Neath Walk: Town Centre【4K】

Located in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough of Wales (historically in West Glamorgan), and around seven miles northeast of Swansea, is the town of Neath, or Castell-nedd in Welsh.

From circa 74 AD a Roman fort stood adjacent to where Neath is situated today, known as Nidum. This was presumably to protect their road from Gloucester to Carmarthen at the lowest practicable crossing of the River Neath.

A Norman motte and bailey castle was built in the vicinity of the Roman fort during the early 12th century. A second castle was built in stone in the 13th and 14th centuries, along with a defensive town wall. This was subject to an attack by Llywelyn Ap Iorwerth, a.k.a. Llywelyn the Great, who captured it in 1231 whilst laying siege to the town.

To the west of the town centre are the ruins of Neath Abbey. This was founded in 1129 or 1130 (sources are pretty much split 50/50 on which year!) by Norman knight Sir Richard de Granville, and by the late 13th century it had become one of Wales’s wealthiest abbeys. The abbey closed in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but the buildings were turned into a large estate. Some of these were repurposed in the 18th century for copper smelting, whilst an iron foundry was opened nearby.

From the 16th century, coal mining began in the area around Neath. When the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century, it was well poised for growth. The Neath Canal opened in 1795, providing it with a link to Swansea, among other places, via the waterways. Industries reliant on local coal, such as iron, steel and brick-making, thrived during this period.

The arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century accelerated the growth of Neath. This came at the expense of the Neath Canal which closed in the 1930s. Today Neath station is situated on the South Wales Main Line which in turn links up with both the West Wales line to Milford Haven and the Great Western Main Line to London Paddington.

In 1881 the Welsh Rugby Union was founded in Neath when eleven clubs met in the Castle Hotel (featured just before the 18-minute mark). Neath Rugby Football Club is the oldest rugby club in Wales, having been founded in 1871.

Whilst most of the heavy industry has moved out of Neath, Port Talbot Steelworks in the neighbouring town of the same name is a major source of local employment, providing around 4,000 jobs at the time of writing. Previously run by British Steel, its current owners are Tata Steel. It is one of Europe's largest steel plants.

Famous people from Neath include singer Bonnie Tyler and footballer Ben Davies.

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Filmed: 15th August 2022

Link to the walk on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/hCM7roi5kcDjuBLs9

Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 The Parade
1:50 Cattle Street
3:24 Neath Castle
5:14 Cattle Street
5:35 Old Market Street
6:39 Wind Street
8:00 Green Street
9:22 Queen Street
11:33 Orchard Street
12:18 St David's Church
12:51 Orchard Street
14:14 New Street
15:24 Angel Street
16:06 Angel Square
16:25 Angel Street
16:49 Croft Road
17:50 The Parade
19:29 Windsor Road

Видео Neath Walk: Town Centre【4K】 канала 4K Explorer