NEATH (CASTELL-NEDD), a parish and borough and market-town, and the head of a union, in the hundred of NEATH, county of
GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 35 miles (W. N. W.) from Cardiff, and 197 (W.) from London, on the road from Cardiff to Swansea;
containing 4919 inhabitants. This place, which is by all antiquaries allowed to have been the 66 Nielum" of the Romans,
derives its name from the river on which it is situated, and of which the Welsh name, "Nidd," or "Nedd," is pronounced
nearly as the English word Neath. In the twelfth Iter of Antoninus it is mentioned, under the above appellation, as being
situated on the Roman road between LeUcarum (Loughor) and Boylan:, at or near the present village of Boverton, to the
south of Cowbridge. Though repeated and minute researches have been made at various times, no military works have yet been
discovered which mark out, with any degree of precision, the exact site of the station. The churchyard, which is of
considerable extent, and in the form of a parallelogram, with a small elevation at the western side, has with some degree
of probability been considered the site of the original camp; and, within the last few years, two Roman coins and a cameo
are said to have been found in the garden adjoining the rectory-house, which is not more than twenty yards from the spot.
After the conquest of Glamorganshire by Fitz- Hamon Richard de Granville, one of his knights, obtained a grant of the
honour and lordship of Neath, with the privilege of exercising Jura regalia, and all the other rights of a lordship
marcher. The castle, of which only a small portion is at present remaining, is said to have formed part of the possessions
of Iestyn ab Gwrgan, by whom it is supposed to have been originally built; but it is certain that Richard de Granville, if
not the founder, materially improved it: the church, which is in its immediate vicinity, is thought to have been
originally a chapel for the accommodation of the garrison, and to have been subsequently enlarged and appropriated to the
use of the parishioners. The same Richard, in the reign of Henry I., with the concurrence of his wife Constance, gave
their chapel belonging to the castle, with all its endowments, a considerable tract of waste land in the neighbourhood,
and other property, to the abbot of the convent of Grey friars at Savigny, near Lyons, in France, for the erection and
endowment of a similar monastery near the town of Neath. A magnificent abbey was consequently built in the neighbourhood,
from designs by a celebrated architect from Palestine, named Lalys, who also erected several churches and other public
buildings in South Wales. The abbey, which was at first dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was subsequently occupied by
brethren of the Cistercian order; but it does not appear to have been dependent upon any foreign religious establishment,
or to have been regarded as an alien priory, as it continued to flourish till the time of the general dissolution, when
its revenue was £150. 4. 9. per annum. During the protracted warfare between the lords marcher and the native chieftains,
however, one of the latter, named Morgan ab Dwain, burned this monastery, killing four of the servants and one of the
monks, and committed great ravages on its lands. The ruins of this venerable pile, which once afforded an asylum to the
unfortunate Edward of Carnarvon, are among the most interesting specimens of ancient ecclesiastical architecture in the
principality, and are noticed under the article on CADOXTON, in which parish they are situated. Soon after the accession
of Stephen, Grufydd ab Rlijts, having laid waste the Norman possessions in Cardiganshire, advanced into the territory of
Glamorgan; and the Norman lords, rallying their forces in the neighbourhood of this town, were here attacked by the Welsh
army, led on by the sons of Caradoc ab Iestyn, who were lords of the district between the rivers Tawe and Avon, and a
sanguinary conflict ensued, in which three thousand men are said to have fallen by the sword: the Normans were completely
routed, and the few that survived the battle were compelled to seek an asylum in the castles of Gower. About a century
after this event, the town, which had been burnt to the ground in 1185, was again taken, and the inhabitants were -nearly
exterminated by Morgan Gam and Llewelyn, in 1231. The TOWN is pleasantly situated on the eastern bank of the navigable
river Neath, over which is a bridge, and in the beautiful Vale of Neath, which abounds with rich and finely varied
scenery. The vale, which expands to a considerable breadth at this place, and is open on both sides to the adjacent
country, is remarkable for the salubrity of its air, and is finely sheltered from the colder winds by the lofty hills with
which it is surrounded, without being at all confined. The town has recently undergone extensive improvement, and several
of the streets have been considerably widened and well paved; the houses, which have been modernized, are in general
respectable, and there are some of handsome appearance. A reading-room, supported by public subscription, has been
established; and occasional concerts and balls take place at the Castle hotel, which affords excellent accommodation to
the numerous visiters who are attracted to this place by the interesting scenery in the neighbourhood, and the beautiful
cascades with which the Vale of Neath abounds, of which an account will be found in the articles on the parishes of
Cadoxton, Ystradvelltey, Penderin, &c. From its situation in a populous district, surrounded by extensive copper, iron,
tin, and chemical works, the town has been for some years increasing in importance as a place of commerce: the almost
inexhaustible mines of coal being more than sufficient for the supply of the town and neighbourhood, and of the various
works in the environs, great quantities are annually shipped off to the lower parts of Somersetshire, I5evonshire' and
Cornwall, and to Ireland. It is computed that one hundred thousand tons are brought down the vale by the Neath canal
alone, for exportation. At Neath Abbey, about a mile from the town, are some iron-works, established in 1792, and
conducted on a very large scale; consisting of two blast furnaces for the making of iron from the ore, an iron foundry
for casting the various parts of engine and mill work, and an engine factory. From this place most of the iron-works in
the principality have been furnished with their powerful engines for blowing the furnaces used in the manufacture of iron,
and for the rolling of that metal and the copper-works have also been supplied with rolling-engines, and with the
requisite machinery for the manufacture of copper. Many of the large pumping-engines now-in operation in the mining
districts of Cornwall were made in this establishment, which has also supplied the Anglo-Mexican and Real del Monte mining
companies with steam-engines for draining their mined; engines for maritime uses, and locomotive engines on rail and tram
roads, have likewise been made to a very considerable extent. The number of .persons employed in these works, and in the
collieries and mines connected with them, averages about four hundred. The copper-works are situated to the south of Neath
Abbey, on the western bank of the river, and form two establishments, called the Crown and the Mines Royal Works,
belonging respectively to the Crown and the Mines Royal Copper companies. The tin-works are on the banks of the river and
of the canal, about one mile and a half above the town; and on the eastern side of the river, a little below the town,
are some extensive chemical works. The port is a creek to that of Swansea: the exports are coal, culm, copper, iron,
iron-castings, spelter, fire-bricks, oak timber, bark, and wool; the imports are copper and iron ores, corn, flour,
foreign timber, black-jack, and groceries and other articles of general consumption. The port is at Briton-Ferry, about
two .miles and a quarter below the bridge at Neath, by the course of the rim: vessels of upwards of 300 tons' burthen
can sail up to the town, but the trade is generally carried on by means of barges communicating with Briton-Ferry. The
construction of a floating harbour within the borough, on the left bank of the river, was once in contemplation, but the
design has been abandoned. The harbour has been greatly improved at an expense of £3000, which was defrayed conjointly by
the Neath Canal Company and the proprietors of the works in the neighbourhood; and the alterations that have been made
have been productive of considerable benefit. The Neath canal extends from Briton-Ferry to Abernant, near the head of the
vale, a distance of thirteen miles: at Aber-Dulas, about a mile and a half above the town, it is united by a stone
aqueduct of eleven arches with the Swansea and Neath junction canal, by means of which the mineral riches on either side
of the vale may be conveyed to the port of Swansea: the latter canal is remarkable for being carried through a distance
of nine miles without a lock. The market, which is well supplied with corn and with provisions of every kind, is on
Wednesday; and the fairs are on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, July 31st, and September 12th. In 1835 an act was
obtained for removing the market and providing another market-place. Neath, having become united to the great lordship of
Glamorgan, was one of the places which obtained from Edward H. a new CHARTER, conferring upon it valuable immunities, and
granted through the influence of that monarch's favourite, the younger Hugh Spencer, among whose possessions this lordship
was included. It is nevertheless regarded as a borough by prescription, though it has a charter bestowed in the reign of
James II., which is addressed to the " Reeve, Aldermen, and Burgesses," and vested the government in a portreeve, twelve
aldermen, and an indefinite number of burgesses. The members of the corporation in 1835, when the act of 5th and 6th of
William IV. e. 76, was passed, for changing the constitution of boroughs, comprised a constable of the castle, a
portreeve, twelve aldermen, eight capital burgesses, a recorder, two common attornies, two serjeants-at-mace, a laver
keeper, two haywards, two ale-tasters, &c. The constable of the castle was appointed by the lord of the borough, and the
recorder by the constable; the portreeve was chosen on the 9th of November every year by the constable, from three
aldermen nominated by their own body on the 27th of September previous; and the common attornies, who acted as tzeasurers,
were elected from among the freemen by the aldermen and capital burgesses, who also named four burgesses, two of them to
be elected as serjeants-atr mace by the constable of the castle: on a vacancy occurring among the body of aldermen, the
remaining aldermen filled up the number. By the act of William IV., the corporation is styled the " Mayor, Aldermen, and
Burgesses," and consists of a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, together constituting the council of the
borough, of which the municipal and parliamentary limits are the same. The council elect the mayor annually on November
9th out of the aldermen or councillors; and the aldermen triennially from among the councillors, or persons qualified as
such, one half going out of office every three years, but re-eligible: the councillors are chosen annually on November 1st
by and from among the enrolled burgesses, one-third going out of office annually. The aldermen and councillors must have a
property qualification of £500, or be rated at £15 annual value. The burgesses consist of the occupiers of houses and
shops who have been rated for three years to the relief of the . poor, if resident householders within seven miles; and a
valid title to be a burgess is acquirable by descent, marriage, marriage-settlement, devise, or promotion to any benefice
or office, in which case occupancy and the payment of rates by the predecessor may be reckoned. Two auditors and two
assessors are elected annually on March 1st by and out of the burgesses; and the council appoint a town-clerk, treasurer,
and other officers on November 9th. The income of the borough, as rettirned to parliament by the commissioners for
enquiring into the constitution and working of the municipal corps-rations in England and Wales, was derived from the
following sources; namely, £83. 8. 6. rents of houses and land; £60 annual dividends upon canal shares; £20 arising from
market tolls; £3, consisting of small fees for the use of the standard corn measure; about £100 received by the portreeve
as tolls and port dues; and £27, the property of the layer keeper: the whole producing about £300 a year, subject,
however, to a charge of £42 per annum, payable to a person during life, in consideration of his having given up a lease of
premises required for the improvement of the town. Two alienations of real property appear to have been made by the
corporation within the last half century; the first in 1801, when land was sold to Mrs. Miers for a sum of £1500, a
considerable part of which was ultimately applied towards the building of the present town-hall; and the second in the
year 1825, when a piece of land was disposed of to Mr. Whittington for £500, that amount being needed for the satisfaction
of a debt owing to him for the fitting-up of the edifice. It also appears that every burgess was formerly entitled to
receive from the lord of the manor thirteen loads of coal annually, being one load every four weeks, upon payment of one
shilling per load; but this privilege ceased to be enjoyed about forty years since; and it is not now known in what right
it was claimed. Neath is one of eight contributory boroughs which return a member to parliament: of these, Swansea,
Aberavon, Kenvig, Loughor and Neath, have, by the act of 1832, for " Amending the representation of the People," been
constituted a separate district, with the privilege of returning a representative. The right of election was formerly in
the burgesses at large, a hundred in number, of whom about twenty reside within the borough: it is now, by the act,
vested in the resident burgesses only, or those within seven miles of the town, if duly qualified according to its
provisions, and in every male person of full age occupying, either as owner or as tenant under the same landlord, a house
or other premises of the annual value of ten pounds and Upwards, provided be be capable of registering as the act directs:
the present number of tenements of this value, within the limits of the borough, which were altered by the Boundary Act,
and are minutely described in the Appendix to this work, is about one hundred and eighty. The corporation claim, but since
1798 have not exercised, the right of holding a court of pleas for the recovery of debts to any amount; and a court baron
was held until 1816 by the constable of the castle, for debts under forty shillings. The Midsummer quarter-sessions for
the county, and the petty-sessions for the hundred, take place at Neath, which bee also been made a polling-station in the
election of knights for the shire. The town-hall is a neat and commodious edifice, in the Grecian style of architecture,
with a handsome receding portico of the Ionic order; but, being out of the line of the principal thoroughfare, it is not
seen to advantage. The upper part of the building contains a spacious council-chamber, with a jury-room and apartments for
the petty-sessions and other business of the local magistracy; and the lower part is appropriated to the use of the corn
market. The LIVING ie a rectory, with Lantwit annexed, rated in the king's books at £16. 2. 31.; present net income, £353,
with a glebe-house; patron, Henry J. Grant, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle, is a spacious and
ancient structure, of which the nave was rebuilt about a century since; the interior is handsome and commodiously fitted
up, and a fine-toned organ was presented by the late Sir R. H. Mackworth, Bart. There are two places of worship each for
Independents and Wesleyans, and one each for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Calvinistic Methodists, and Unitarians. Mr.
John Davies, in 1719, bequeathed £200 to be laid out in the purchase of land for the erection and endowment of a free
school; with which sum two tenements, called &Indere and Ynyseoed, containing together about eighty-four acres, have been
purchased; but the original intention of the testator has not yet been fully carried into effect. The interest of £500,
which had been received in lieu of the accumulated rent of these farms, and from sales of timber, together with the
interest of £100 left by the late Mr. Gwyn, has, in the interim, been appropriated in aid of a National school for boys
and girls, held in a shop under a gift of Mr. Grant, of Gaon Castle, sod which is also partly supported by subscription
and the proceeds of an annual sermon. The rental of the two farms, together with £100 left by William Cross, in 1785, and
£30, its accumulated interest, is under the management of the rector, churchwardens, and overseers. The school contains
120 boys and 100 girls; the salary of the master is £45, and that of the mistress £30, per annum; the master also
receives 2s. 6d. per annum for each boy, and the mistress the same for each girl, exceeding 50. There are six other day
schools, in which about 70 boys and 70 girls are instructed at the expense of their parents; and a day and boarding
school, in which about 35 children are also paid for by their parents. Two Sunday schools afford gratuitous instruction to
about 200 males and females, one of them supported by the minister of the parish, and the other conducted by Calvinistic
Methodists; and in two infants' schools, maintained partly by subscription and partly by a weekly payment of ld. from
each child, about 160 are taught. There are various charitable bequests for distribution among the poor, prineipally in
bread, among which are £2 per annum left by Evan Leyson, in 1634; £1 by William Cross, in 1785; and £3. 16. paid out of
the parish rates, as interest due upon a legacy bequeathed by John Davies, which is supposed to have been appropriated to
parochial uses, in the repairs of an almshouse in Water-street, left by John Gibbs, in 1670, as an habitation for four
poor widows, but which has been so enlarged as to be now capable of accommodating 12 objects of the charity: Mr. Davies
also assigned 10s. per annum for ringing the curfew bell. A bequest of £5 to the poor, by Mary Jones, in 1743, has been
unproductive. The poor law union, of which this town is the head, was formed September 2nd, 1836, and comprises the
following twenty-nine parishes and townships; namely, Blaen-Honddan, Coed-Frank; Higher, Middle, and Lower Neath; Higher
and Lower Dylas, Dyfryn-Clydach, Ynys-y-Mond, Lantwit juxta Neath, Clyne, Resolven, Upper and Lower Michaelston super
Avon, Higher and Lower Baglan, Glyn-Corwg, Blaen-Gwrach, Higher and Lower Llansamlet, Kilybebill, Llanguicke, Aberavon,
Briton-Ferry, Margam, and Neat++, in the county of Glamorgan; and Upper and Lower Ystradgunlais, and Ystradvelltey, in the
shire of Brecknock. It is under the superintendence of 33 guardiads, and contains a population of 32,627. Within the
parish is Gnoll Castle, formerly the seat of Sir Herbert Mackworth, Bart., whose widow conveyed it by marriage to Capel
Hanbury Leigh, Esq., of Pontypool Park, in the county of Monmouth, from whom it was purchased by Henry J. Grant, Esq., to
whom, as proprietor of the estate, belongs also the custody of the castle and the lordship of the borough. The mansion,
which possesses all the magnificence of a baronial residence, is a conspicuous object from all parts of the circumjacent
country, and has been recently modernized: the principal front consists of a centre, with wings and two semicircular
towers; and the grounds, which are extensive, are laid out with great taste. Of the ancient castle of Neath only some
small portions in the lower part of the town, near the river, are at present remaining; and of the walls that once
encompassed the town there are no vestiges.