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'Port Talbot's Pompeii' Roman villa changes the story of Wales
The Guardian
|January 13, 2026
Over the past 100 years or so, a characterful but tough corner of south Wales has become best known for its steelworks and coalmines.
But the discovery of the footprint of a large Roman villa in a country park on the outskirts of Port Talbot gives a fresh and intriguing insight into life here centuries earlier.
Found below the surface of Margam country park and close to the M4, the presence of the villa - which has been dubbed "Port Talbot's Pompeii" - suggests that the area was not on the fringes of the Roman empire but very much a part of it and might have been an important agricultural centre.
Alex Langlands, an associate professor of heritage and history at Swansea University, said he was taken aback when ground-penetrating radar suggested the hidden structure could be the largest villa of its kind in Wales.
"It's a lifetime find for me, the park and the community," said Langlands, the project lead for ArchaeoMargam.
"We suspected there was something Romano-British there but we didn't for a moment think it would be as significant as this.
This story is from the January 13, 2026 edition of The Guardian.
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