Aberavon Beach

Aberavon Beach, also known as Aberavon Sands is three-mile (5 km) stretch of sandy beach located on the north-eastern edge of Swansea Bay in Sandfields, 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".

Aberavon

Coordinates: 51°35′58″N 3°48′07″W / 51.59943°N 3.80194°W / 51.59943; -3.80194

Aberavon (Welsh: Aberafan) is a settlement in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Port Talbot, covering the central and south western part of the town. Aberavon is also the name of the nearby Blue Flag beach and the parish covering the same area.

History

Little is known about Aberavon before Norman times. Bronze Age remains have been found in the hills behind the town. Roman artifacts have been found near the sea, including when the docks were being built in the 19th century.

About 1090 the invading Normans deposed Iestyn ap Gwrgant, the ruler of Glamorgan. His son, Caradog ab Iestyn, was the only Welsh lord to retain lands in Glamorgan - the area between the Afan and Neath rivers - and he became the first of the Lords of Afan. Caradoc built a castle in Aberafan near the present site of St Mary's Church. This wooden castle was burnt down in 1153 and Caradoc's son, Morgan ap Caradoc, rebuilt the castle in stone. In 1147 Cistercian monks founded the nearby Margam Abbey. In 1241 the Lordship passed to Morgan Fychan. His son Leisan D'Avene was the first known by a Norman-style surname. In 1304 Leisian D'Avene adopted the town's first charter. By 1373 the town passed into the hands of Edward le Despencer, Lord of Glamorgan, and the Lords of Afan had ceased to be.

Aberavon (disambiguation)

Aberavon may refer to:

Aberavon (electoral ward)

The electoral ward of Aberavon electoral ward includes the communities of Baglan and Baglan Bay, in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Baglan falls within the parliamentary constituency of Aberavon.

Overview

It is based upon the historic town of Aberavon. Aberavon Ward is bounded by the wards of Sandfields West and Sandfields East to the southwest; Baglan to the north; Port Talbot to the east and Margam to the south. The ward boundaries can be defined by the roads surrounding it which are the M4 Motorway to the north east; the A4241 to the north west; Afan Way to the southwest and the River Afan to the south east.

The Aberavon Ward can be roughly divided into two parts. There is the residential area to the southeastern part of the ward beside the River Afan. The north western area consists of areas of industrial estate land called the Baglan Industrial Park which includes a number of out of town retail premises as well as business and manufacturing premises.