Port Talbot Town Heritage Trail

Vantage Point 6:

The Station Square

The original main railway station was due to be updated in the 1960s, but that never happened and the `temporary` buildings left as a result were replaced in recent years, when access was improved. (Previously it had been necessary to book a time for wheelchairs etc to cross the actual railway line in order to reach the platform!)

THE OLD POST OFFICE

This site is where The Transport Hub next to the Station now stands.

Earlier in the nineteenth century the main post office had been in Taibach, which, with its copper works, was then much larger than Aberafan. It had thousands living there when Aberafan had only hundreds.

The old Post Office

However, with the building of the main railway station and the development of the docks, a site near these was more appropriate, as mail went by train. The new Post Office was a solid commercial block, and also contained the office of the Western Mail. However this was demolished during the construction of the overpass in the 1970s and a new office provided next to Aberafan Bridge.

THE STEEL STATUE

Part of the first public art project in the town. Three projects were accepted, and this one, designed by the sculptor David Annand, celebrates the steel industry and its work force in the town. Although it is not really visible, inscribed on the underside of the six steel bars that the worker is carrying there is a poem celebrating the town and its people by Sally Roberts Jones.

STEEL TOWN

Deep in the earth lies the fire of suns
Asleep till Man reaches to take it.

Golden and red, dragon flames swallow the air.
Copper and iron are rivers, flowing to earth

Ores melt in the cauldron of making:
People melt into village and town.

Copper and iron tame the wastes of the world:
Rails carry our children to glory !

We harness the world till thunder rips it apart:
Smelts pain in the broken furnace.

Tall on the earth is our city:
Strong in the earth is our blood.

 Turn back and look towards the Town Centre

 From here can be seen the big street art mural ‘Port Talbot is a Colourful Town’, on the gable end of Domino’s Pizzas – one of a series of street art pieces done over the last three years by artists from all over the world, inspired by the Banksy painted overnight on a garage, bought by an art collector and eventually removed from the town. The new pieces, which are all around the town, and have a trail of their own, are on an app, which you can use to find them:

https://theatr3.com/artwalk.html#/

Continue back up Station Road, this time walking on the left-hand side

Behind the shops on this side of Station Road is now a car park; this was originally a row of houses, Margam Terrace, facing the railway line, demolished to make way for the overpass.

Margam Terrace

This first block on this, the ‘sea’ side of the road is also commercial – but perhaps a little later and rather less distinguished in style. Until the mid-seventies this was a busy retail area, with ships’ chandlers, hardware shops. A branch of W.H. Smith and banks, among others, but after that, as the retail sector moved away towards the Aberafan Centre shopping mall, this area was taken over by fast food outlets, restaurants, cafes, pubs and estate agents.

Shop on Station Road c. 1909

FERRARI’S

 One of the particular features of the South Wales towns has been the `Bracchi` cafes founded by Italians from Northern Italy who came here in the early twentieth century.  Port Talbot had its share of these: Viazzani’s, Ferrari’s in the town, Franco’s, Remo’s on Aberafan Beach, and others in Cwmafan and elsewhere. Most of the cafés disappeared in the seventies’ demolition of old Aberafan, though the families are still here.

Ferrari’s, Station Road

Continue up Station Road, again passing the This Mortal Coil statue on the left, to Aberafan Bridge, where you will find the QR code sign