Why visit Neath
Townapedia lists 14 museums and landmarks, 10 parks and trails, 30 places to eat, 3 places to stay and 8 attractions in and around town.
Highlights include Aberdulais Falls, Neath Little Theatre, Neath Castle and Craig Ty-Isaf.
Weather in Neath
Forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0). Full forecast
About Neath
Neath (; Welsh: Castell-nedd) is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,258 in 2011. Historically in Glamorgan, the town is located on the River Neath, seven miles (eleven kilometres) east-northeast of Swansea.
From the Wikipedia article Neath (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Travel tips from other travellers: Neath on Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Things to do8
Aberdulais Falls
Waterfall · 1.7 mi
Waterfall in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK
Museums and landmarks14
Craig Ty-Isaf
Monument and historic site · 2.6 mi
Hillfort in Neath Port Talbot
Buarth-y-Gaer
Monument and historic site · 2.6 mi
Archaeological site in United Kingdom
2 more on the map.
Parks, trails and playgrounds10
Gnoll Estate Country Park
Park · 1.1 mi
Park in the Vale of Neath, Wales
Gnoll Estate Fairyland, Neath
Restaurants and cafes30
The Arch Bar & Nightclub
Bar and pub
11 Commercial Street, Neath
Mo-Th 14:30-24:00; Fr 14:30-02:00, Sa 11:00-03:00, Su 12:00-01:00
Jenkins Bakery
Bakery
15 Queen Street, Neath
Mo-Fr 08:00-16:30; Sa 08:00-16:00; Su off
18 more on the map.
History
The town is located at a ford of the River Neath and its strategic situation is evident by a number of Celtic hill forts, surrounding the town. The Romans also recognised the area's strategic importance and built an Auxiliary Fort on the river's Western bank around 74 AD.
Much of the site is on the grounds of Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School but archaeological digs have also found gate-towers that extended out beyond the fort's walls (a feature unique in Roman Britain) and a large Roman marching camp that would have accommodated thousands of troops. These finds indicate some of the unusual measures the Romans took during the resistance of the native Silures. The fort at Neath was abandoned around 125 AD for fifteen years and again around 170 AD for a century before the final Roman withdrawal around 320 AD.
The Antonine Itinerary (c. 2nd century) names Nido (or Nidum) as one of nine places in Roman Wales.
St Illtyd visited the Neath area and established a settlement in what is now known as Llantwit on the northern edge of the town. The church of St Illtyd was built at this settlement and was enlarged in Norman times. The Norman and pre-Norman church structure remains intact and active to day within the Church in Wales. The Welsh language name for Neath is Castell-nedd, referring to the Norman Neath Castle, the English kings Henry II, John, and Edward I visited.
Read more of the history
Neath was a market town that expanded with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century with new manufacturing industries of iron, steel and tinplate. The Mackworth family, who owned the Gnoll Estate were prominent in the town's industrial development. Coal was mined extensively in the surrounding valleys and the construction of canals and railways made Neath a major transportation centre and the Evans and Bevan families were major players in the local coal mining community as well as owning the Vale of Neath Brewery. Silica was mined in the Craig-y-Dinas area of Pontneddfechan, after Quaker entrepreneur William Weston Young invented the blast furnace silica firebrick, later moving brick production from the works at Pontwalby to the Green in Neath. The town continued as a market trading centre with a municipal cattle market run by W.B. Trick. Industrial development continued throughout the 20th century with the construction by BP of a new petroleum refinery at Llandarcy.
Admiral Lord Nelson stayed at the Castle Hotel en route to Milford Haven when the fleet was at anchor there. Lt. Lewis Roatley, the son of the landlord of the Castle Hotel, served as a Royal Marines officer with Nelson aboard HMS Victory in the Battle of Trafalgar.
The River Neath is a navigable estuary and Neath was a river port until recent times. The heavy industries are no more; the town is now a commercial and tourism centre. Attractions for visitors are the ruins of the Cistercian Neath Abbey, the Gnoll Park, and Neath Indoor Market.
Neath hosted the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1918, 1934 and 1994.
From the History section of Neath on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
More about Neath
Education
Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School is situated on the outskirts of the town, opposite a campus of NPTC Group (which was previously Neath Port Talbot College. Dwr-y-felin previously consisted of the upper School and lower school, the upper was housed on Dwr-y-Felin Road in the buildings of the former Neath Grammar School adjacent to Neath Port Talbot College, while the Lower School was situated on the campus of the former Rhydhir Secondary Modern school in Longford, Neath Abbey. Since a site amalgamation which took place on 6 September 2012, all school facilities are located at the former Upper School, with an extra building having been constructed at a cost of 9.7 million pounds. Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School is in the village of Cimla, The school is located on Afan Valley Road. A new school was built in 2021 on the football field of the existing school dating from the early 1970s and now demolished. Two other comprehensive schools serve the town: Llangatwg Comprehensive School in Cadoxton and Ysgol Bae Baglan in Baglan.
From the Wikipedia article Neath, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Notable people from Neath
Ray MillandBritish actor (1907–1986)Photo: Whitey Schafer, Public domain
Ben DaviesWelsh association football player (born 1993)Photo: Steindy ( talk ) 16:11, 10 November..., CC BY-SA 3.0
Connor RobertsWelsh association football playerPhoto: Timmy96, CC0
Katherine JenkinsBritish singerPhoto: DavidPMaynard, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rubin ColwillWelsh association football playerPhoto: Timmy96, CC0
Clayton BlackmoreWelsh footballer (born 1964)Photo: Skippo10, CC BY-SA 3.0
Jamie JonesWelsh snooker playerPhoto: Benutzer:Bill da Flute, CC BY-SA 3.0
Paul RhysWelsh actorPhoto: Infomatics, CC BY-SA 4.0
Michael WhiteWelsh snooker playerPhoto: Benutzer:Bill da Flute, CC BY-SA 3.0
Daniel WellsWelsh snooker playerPhoto: DerHexer , Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0- Mark BowenWelsh association football player
- Cecil GriffithsBritish athlete (1900–1945)
Born in Neath, according to Wikidata (CC0). Each name links to its Wikipedia article.
Where to stay3
Churches and places of worship16
Shopping10
Gas and EV charging1
Schools, colleges and libraries18
Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School
School · 1.5 mi
Afan Valley Road, Neath
Healthcare1
Map of Neath
111 places. The map loads OpenStreetMap tiles when you open it.
Getting there and nearby towns
Swansea Airport (SWS) is the nearest airport with scheduled flights listed in OpenStreetMap, 12 miles away.
- Swansea 7 mi southwest, about 11 min by car
- Ystalyfera 7 mi north, about 12 min by car
- Pyle 11 mi southeast, about 18 min by car
- Porthcawl 13 mi south, about 22 min by car
- Rhondda 15 mi east, about 25 min by car
- Pontypridd 20 mi east, about 33 min by car
- Treharris 21 mi east, about 34 min by car
- Nelson 22 mi east, about 36 min by car
- Tredegar 25 mi east, about 40 min by car
- Cardiff 30 mi southeast, about 48 min by car
Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.
Towns near Neath
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Sources and licences
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, coordinates, regions and time zone
- Mapillary (see each image): photos
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0): places, airports, map data
- Wikidata (CC0 1.0): elevation, founding date, time zone, website, landmarks and historic places
- Wikimedia Commons (see each image): photos
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): overview and history text
Photo credits
- Former Burton store, Neath, Jeremai, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Neath Fair Green Street (2), Sionk, CC BY 4.0
- Inside Neath Indoor Market (2), Sionk, CC BY 4.0
- Inside Neath Indoor Market (1), Sionk, CC BY 4.0
- Aberdulais Falls (4987), Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 4.0
- NeathCastleRemains, Darren Wyn Rees at Aberdare Blog, CC BY 3.0
- Craig Ty-isaf enclosure, nr Baglan, May 2014 (1), RobinLeicester, CC BY-SA 3.0
- 74 Neath Abbey 6th Nov 2010 (5) (6378219687), Gareth Lovering Photography from Swansea, Wales UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
- St Thomas's church, Neath, Dave Kelly, CC BY-SA 2.0
- St David's Church, Neath, David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Ivy Tower Neath, John D. Evans, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Neath - Soar Maesyrhaf Congregational Chapel - 20220925141813, SwalesM, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Neath - St Ives Inn - 20220925145903, SwalesM, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Nidum Fort, hugh llewelyn, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Street-level photo, southglos, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, southglos, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, southglos, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, southglos, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, southglos, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, toho, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, southglos, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, southglos, CC BY-SA 4.0
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