On our westwards drives through South Wales, heading for the tourist hotspots of Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, our thoughts full of the gorgeous coastlines we are about to enjoy, it is always a shock to be confronted with the steaming, industrial environs of the town of Port Talbot. This is the scene that forms the opening of the BBC drama Mr Burton about the early life of the late Richard Burton and the teacher who saw his potential and took him under his wing.
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| Port Talbot, Town Scenery - geograph.org.uk - 5502269. Photo by Lewis Clarke, via Wikimedia Commons. |
In the 1950s a famous photo appeared showing Richard Burton and his father walking across the Pontrhydyfen Viaduct In the film there is a scene with Richard and his teacher Mr Burton crossing the same viaduct on their way to see Richard’s father to try and persuade him to give permission for Richard to take his teacher’s surname in order to facilitate his acceptance into professional acting, hence the change from Richard Jenkins to Richard Burton. The viaduct, which is in Richard’s home village of the same name, a few miles to the northwest of Port Talbot, was built in 1898 by the Port Talbot Railway.
Several of the scenes in Mr Burton feature a beautiful sandy beach. Wales has more than its fair share of these, but this is one of the lesser known ones. The beach is Aberavon Beach, which stretches southeastwards from the mouth of the River Neath, very near Port Talbot. Another popular hangout in the area is Margam Country Park, two miles southeast of Port Talbot on the southern slopes of Margam Mountain, known locally as Mynydd Margam. The mountain appears in several of the film’s countryside scenes.
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| The beach at Aberavon - geograph.org.uk - 3136704. Photo by Simon Mortimer, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Map of the area.
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