Margam Country Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Margam Country Park is a country park estate of around 850 acres (3.4 km²) in south Wales (grid reference SS803864) once owned by the Mansel Talbot family and now owned and administered by the local council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. It is about two miles (3 km) east of Port Talbot.

Evidence of habitation goes back to prehistoric times and the Bronze Age. Iron Age and Roman people also lived in the area. In 1147, Margam Abbey was built. Its remains stand in the park today, a few metres from the Orangery, which is the longest orangery in Britain, completed around 1790. Its length is ten times its width. Also in the park is Margam Castle, a Tudor Gothic mansion house built by Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot in the early nineteenth century, and an iron age hillfort. Sculptures and artwork are placed at different places along the paths which connect the house with the Orangery.

Also on the estate are deer, which have existed on the site since at least Norman times. The majority are fallow deer (numbering around 230): red deer (about 60) and the non-native Père David's Deer (about 30) were introduced in the 1990s, the latter as part of a breeding programme. Venison from the management of the deer herd is sold to the public. Aviaries on the estate house a number of rescued birds of prey. The rare breed Glamorgan cattle are raised on the estate.

The Coed Morgannwg Way and the Ogwr Ridgeway Walk long-distance paths go through Margam Country Park, and there are a number of shorter (less than three miles (5 km)) walks waymarked in the park. There are no major rivers in the park, but there are lakes and ponds, and it is possible to fish some of the ponds.

A narrow gauge railway conducts visitors around the grounds in the summer. The Orangery has a licence for civil marriages. Events on the estate are held through the summer: anything from fairs selling particular goods to car rallies. The Margam Country Show is held in August. In 2003, the park was host to the Urdd Eisteddfod.

The council acquired the estate in 1973. The park was officially opened to the public in 1977. Access is free but there is a charge for car parking and for some events.