visited the area in 2007, contributing an estimated £73.9 million to the local economy.

Neath Port Talbot covers an area of 44,217 hectares, rising from sea level in the west to 600 meters at Craig y Llyn, above Glynneath.

The town is still said to be the most polluted place in Wales and the most polluted in the United Kingdom outside of London.

Passion in Port Talbot

Transport

Famous people

Port Talbot is served by the South Wales Main Line at Port Talbot Parkway railway station. 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, 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. A Sustrans cycle route has recently been constructed at this bus station as part of the connect2 scheme connecting the Afan Valley with Aberavon beach.

The M4 motorway cuts through the town from southeast to northwest, 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.[22] The road has a speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h) 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.[23] 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),[24] is planned for completion in 2012. The new carriageway will serve as a distributor road to the southwest 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 (2.0 km2).[25] 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[26] and were closed in 1959. They were re-opened in 1998 for commercial shipping and in March 2007 for the import of some steel products[27] and are capable of handling ships of up to 8,000 dwt.[28] There have been proposals for the development of an intermodal freight terminal at the port.

Port talbot