St Marys Church, Aberavon, Port Talbot, Wales.
N 51° 35.777 W 003° 47.244
30U E 445460 N 5716430
St Mary's Church dates back to the 11th century, This old church is in the Parish of Aberavon, Port Talbot, Wales.
Waymark Code: WMDHXX
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/19/2012
Views: 5
"On the Normans conquest of Glamorgan, Caradog, the eldest son of the defeated Welsh prince, Iestyn ab Gwrgant, continued to hold this lordship, and for the defence of the passage of the river built a castle whose foundations now lie underneath the streets around St Mary's church. His descendants (who from the 13th century onwards styled themselves De Avan or D'Avene) established, under line protection of the castle, a chartered town, which in 1372 received a further charter from Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, into whose family the lordship had come on an exchange of lands. In modern times these charters were not acted upon, the town being deemed a borough by prescription, but in 1861 it was incorporated under the Municipal Corporations Act.
Aberavon was the birthplace of Dic Penderyn, a key figure in the Merthyr Rising of 1831. St Mary's Church is the site of his grave.
From 1832 Aberavon belonged to the Swansea parliamentary district of boroughs, uniting with Kenfig, Loughor, Neath and Swansea to return one member; since 1918 it has had its own constituency. Its most famous MP was Ramsay MacDonald.
In the 1950s many of the sand dunes of Aberavon Beach disappeared as part of the development of the Sandfields estate, at this time a 1.25 mile sea wall was built primarily for sea defences. The estate was built to accommodate the growing population, especially the families of workers at the new Port Talbot Steelworks."
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The Text on the Grave stone reads :-To the Memory of; RICHARD LEWIS; Executed in Cardiff; for the part he played; during the industrial; riots in Merthyr Tydfil; in June 1831; Buried on 14th August;
1831 aged 23 years.
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