The Port Talbot area has a long heritage of working with metals. This has extended from the Bronze Age, through the Iron Age coincident with the Roman Occupation to the coal mining monks of Margam Abbey, who also cast iron and used tin to protect it, up to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and the erection of the first primitive forges and blast furnaces for casting iron. This growth led to the building of docks for an ever-increasing trade in shipping as copper became king in Glamorgan. As the latter's reign faded, tinplate came along and smoothly paved the way for the development of the massive iron and steel industry, which now dominates the landscape of Port Talbot and the surrounding district.

Port Talbot At Work explores the life and times of 'The City of Steel', its people and communities. Using a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, this book looks at the area's pre-industrial beginnings and follows the effects of the Industrial Revolution from its birth pangs and subsequent growth through the Victorian era, wars and depressions, right up to the present day. It examines the environmental problems created by the fledgling industries and the methods that industry has to apply today for their control and containment. Finally, an assessment is made of the application of modern technologies and methods of working on the future of heavy industry in the Port Talbot area.