Ronald Oliver Felton TD (14 December 1909 – 5 February 1982), who wrote under the pseudonym Ronald Welch , was a Welsh novelist. He is best known for children's historical fiction. He won the 1956 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association for the year's best children's book by a British author, for Knight Crusader , the first in his so-called Carey Family series of novels.
25-722: He was born in Aberavon , West Glamorgan . He was teaching at Bedford Modern School when the Second World War broke out. In 1940 he was commissioned lieutenant in the Welch Regiment , to which his pen name refers. He reached the rank of major and stayed in the Territorial Army after the war. He was for many years headmaster of Okehampton Grammar School in Devon . Welch's final work, The Road to Waterloo , not strictly speaking part of
50-494: A Warburtons bread factory in premises which were previously occupied by Panasonic . The electoral ward of Aberavon is coterminous with district of Aberavon and is a part of the Welsh parliamentary constituency of Aberavon . Aberavon is bounded by the wards of Sandfields West and Sandfields East to the southwest; Baglan to the north; Port Talbot to the east and Margam to the south. The ward boundaries can be defined by
75-456: A "poor village" surrounded by barren ground, though he also describes the area as heavily wooded, not much of which remains today. He mentions the use of the river mouth as a port, a "haven for ships" as he puts it. His portrayal of Aberafan as a small, struggling village however suggests that the port was not in great use, especially as traffic to and from Margam Abbey would have ceased following its dissolution in 1536. Tradition has it that when
100-519: A book in the Carey family series Aberavon Aberavon ( Welsh : Aberafan ) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough , Wales . The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan , which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Port Talbot , covering the central and south western part of the town. Aberavon
125-444: A number of out of town retail premises as well as business and manufacturing premises. Margam Abbey Margam Abbey ( Welsh : Abaty Margam ) was a Cistercian monastery , located in the village of Margam , a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales . The abbey was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by Robert, Earl of Gloucester , and was dedicated to
150-781: A rugby union club based at Harlequin Road and play their rugby in the WRU Division Two West league. Aberavon Green Stars RFC are a rugby club based in Sitwell Way Aberavon. Afan Lido F.C. is a football team, playing in Cymru South . One of Aberavon's rugby league clubs is called the Aberavon Fighting Irish and play in the Welsh Conference Premier . Aberavon & Port Talbot Golf Club (now defunct)
175-435: Is also the name of the nearby Blue Flag beach and the parish covering the same area. Little is known about Aberavon before Norman times. Bronze Age remains have been found in the hills behind the town. Roman artifacts have been found near the sea, including when the docks were being built in the 19th century. About 1090 the invading Normans deposed Iestyn ap Gwrgant , the ruler of Glamorgan. His son, Caradog ab Iestyn,
200-406: Is the site of his grave. The castle site was built over between 1876 and 1897 and its foundations now lie underneath the streets around the church. There have been reports of a ghost, a white lady seen floating above the castle ruins. The ghost is speculated to be Jane de Afan, the last occupant of Aberavon Castle. In the 18th century industry began to appear in the area. Industrialists worked with
225-501: The Abbey of Saint-Hubert ). The abbey was dissolved by King Henry VIII of England in 1536 and sold to Sir Rice Mansel . Significant holdings of the monastery library appear to have survived this event, including the manuscript of the annals. At this time, only 12 monks were living in the monastery. From the Mansel family the abbey eventually passed to their descendants in the female line,
250-498: The Blessed Virgin Mary . Early Christian crosses found in the close vicinity and conserved in the nearby Margam Stones Museum suggest the existence of an earlier Celtic monastic community . The founding abbot was William of Clairvaux. The third abbot, Conan, enjoyed the praise of Giraldus Cambrensis , whom he appears to have entertained prior to his official visit with Baldwin of Forde , Archbishop of Canterbury , to preach
275-1338: The Carey family saga but closely connected to it in terms of subject matter, remained unpublished at the time of his death. It was not until 2018 that it was discovered among his papers and published in a special edition by Smith Settle. Third Crusade William Assailly Edward III / Hundred Years War / Crecy Elizabeth I Elizabeth I English Civil War / Royalists Vicomte d'Assailly Duke of Marlborough / Battle of Blenheim French and Indian War / General Wolfe / Quebec / Seven Years' War Quentin d'Assailly, Amelie d'Assailly, Armand d'Assailly, Louise d'Assailly (later Lady Aubigny) Revolutionary France Louise Aubigny (d'Assailly) Duke of Wellington / Peninsular War Battle of Quatre Bras Felix d'Assailly, Louise Aubigny (d'Assailly) Italian nationalism / Crimean War (killed 1857, Nasirabad , Indian Mutiny ) Indian Mutiny / Bengal Presidency World War I / The Great War Captain of Foot (10th Earl) (6th Earl) (11th Earl) (1st Earl) (3rd Earl) (7th Earl) (2nd Earl) (5th Earl) (9th Earl) (4th Earl) (8th Earl) The Road to Waterloo (10th Earl) (Heavy Cavalry) (probably Dragoon Guards, like Richard) (6th Earl) (9th Earl) (fictional, ex 110th Foot), Tank Corps (8th Earl) (fictional) † indicates
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#1732858119593300-723: The Crusade in 1188. Conan (or Cunan) contributed to Patristic literature , as he is credited with the capitula or chapter-headings prefixing each section of St. Bernard 's Sermons on the Song of Songs , one of the works for which that author was titled a Doctor of the Church . The Annales de Margan are a contemporary chronicle in Latin, beginning with the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066 and ending with Henry III's quarrel with Hubert de Burgh in
325-598: The English Civil War broke out in 1648 Oliver Cromwell tried to seize the town charter as he passed through the town on his way to Pembroke , but it was hidden from him in a chopping block. Aberafan also endured the storm surge of 1607 and the Great Flood of 1768, when the river flowed into St Mary's Church. Aberavon was the birthplace of Dic Penderyn , a key figure in the Merthyr Rising of 1831. St Mary's Church
350-588: The Lordship passed to Morgan Fychan. His son, Leisan D'Avene, was the first known by a Norman-style surname. In 1304, Leisian D'Avene adopted the town's first charter. By 1373, the town had passed into the hands of Edward le Despencer , Lord of Glamorgan, and the Lords of Afan had ceased to be. The English antiquarian John Leland made an extensive journey through Wales c. 1536 –1539, of which he recorded an itinerary. He passed through Aberafan, which he describes as
375-529: The Talbot family of Margam Castle to divert the bottom of the Afan river to its present bed, and in 1836 opened a new harbour east of the river Afan with the name of "Port Talbot". The following decades saw significant industrial and population growth for Aberafan and the surrounding areas with people coming from North and West Wales, South West England, and Ireland. A new borough of Aberavon came into being in 1861, though at
400-490: The Talbot family. In the 19th century, C R M Talbot constructed a mansion at Margam Castle which overlooks the abbey ruins. The nave of the abbey continued in use as the parish church , as it does to this day. It is Anglo-Catholic in its churchmanship. Margam Abbey now consists of the intact nave and surrounding ruins. Those ruins not belonging to the church are now owned by the County Council. These remains, including
425-516: The growing population, especially the families of workers at the new Port Talbot Steelworks . From 1832 Aberavon had belonged to the Swansea parliamentary district of boroughs, uniting with Kenfig , Loughor , Neath and Swansea to return one member; from 1918 to 2024 it had its own UK parliament constituency . Starting in 2024 it was apart of the Aberafan Maesteg constituency. Its most famous MP
450-609: The hill"). The purpose of this building is thought to have been to allow members of the monastic community who were engaged in the keeping of flocks to fulfil their devotional obligations without having to return to the main church. In 2020, a beech tree located in the ruins of Margam Abbey was voted Tree of the Year in Wales. The 'Chapter House Tree' won an online vote conducted by the Welsh Woodland Trust , beating other trees such as
475-656: The roads surrounding it which are the M4 Motorway to the north east; the A4241 to the north west; Afan Way to the southwest and the River Afan to the south east. The Aberavon ward can be roughly divided into two parts. There is the residential area to the southeastern part of the ward beside the River Afan . The north western area consists of areas of industrial estate land called the Baglan Industrial Park which includes
500-452: The time it was still smaller than nearby Cwmafan or Taibach . Although there were small local collieries the area had become known for its metalworking industry. In the 1950s many of the sand dunes of Aberavon Beach disappeared as part of the development of the Sandfields estate , at this time a 1.25 mile sea wall was built primarily for sea defences. The estate was built to accommodate
525-448: The twelve-sided chapter house , dating from the 13th century, stand within 840 acre (3.4 km ) Margam Country Park , close to Margam Castle . The Abbey church of St Mary, the ruined Chapter House and the Abbey undercroft are all Grade I listed buildings. On a hill overlooking the abbey stand the ruins of an outlying monastery building, Capel Mair ar y Bryn ("the chapel of St Mary on
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#1732858119593550-439: The year 1232. The chief source for the earlier portion was likely William of Malmesbury's history . The text gives accounts of the purported discovery of the bones of King Arthur , and of the alleged murder of Prince Arthur by King John . Sir John Buchanan-Jardine (third baronet Buchanan-Jardine ) recounts a tradition that Margam Abbey kept a pack of hunting hounds donated to them by a continental Abbey (which he takes to be
575-582: Was Ramsay MacDonald . Sir Geoffrey Howe , who although born locally never represented the town in the House of Commons, chose as his peerage title Lord Howe of Aberavon. Since 1999 it has had its own Welsh Assembly constituency . Aberavon hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1932 and 1966. Aberavon RFC are a rugby union team, and play in the Welsh Premier Division . Aberavon Quins RFC are
600-576: Was founded in 1905. The course closed following WW2 and the land was used for housing. The Baglan Bay Industrial Park lies on a stretch of Baglan Moors in the parish of Aberavon south east of the Baglan Energy Park and immediately northwest of Neath Port Talbot Hospital . It is sandwiched between the M4 Motorway and Afan Way ( A4241 ). Current occupants include Morrisons , Iceland Food Warehouse, Lidl , KFC , Dreams , Screwfix , Pound Stretcher , Pets at Home & Halfords superstores and
625-605: Was the only Welsh lord to retain lands in Glamorgan - the area between the Afan and Neath rivers - and he became the first of the Lords of Afan . Caradoc built a castle in Aberafan near the present site of St Mary's Church. This wooden castle was burnt down in 1153 and Caradoc's son, Morgan ap Caradoc, rebuilt the castle in stone. In 1147, Cistercian monks founded the nearby Margam Abbey . In 1241,
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