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River Neath
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River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.
Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr and combine at Pontneddfechan to form the River Neath.
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Encyclopedia
River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.
Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr and combine at Pontneddfechan to form the River Neath. These include the Afon Hepste, Afon Mellte and the Nedd Fechan.
The river flows through the Vale of Neath, a long straight valley developed along the Neath Disturbance and which carried a major glacier during the ice ages. Downstream of Pontneddfechan the river has few significant tributaries. Those that do join include the Melincwrt Brook and the Clydach Brook.
The only major tributary to join is the River Dulais which has its source north of Seven Sisters. As the Dulais nears the Neath it descends a spectacular waterfall: the Dulais Falls, a popular tourist attraction owned and managed by the National Trust and the site of old iron workings.
The River Neath provides water to two canals, the Neath Canal and the Tennant Canal. At Aberdulais basin, both canals meet, the Tennant Canal crossing the River Neath with a fine aqueduct. Also crossing the river here is the Vale of Neath Railway line and the A465 road.
The estuary of the River Neath extends from Neath town down past Briton Ferry to the sea next to Jersey Marine Beach. The estuary is partly industrialised with a ship breaking yard, a large local authority waste disposal site and wharves at Briton Ferry and Neath Abbey. Where it remains undisturbed, there are areas of salt marsh stretching from Neath to Baglan Bay and Crymlyn Burrows which are of great ecological value.
The Vale of Neath once supported many deep coal mines and coal washeries and, in the latter half of the 20th century, some large opencast coal mines. There were also a number of small private drift mines, some of which were using pit ponies until the 1990s.
Near to Resolven a large aluminium plant was established during the war but this ceased working in the 1990s. The main industries in the Neath Valley are forestry and farming with most of the population commuting to jobs in Swansea or Port Talbot.
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