 briton ferry () is a town and community in the county borough of neath port talbot, wales. the town encompasses the electoral wards of briton ferry east and briton ferry west. briton ferry is on the mouth of the river neath where it enters swansea bay and was the first river crossing along the roman road that followed the coastline along that part of south wales. the river crossing was by ferry boat some  from the bridge across the river neath at neath. at certain low tides it was possible to walk across the river via a ford close to the ferry route using stepping stones. the town is served by briton ferry railway station. there are remains of ancient stone age settlements on the hills above briton ferry, and two hillforts within the community, buarth-y-gaer and gaer fawr are on mynydd-y-gaer, alongside the boundary with baglan.glamorgan gwent archaeological society:  the town was part of the briton ferry estate. ==industrial development== the industrial revolution brought factories such as the albion steel works, the english crown spelter works and the baglan bay tinplate works. these were built on land close to the river neath and the new south wales railway,south wales railway built by isambard kingdom brunel. in 1840 an area of about  of land in cwmafan was leased for 99 years to john vigurs and subsequently passed to wright, butler & co. ltd, then to baldwins ltd. the terraces of houses built on this land were sublet in 1897 and 1898 for the remainder of the term of this lease, but many were declared unfit for habitation in the 1930s, and demolished. the industrial development and industrialisation attracted other railways, including the neath and brecon railway, the rhondda and swansea bay railway, and the south wales mineral railwaysouth wales mineral railway with its cable powered incline. ==briton
Communities_in_Neath_Port_Talbot M4_corridor Ports_and_harbours_of_Wales Ports_and_harbours_of_the_Bristol_Channel Towns_in_Neath_Port_Talbot