Port Talbot, South Wales

The name Port Talbot was first used in 1837 when docks were built on the banks of the river Afan. The town was not created until 1921 when Aberafan, Cwmafan and Margam were amalgamated. Port Talbot is on the east side of Swansea bay and eight miles from Swansea. The main employer is the steel works.

John Wesley preached in the area several times. By1797 Wesleyan ministers were preaching in Taibach and a Society Class was formed and met in the house of Isaac Bailey in Constant Row. The history of the chapel is linked with the Margam Copper Works which was the economic backbone of Taibach and the surrounding area. The Vivian family, owners of the copper works and of the Morfa coal mine, were Anglicans, but also supportive of Methodist and Nonconformist work in the area, permitting use of the Eastern day school for Sunday worship, Sunday School, and weeknight activities. As the society grew, funds were gradually raised for a chapel (1887-91), and a building in Incline Row (Waun-y-glo) was constructed in 1892-93. Wesley Hall, later the Central Hall, was opened in 1896 and rebuilt in 1911.

Primitive Methodists: The area was missioned in 1841 and re-missioned in 1848 when a Society was formed in a house on Cwmavon Street, Aberavon. In 1851 the PMs built Bethel chapel on Wern Street. The opening services were held on Friday 24 October 1851. In 1900 the chapel was relocated to High Street.

Bible Christians: In 1840 James Bartlett (1816-1881) was sent from the Monmouth Mission to Cwnavon to work amongst the Bible Christians from Devon. The area was missioned by the Bible Christians in Cwmavon around 1843. In 1849 Societies were founded in cottages in Aberavon and Cwmavon. The Society built a chapel on Wern Street in 1851. This was replaced by the larger Zion chapel in Clarence Street which was opened on 26 June 1864.

Trinity Methodist Church: When Wales’s first motorway the M4 Port Talbot bypass, was built, Bethel, the former Primitive Methodist Church, Zion the former Bible Christian/United Methodist chapel, and Wesley Hall had to be demolished. The congregations came together in 1963 in the specially built Trinity Methodist Church in Tydraw Street.

Sources
  • Lionel Madden (ed.), Methodism In Wales A Short History of the Wesley Tradition (Llandudno: Methodist Conference Arrangements Committee,2003).
  • Cled Phillips, Taibach Wesley Church 1893-1993 (Port Talbot: privately published, 1993).
  • David Shorney. The Making of a Bible Christian Itinerant: James Bartlett, 1816-81', Proceedings of the WHS, vol. 56.1 (February 2007), pages 10-20.

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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