Taibach or Tai-bach ( en, Little Houses) is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

and

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

district of

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It is a settlement centered on the main

A48 road The A48 is a trunk road in Great Britain running from the A40 at Highnam, west of Gloucester, England, to the A40 at Carmarthen, Wales. Before the Severn Bridge opened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England and South Wale ...

, sandwiched between the river Ffrwdwyllt and

Margam Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into T ...

. Parts of Margam are within the community boundaries.

History

The "little houses" of Taibach sprang up at the beginning of the 19th century in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

as homes for colliery and other industrial workers, some way away from the historic village centre of Margam. With the expansion of industrial activity in the parish, and, in particular, the foundation of the new port at

, the whole area became a single

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...

, as it remains, and Taibach was subsumed within it.

Amenities

The stretch of the

through the area is the main shopping street and is named Commercial Road in the area. Drinking venues in the area were the Surgery

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and The Somerset Arms (locally known as The Sker), which is one of the oldest pubs in the area. The pub also has its own football team.Both are currently closed. The area has a Carnegie library and is next to the Talbot Memorial Park, an urban

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

. In the grounds of the park lies St Theodore's Church. The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

was built in 1901 by Miss Emily Talbot in honour of Saint

Theodore of Tarsus Theodore of Tarsus ( gr, Θεόδωρος Ταρσοῦ; 60219 September 690) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Theodore grew up in Tarsus, but fled to Constantinople after the Persian Empire conquered Tarsus and other cities. After ...

, and in remembrance of her late brother of the same name. The eastern border of the park is formed by the Ffrwdwyllt

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. Ffrwdwyllt literally translates to 'wild torrent' in English. The river is popular among local anglers, especially in late autumn. To the east of the area is the Eastern

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, the primary school attended by actor

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

, under his real name of Richard Jenkins. The old Eastern Primary School is now the Taibach Community Education Centre, and was built the same year as Margam Castle in 1831. Taibach has its own Taibach Rugby Club. The Labour politician and life peer Lord Heycock of Taibach took his title from this area, which had been the home of the Heycock family since about 1800.

Government and politics

Taibach falls within the

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community 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 distri ...

. Since the 2022 local elections Taibach has been part of the

Margam and Tai-bach Margam and Tai-bach is the name of an electoral ward in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It includes the communities of Margam, Margam Moors and Taibach. It elects three councillors to Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. The ward was created ...

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

(including

and

Margam Moors Margam Moors ( cy, Morfa Margam) is a community of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Together with the community of Margam, it forms the Margam electoral ward. There were three inhabitants in Margam Moors at the 2001 census, and most of th ...

), which elects three councillors to

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is the local authority for the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council was controlled by the Labour Party from its creation in 1996 until 2022, when Plaid ...

. Taibach was the name of the electoral ward for Taibach prior to the 2022 elections, coterminous to the

. The

of Taibach included the district of Taibach and parts of Margam to the southwest and the village of

Goytre Goytre ( cy, Goetre) is a village near the town of Port Talbot, Wales. The village lies in the valley of the Nant Ffrwdwyllt, between the communities of Taibach, Cwmafan, Bryn and Margam. The former St Peter's Church (Church in Wales) was a ' ...

to the north. However, most of the ward is open countryside and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

spread over a steep hill. In the 2017 local council elections, the results were: In the 2012 local council elections, the electorate turnout was 38.99%. The results were:

Nearest places

Port Talbot docks The port of Port Talbot is located on the River Afan estuary next to Port Talbot Steelworks in the industrial town of Port Talbot, South Wales. The whole basin complex covers about , consisting of: an inner set of floating docks, developed from 1 ...

Port Talbot steelworks Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales, capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. This makes it the larger of the two major steel plants in the UK and one o ...

References

External links