MARGAM, a parish, in the union of Nests, hundred of NEWCASTLE, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, bounded on the south by
the Bristol Channel, and situated on the line of the great western road through the county, 9 miles (S. s. E.) from Neath;
containing 3626 inhabitants, being an increase, as compared with the last census, of 624. The early history of this
place is involved in some obscurity: it was, at a very remote period, erected into a bishopric, which continued for five
successions, and then merged in that of Liandaf. Some writers ascribe this to Morgan, or Morcant, son of the renowned King
Arthur, who is said to have occasionally resided here; but the circumstance is doubtful. Its original name was Pex-dar,
"The Oak Summit," so called from a noble wood of oak that covers the breast of a mountain, upwards of eight hundred feet
in height, forming a striking feature in the landscape, and deservedly admired for its boldness and grandeur, as well as
for the beauty and variety of its outline. The present appellation is comparatively modern, being considered a corruption
of Mawrgan, who was the son of Caradoc ab lestyn, and a great benefactor to the celebrated abbey of Margam, if not its
founder. Mr. Humphrey Llwyd, who is followed by several respectable Welsh antiquaries, is of the latter opinion, and
states that he had seen " Morgan ap Caradoc's original charter, with nine witnesses, all very antique British names."
Dugdale, and the danales de Marge*, printed in the second volume of Gale's Seriptores, both date the foundation in 1147,
and attribute it to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who, according to the latter, died in this year, and was buried in the mo-
nastery. Bishop Tanner, in comparing these authorities with Speed and some manuscript accounts, which differ a little in
their dates, inserts a query whether " Robert might not begin this house only, a little before his death, and William, his
son and successor, finish it some time after ?" the latter is by Camden considered to have been its founder.
Notwithstanding the uncertainty of its origin, there can be little doubt that it was endowed by Caradoc ab Iestyn, lord of
the adjacent lordship of Avon, with extensive grants of lands, which were confirmed by a deed under the hands of Morgan,
and his two brothers, Cadwallen and Meriedoc, whose descendants, for several generations, were munificent benefactors to
the establishment. This appears from the charter of Thomas de Avene, dated February 10th, 1349 (as found by Dugdale,
translated into English in the collection of Mr. Hugh Thomas, without mentioning where the latter obtained it), wherein he
states, "after due consideration, I confirm unto the said monks all donations, grants, confirmations, and sales
whatsoever, which they enjoy by the bounty of any of my predecessors, viz., whatsoever they may have by the gift of Morgan
ab Caradoc; of Leison and Owen, the sons of the said Morgan; and all they have by gift of Morgan Cam and-his heirs, of
Morgan Vaughan and Sir Leison, the sons of the said Morgan Cain; likewise whatsoever they have by the gift of Sir Thomas
de Avene, my father." A large collection of original charters belonging to this abbey is preserved with the Harleian MSS.
in the British Museum, the earliest of which is a confirmatory bull of Pope Urban III., dated in 1186. It was a Cistercian
abbey, dedicated to St. Mary, and is mentioned by earlier antiquaries as the first house of that kind in these parts:
according to Leland it had the privilege of sanctuary. When King John exacted a levy from the Cistercian monasteries, the
abbey of Margam was exempted, on account of the hospitality he had received here, on his way to Ireland. At the
dissolution, its revenue was estimated at £188. 14., and the site and possessions, together with the royalty of Avon
water, were purchased by Sir Rice Mansel, Knt., who, about the year 1552, built a mansion partly on the site of the abbey,
which continued to be the principal seat of the family until the extinction of the male line in 1750. This edifice, which
subsequently underwent considerable alterations and repairs, was built of the stone of the country, with Sutton stone
quoins and dressings taken from the ruins of the abbey: it presented a long front without any magnificence in the
structure, and was taken down about the year 1782. The chapter-house, which is a portion of the ancient conventual
buildings, is an elegant and highly admired edifice, in the form of a regular duodecagon without, but within, an exact
circle, forty-nine feet in diameter: its roof was vaulted, and supported in the centre by a single clustered column
branching off into twenty-four ribs; but this beautiful roof fell in the year 1799, in consequence of the outer walls
having become defective, and not, as has been asserted by tourists, from the filtration of water through the joints of the
stones; and the side walls, with the spring of the arches only, are now left standing. A noble mansion, in the style of
English architecture which prevailed in the reign of Henry VIII., has just been erected, on a scale suited to the rank and
fortune of the representative of this ancient family. In the midst of the pleasure-grounds is a splendid orangery, an
unusual appendage to a gentleman's residence, but there is uo record in existence showing the period of its establishment.
According to tradition, this celebrated collection of exotics was intended as a present from a Dutch merchant to Queen
Mary, consort of William III.; but the vessel conveying it having been stranded on the coast here, the choice cargo was
claimed as the property of the lord, and a house, one hundred and fifty feet in length, was built for the reception of the
plants. The late Mr. Talbot, in the year 1787, built a new green-house, three hundred and twenty-seven feet in length,
with a handsome Palladian front, and a room at each end, and, in 1800, a conservatory, one hundred and fifty feet long,
with flues in the ground. There are about one hundred and ten trees in the green-house, all standards planted in square
boxes, and many of them eighteen feet high; those in the conservatory, forty in number, are traced against a trellis
framing, where the fruit, which is usually abundant, attains its native size and flavour. The evergreens cultivated in the
grounds surrounding the orangery are healthy and luxuriant: among these a bay tree, supposed to be the largest in the
world, sprouting from the ground in several branches, is the most remarkable, being upwards of sixty feet in height, and
forty-five in diameter: the arbutus, Portugal laurel, and holly, flourish in an extraordinary manner, and present a rich
and luxuriant appearance. The PARISH is bounded on the west by those of Aberavon, and Michaelston super Avon, on the north
and north-east by Llangonoyd, on the east and south-east by Tythegston, and on the south by Pyle and Kenvig; it contains
11,200 acres, of which 3200 are good and productive, 4800 poor and indifferent, and 3200 mountain and warren: every kind
of corn is produced in the portion of good soil, and there is a large extent of pasture. A magnificent wood presents
itself on the side of a mountain 820 feet high, in which oak most abounds, but all sorts of timber are found to thrive;
the parish is watered by the Avon on the west, and by the Kenvig on the east, and there are the Frydwyllt and other brooks
falling into these rivers. The village of Margam occupies a pleasing and retired situation, enveloped in trees, a short
distance from the turn-pike-road between Cardiff and Swansea, at the lower verge of that noble forest of oak, to which,
in ancient times, it was indebted for its appellation. A building in the form of a semilunar battery, upon the summit of
the mountain, commands a view of the woody concave, singularly beautiful and striking; and from the same point is also
obtained a magnificent prospect of the sea and the bay of Swansea, with the distant hills of the counties of Somerset and
Devon. Owing to the abundance of coal, there are several large works in the parish: the first was an iron forge
established by Nathaniel Myers, Esq., of Cadoxton, and raised on the site of the present tin-works of Messrs. Smith and
Co.; then followed the copper-works of the English Copper Company, the oldest association of that kind in the kingdom, a
charter having been granted in 1691, soon after copper-ore was discovered in Great Britain, to Sir Joseph Hume and other
merchants of London, who were thereby incorporated under the title of "The Governor and Company of Copper Mines in England
;" and in the year 1800, was erected here the first steam-engine used for the manufacture of copper in the principality:
these works, now in the possession of Messrs. Vivian and Sons, usually afford employment to about four hundred persons,
and the quantity of copper annually exported amounts to fourteen hundred tons: the charter, however, is now the property
of a firm in the adjoining parish of Michaelston. Extensive iron-works have been erected, at a great expense, on the
property of C. R. M. Talbot, Esq., by Messrs. Reynolds, which commenced operations in the early part of 1831, but are now
held by the Cwmavon Company: they consist of two blast furnaces, capable of yielding a hundred and fifty tons of metal
per week, to which the blast is communicated by the force of a water-wheel, forty-five feet in diameter, with ten feet
breast, and of ninety horse power, said to be the largest in Wales. The water is brought to this wheel from the Avon by
means of a magnificent stone aqueduct, primarily designed as a viaduct for a railway to convey coal to the works: it is
four hundred and fifty-six feet in length, and eighty feet high, and comprises four elliptical arches, each of seventy
feet span, composed of a strong grey stone raised on the spot, the whole having been erected at a cost of upwards of
£7000. This noble structure, from its romantic situation across a narrow precipitous valley among the mountains, forms one
of the most striking and interesting features of the county, and well deserves the attention of the tourist. The tin-works
of Robert Smith and Co. are situated upon the Avon, not far from the small town heretofore known as Aberavon, but now
designated Port Talbot, and employ some hundred persons. Tram-roads have been formed from each of these works, as well as
from coal-pits on the banks of the river, to the port, where a new cut has been made into the sea for the egress of the
river and the entrance of vessels, and a commodious lock and floating dock erected at a very heavy expense, where goods
are shipped. A customary market is held at this place every Saturday, for the convenience of the workmen. A part of the
hamlet of Havod-y-Porth, on the north-western confines of the parish, is now included within the new boundaries of the
contributory borough of Aberavon; and the hamlet of Kenvig Higher, and part of that of Trissiant, are comprised within the
borough of Kenvig. The LIVING is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £1600- parliamentary grant; net income, £121; patron
and impropriator, C. R. M. Talbot, Esq. The church, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, stands on the site of the.nave
of the ancient structure: having become much dilapidated, it was restored by the munificence of the late Mr. Talbot, in
1809; its western front is considered a fine specimen of the Norman style; it is capable of containing 550 persons. In
widening the north aisle to its original size, several interesting monuments were discovered; one without date, bearing a
Latin inscription to the memory of an abbot, also the mutilated effigy of a crusader, in chain armour, which was placed
within the entrance to the chapter-house. At the east ends of the aisles are monuments to several members of the family of
Mansel, upon which are recumbent figures, the men in armour, and the ladies in the dress of their own times, with their
children, in a kneeling posture, about the sides of the tombs, having the names inscribed over their heads. On a plate in
one of the pillars is a Latin inscription in monkish rhyme, to the memory of a favourite huntsman, supposed to be by Dr.
Friend, the eminent classical physician; which has been translated into English verse by the Rev. W. Bruce Knight, A.M.,
chancellor of the diocese and incumbent of Margam. At Tai-bfich, about two miles from the church, at the western extremity
of the parish, a chapel of ease was erected in 1827, to accommodate the increasing population . the principal
contributors towards which were, d. R. M. Talbot,., the English Copper Company, John Reymolds,	., and Robert
Smith and Co. assisted by a grant o £400 from the Incorporated Society for building and enlarging churches and chapels;
and a gallery has since been erected at a cost of £100: the whole contains between six and seven hundred sittings, of
which upwards of five hundred are free. There are four day schools, one of which is partly maintained by the Margam Tin
Works' Company, and partly by payments from the parents; there is an admirable Sunday school at the village, held in a
room in the churchyard, where the minister always attends and gives instruction, and the mistress of which is paid by Mr.
Talbot; and in the same building a day school is carried on under the superintendence of Lady Charlotte Talbot, who
directs many of the children to be taught gratuitously, others paying a small sum weekly. A most useful and efficient
school, also, for boys and girls, in separate apartments, has been for many years in full operation at Tai-bich, erected
by. the English Copper Company, with a house in the centre of the building for the master and mistress; it is supported
by very small payments from the copper-men and colliers, and nearly 200 children are instructed in reading, writing, and
arithmetic, as well as in their religious duties. John Brown, in 1682, bequeathed £100, due to him by bonds from his
master, Sir Edward Mansel, the interest of which, £4. 19. 8. ed on Margam Park, is distributed, according charged
intentions of the donor, in 23 penny loaves of bread every Sunday after service among the poor not having parochial
relief; who also receive on the 24th of December, and have so received for the last 70 years, from the Talbot family, a
distribution of meat and money, the former consisting of a fat bull of the value of £10 or £12, cut up into 80 pieces, and
the latter of the corresponding value of 20 Winchester bushels of wheat, and the same quantity of barley, according to the
average price of those articles in the preceding market at Zsleath: the money is divided among the same persons as the
beef, and varies in sums of ls. to 8s. to each; and Mr. Talbot's agent, assisted by the minister, churchwardens, and
overseers, attends at the distribution. In the wood above the village of Margam, called Craig-y-Capel, stand the
roofless walls of an old chapel; and upon the top of the mountain to the north-east, is a Roman monument, inscribed "
BODVOC JACIT HIC FLYS CATOTI SIRNI PRONEPVS ETENAL VE DOMAV;" and there is another near Eglwys Nunyd (or the Nuns'
church, formerly a convent of nuns, now a farmhouse, on the road from Margam to Kenvig), with the inscription, also in
Roman capitals, " PVMPEIV8 CARANTORITS." Near the chapter-house are two ancient British crosses, standing upright,
supposed to be of the fifth and sixth centuries; and there are also vestiges of an intrenchment upon the hill named Pen-y-
Castell.