What to See in Port Talbot - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Wales. Margam Stones Museum is a small Victorian schoolhouse near Port Talbot, South Wales, which now provides a home for one of the most important collections of Celtic stone crosses in Britain. All originally found within the locality of Margam, and mostly assembled as a collection in the 19th century, they provide enduring testimony to a Welsh Christian culture between the 6th and 16th centuries. The striking Cross of Conbelin is the most celebrated example. From around 1000 AD, it is a huge disc cross with Celtic interlace and plaitwork patterns, figurative scenes including a hunting scene, and inscriptions telling us who made it and who erected it. There are 17 early Christian stones, plus 11 memorials and other stones from the post-Norman periods. The museum is run by Cadw, the Welsh historic sites agency, and is close to Margam Abbey Church and the ruins of the Abbey buildings.^[1]

Parish church in Port Talbot, Wales. The Church of St Theodore is a parish church in Port Talbot, Wales; Located on the A48 opposite Maes-y-Cwrt Terrace and bordered on two sides by the Talbot Memorial Park, it is administered within the diocese of Llandaff.

The church was designed by John Loughborough Pearson, and it is the largest of his churches in Wales. It was built with financial assistance from Miss Emily Charlotte Talbot, a local philanthropist who lived at nearby Margam Castle, in memory of her late brother Theodore Mansel Talbot (1839–1876), whose premature death resulted in her inheriting the family fortune. The family was heavily influenced by the Oxford Movement within the Church of England. It replaced the smaller Holy Cross Church (also known as "Chapel of Ease".

The church is built primarily in the Early English style, and dressed mainly in Bath stone. The pulpit is of Portland stone. An item of interest is a memorial to Lt Rupert Price Hallowes, a Victoria Cross-winning resident of Port Talbot (killed in action in 1915).

The organ was installed in the church prior to its consecration in August 1897, and was made by Charles Martin of Oxford; it was both his largest and his last work. It cost over £800 and was paid for by public subscription. The organ was completely restored in 2000, when the church itself underwent substantial refurbishment.

The restoration project included the removal and replacement of all stained glass within the church, which include four works from the studio of Clayton and Bell; the windows proved impossible to clean as they were badly affected by pollution from local heavy industry. The stonework was also cleaned, and a new lighting system was installed. The original iron railings outside the church were repaired. The Sanctus Bell, which had previously been removed because of the dangerous condition of the bellcote, was re-hung following repairs.^[2]

Aberavon Beach, also known as Aberavon Sands, is a three-mile stretch of sandy beach on the north-eastern edge of Swansea Bay in Port Talbot, Wales. With its high breaker waves, it is popular with surfers. Aberavon Beach was awarded Blue Flag status in December 2007 and features in the Good Beach Guide published by the Marine Conservation Society.

A traditional "bucket and spade" resort for the South Wales Valleys during the 1940s, '50s and '60s, Aberavon Beach was once an area of sand dunes known as Aberavon Burrows. Changing economic and social conditions led to the decline of the resort, but in 1998 the local authority published a strategy to improve the physical environment of the area and increase tourism. New facilities completed since then have included an amphitheatre, piazza and skateboard park, while a six-screen Reel Cinema opened next to the Afan Lido as part of a development called "Hollywood Park". However, associated plans for a bowling alley have failed to progress and restaurant franchises on the site have struggled, leading one businessman to claim that the seafront regeneration scheme has been a "white elephant". The beachfront also houses a hotel and a small number of cafes, bars and restaurants.

Concerns have been expressed about coastal erosion affecting Aberavon Beach and various other beaches in Swansea Bay.^[3]

Baptist church in Port Talbot, Wales. Ebenezer Chapel, Aberavon, is a Baptist church in Port Talbot, Wales. Built in 1881, it is located in the Civic Square, where it is the only surviving building from the old Port Talbot town centre to have survived the wholesale demolition that preceded the construction of a new town centre during the mid-1970s; the address was formerly "Talbot Street". It has been a listed building since 1980.

The building was designed in a "scarce Romanesque style" by George Morgan of Carmarthen, a noted architect of Baptist chapels, and was built on the site of an earlier chapel, dating from 1836.

Services at the church have traditionally been conducted in the Welsh language but both Welsh and English are used. Located close to the civic centre, it is used by the local authority, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, for an annual carol service and other occasional events.^[4]

Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales, capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. This makes it the larger of the two major steel plants in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. Over 4,000 people work at the plant. The majority of the slab is rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The remainder is processed at other Tata Steel plants or sold in slab form. The works covers a large area of land which dominates the south of the town. Its two blast furnaces and steel production plant buildings are major landmarks visible from both the M4 motorway and the South Wales Main Line when passing through the town.^[7]