Briton Ferry

thumb|The western viaduct of the first road crossing of the River Neath at Briton Ferry in 1986

thumb|The first St Mary's Church (pictured here in 2013) was founded in the 6th century

Briton Ferry () is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, llan, is protected from the wind, awel. Alternatively, Sawel may be a derivative of Saul, St Paul's earlier name, who, supposedly, once landed at Briton Ferry. An alternative Welsh name unused today is Rhyd y Brython, a direct translation of Briton Ferry. The Normans referred to the River crossing as La Brittonne and [[John Leland (antiquary)|

Leland]] in 1540 as Britanne Fery. The original course of the River Neath may have been through the Jersey Marine gap between the isolated hills, which formed a rocky ridge between Briton Ferry and Jersey Marine. A Neolithic stone is in place within the grounds of Cwrt Sart school. A plaque alongside the stone is inscribed, "When removed, it will speak but once to reveal its secret, and then remain silent forever." One explanation for the name of the nearby Giant's Grave is the presence of a cromlech. At Crymlyn Burrows, an unlooped Bronze Age axe (c.1400 BC) was discovered. whose lands belonged to Margam Abbey before they passed on, in turn, to the Mansel, Villiers, and Vernon families (Earls of Jersey). It had been owned by the Price family of Briton Ferry in the early 17th century until the Mansels inherited it. There it remained until Louisa Barbara Mansell married George Venables Vernon in 1757. There was no male issue, so she left the estate to her godson George, Earl of Jersey. He modernised and reduced the size of the estate to ensure its viability.

Industrial development

Early industrialisation

As early as the 1660s, primitive forges existed at Briton Ferry, later using local coal from small pits such as Price's Drift, but Briton Ferry's marine location stimulated its industrial development. In 1840, an area of about of land in Cwmafan was leased for 99 years to John Vigurs and subsequently passed to Wright, Butler & Co. Ltd, then to Baldwins Ltd. The terraces of houses built on this land were sublet in 1897 and 1898 for the remainder of the term of this lease, but many were declared unfit for habitation in the 1930s and demolished. with its cable-powered incline.

Briton Ferry floating dock

thumb|right|Drawing of the dock gate

In the 1850s, the Briton Ferry Floating Dock Company was incorporated and bought land from the Earl of Jersey to build the Briton Ferry Docks. The gate was wide, and the unique structure with its floating caisson was designed by Brunel's father, Sir Marc Brunel. Following Brunel's death in 1859, Robert Brereton took over as engineer and also acted as engineer for improvements made in 1872 and 1873.

The company went bankrupt and the Great Western Railway took over the docks The outer basin has potential use by fishing boats and yachts.

The wharves at Briton Ferry are run by Neath Port Authority, the most important of which are Giant's Wharf, which handles steel, scrap, coke, coal and machine parts, and Ironworks Wharf, which handles minerals such as sand and cement. They offer tidal and river berths with a maximum depth of . Between them, 200 vessels a year are handled.

The Mouchel phenomenon

In 1875, the French-born engineer Louis Gustave Mouchel established himself in Briton Ferry and quickly became involved in several successful enterprises. His consultancy company was directly responsible for introducing ferroconcrete (also called reinforced concrete) to Britain. In neighbouring Swansea, a building constructed for Weaver and Co mills claimed to be the first entirely ferroconcrete building in the United Kingdom.

So important was Briton Ferry for trade with France that Mouchel was, from 1879 to his death, French Consular Agent to Briton Ferry, Talbot, Porthcawl and Neath Abbey. As a participant in the Swansea Bay City Deal, Neath-Port Talbot Council aims for a share in the project to future-proof at least 10,300 properties over five years by making low carbon, energy-efficient homes, with 7,000 retro-fitted to existing houses and 3,300 newly built.

De-industrialisation

A consortium of steel and tinplate producers consolidated all tinplate mills to create the Steel Company of Wales in 1947. By 1953, only the Albion Steelworks remained in the town, all other tinplate production having ceased.

The Albion Steelworks, which had used oil to fuel its largest open-hearth furnace, closed in November 1978 and was demolished within a year. This was followed by the closure of the ship-breaker and steel supplier Thos. W. Ward in 1983. The firm at Giant's Grave, which operated from 1906 until 1979, broke up 197 merchant ships and 94 Admiralty.

The steel and tinplate industry's demise in the second half of the twentieth century was followed in the first two decades by closures of other local firms that had employed many from Briton Ferry. In Jersey Marine, Amazon opened its distribution warehouse in 2008.

Government and politics

Briton Ferry had its Urban District Council from 1895 to 1922, when it formed part of Aberavon Parliamentary Constituency. The growth of the town's metals industries at that time was accompanied by the growth of independent working-class representation and strong socialist, internationalist, and pacifist traditions. Prominent Independent Labour Party representatives were Councillor Joe Branch, Ivor O. Thomas and Ivor H. Thomas, the founder of the South Wales branch of the National Council for Civil Liberties. Branch was the first chair of the constituency Labour Party. Ramsay MacDonald was associated with the tradition and represented the town as MP within the Aberavon constituency. He became the leader of the opposition in 1922 and became Prime Minister in 1924. His constituency office was at Chequers in Briton Ferry. Many speakers visited the town at that time, including Bertrand Russell, Norman Angell, Keir Hardie, Ernest Bevin, Thomas Mann, E. D. Morel, Charlotte Despard, Emmeline, and Sylvia Pankhurst. For mainly political reasons, thirty-seven of the town's residents were imprisoned during World War I for opposing conscription. Along with seventy objectors from Aberavon and district, these communities provided the country's strongest opposition to the war, despite the town's loss of 120 soldiers' lives during World War I. The town had the distinction of providing Parliament with four MPs during 1955: Dai L. Mort, Ivor O. Thomas, Raymond Gower and Ronald Rees.

The town is currently in the parliamentary constituency of Aberafan Maesteg, having been in Neath constituency from 1945 until 1983. The current MP is Stephen Kinnock, while the current Senedd Member is David Rees along with four regional members for South Wales West. The town encompasses the electoral wards of Briton Ferry East and Briton Ferry West. Today, the Town Council consists of twelve members and meets monthly in the Council Chamber at the Community Resource Centre, the community-managed library.

Transport

Trains

The railway was important in the town's industrial development town, and much of the core rail infrastructure remains. The town is served by the Briton Ferry railway station, which is now accessed from Shelone Road. It is near the Cwrt Sart junction, where the Swansea District Line meets the South Wales Main Line. For passenger services, Briton Ferry is served by two principal operators. The first, Transport for Wales, runs regional trains to Swansea and West Wales and also to Cardiff and Manchester via the Welsh Marches line. In contrast, First Great Western trains from Swansea to London do not stop here. The typical service pattern has been one train approximately every two hours in each direction, but Transport for Wales, which took over the Wales and Borders franchise in October 2018, intends to operate further services.

Buses

The town is served by twelve local services and three express services which pickup from various stops within the town. The local buses are operated by First Cymru and cater for local shoppers, colleges and hospitals in the Neath-Port Talbot area, while the express services are provided to reach Bridgend, Maesteg and Swansea.

Roads

The M4 and the A483 bypass the town to relieve the traffic on the A474, a former Roman road, which runs through the town parallel to the main railway line and connects Neath with Port Talbot.

First road crossing

thumb|Crossing the River (Spurgeon)

Construction of the first river bridge crossing took place from 1949–1955 and was one of the first large-scale road bridges to be constructed in Britain after World War II as part of the A48 Neath bypass road scheme. It comprises two viaducts. The western viaduct crosses the River Neath, and the eastern viaduct crosses the former dock area of Briton Ferry and the South Wales main railway line.

Second road crossing

The second road crossing was completed in 1994 to carry the London to Wales M4 motorway across the River Neath to supersede the A48. Briton Ferry has junction J42, which is from the motorway's eastern end and from its western at Pont Abraham. It filled the final gap in the motorway between Newport and west Wales, Its completion presented formidable problems, with extensive industrial and commercial development, estuarine flood-lands and the navigable River Neath all lying in the path of possible routes.

Landmarks, attractions and recreation

thumb|Jersey Park's original layout remains complete.

John Mills's sculpture at the southern end of the town, The Crossing, symbolises the town's industrial and maritime history through the importance of its bridges and river crossing.

Jersey Park has been an exceptionally well-preserved, urban public park since its opening in 1925, the land having been gifted originally by the Earl of Jersey in 1908. Its original layout of formal and informal areas remains complete and includes sports facilities. Planting in the park is diverse and interesting, with an emphasis on evergreen trees and shrubs. The park is designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

Rhoddfa Clarke is the name of the inclined part of the South Wales Mineral Railway, the lowest, level part of which now forms Jersey Park. Here rope-hauled coal wagons delivered coal from Glyncorrwg to Briton Ferry dock. Above the dense matrix of streets and busy roads of Briton Ferry, the park and incline give access to Craig y Darren Woods and offers some respite from the town's traffic. This ancient woodland is crisscrossed by a network of footpaths offering congenial walks with dramatic views of the town and Swansea Bay.

Sports clubs

Briton Ferry Llansawel A.F.C.
Briton Ferry RFC
Briton Ferry Steel Cricket Club
Briton Ferry Town Cricket Club

Notable people

Kenneth Crosby (1904–1998), linguist and missionary to Sierra Leone, West Africa, was born in Briton Ferry
Sir Francis Avery Jones (1910–1998), a Welsh physician and gastroenterologist, born in Briton Ferry
Harry Parr-Davies (1914–1955), musician, composer and songwriter, was born in Briton Ferry
Mavis Nicholson (née Mainwaring) (1930-2022), journalist and broadcaster, was born in Briton Ferry where she spent her childhood
David Pickering (born 1960), Welsh rugby personality, was born in Briton Ferry
Alf Shea (1898–1969), Welsh cricketer, was born in Briton Ferry

Nearby areas

Crymlyn Burrows
Llandarcy
Neath
Port Talbot
Baglan
Baglan Bay