Historic Places in Neath Port Talbot

A site of power – both religious and industrial Along with Llanthony Priory and Tintern Abbey, the ruins of Neath Abbey are the most important and impressive monastic remains in south Wales. Founded in 1130 by Norman knight Sir Richard de Granville, by the late 13th century it had become one of Wales’s wealthiest abbeys. Around 50 monks lived here, alongside an even larger number of lay brothers who worked at the abbey’s estates on tasks which probably included mining coal for domestic use. Much later, the heavy hand of the Industrial Revolution was almost its downfall, the abbey becoming a copper smelting plant with furnaces, workshops and workers’ dwellings, and having an ironworks as its next-door neighbour. Thankfully it survived this ignominious episode. Virtually the entire layout of the abbey and its buildings can still be seen today, confirming the sheer scale of this prosperous religious settlement.

Neath Castle is a ruined twelfth-century Norman castle in the centre of Neath in Neath Port Talbot, originally built by Richard de Granville following the Norman conquest of Neath and the Neath valley. The castle was developed over several centuries and played a role in the turbulent medieval history of the Welsh Marches and the Glamorgan lordships. The substantial remains of the towers and walls stand in a small park in the centre of the town, providing a freely accessible medieval heritage site within the commercial heart of Neath. The town of Neath also contains the ruins of a medieval abbey of considerable significance, and the Vale of Neath nearby provides access to some of the most spectacular waterfalls in Wales, including the famous Four Falls walking route near Pontneddfechan in the Brecon Beacons National Park.