Aberavon and Port Talbot Synagogue

Towns of Port Talbot and Aberavon

Port Talbot, with a population of about 37,000, lies on the east shore of the Swansea Bay at the mouth of the river Afan, about 10 miles east of Swansea and about 33 miles west of Cardiff. Neath is some 7 miles to the north.  Aberavon, a small market town from which Port Talbot grew, was incorporated into Port Talbot in 1921.

Until 1921, Aberavon was a borough in the county of Glamorganshire. In 1921 it was merged with adjoining districts to form the municipal borough of Port Talbot, still in the county of Glamorganshire. From 1974 until 1996, Port Talbot was part of the district of Port Talbot in the county of Mid Glamorgan. Since 1996, it has been within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot - a unitary authority (in the ceremonial, or preserved, county of West Glamorgan).

Port Talbot and Aberavon Jewish Community

There was a Jewish resident of Aberavon from at least the 1870s, although there does not appear to have been an organised congregation until the beginning of the twentieth century. According to G. Alderman "Into the Vortex" p.2 (quoting an article by I. Factor in the December 1961 issue of Cajex - Magazine of the Cardiff Branch of AJEX), the community was organised at the turn of the century by a Lithianian immigrant, Raphael Levi, but a synagogue was not established until after World War I.