Port Talbot’s Pompeii: Roman Villa Discovery Rewrites Wales’ Story

Project leader Dr Langlands at the Margam Country Park site, near Port Talbot, Wales

January

/ 2026

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South Wales may be famous today for its industrial skyline, but archaeologists now say something far older - and unexpectedly grand - lies just under the turf at Margam Country Park near Port Talbot. A newly identified Roman villa complex, detected by geophysical survey, is being described as the largest stand-alone Roman villa ever found in Wales, with researchers suggesting its preservation could be unusually high because it sits in historic deer park land that has not been ploughed or developed.

The find has already earned a punchy nickname: “Port Talbot’s Pompeii.” While no one is claiming volcanic ash here, the idea is that centuries of relatively undisturbed ground may have kept walls, floors and surfaces intact enough to transform what archaeologists can learn about Roman-era life in Wales, writes The Guardian.

Researchers Strike “Gold” Beneath a Deer Park

The villa was detected as part of ArchaeoMargam, a collaboration between Swansea University’s Centre for Heritage Research and Training (CHART), Neath Port Talbot Council and Margam Abbey Church. The project’s surveys, carried out by Terradat, revealed a complex “of a scale and level of preservation unmatched across the region,” according to Swansea University’s announcement.

The BBC report says the villa footprint measures about 572 square meters (684 sq yards), sits less than a meter below the surface, and appears to be a corridor villa with wings and multiple rooms — the sort of layout associated with wealth, power and a working estate.

“My eyes nearly popped out of my skull,” project lead Dr Alex Langlands told the BBC, describing the moment the scan results made clear how substantial the building was.

A key reason for excitement is what hasn’t happened at Margam: centuries of deep ploughing that often tears up Roman archaeology elsewhere. Researchers say that deer-park continuity has left the site comparatively undisturbed, raising hopes that future work could uncover features Roman villas are known for - from painted plaster and mosaics to underfloor heating systems - if they survived here as well.

Geophysical scan results image and interpretation.

Left; The footprint of the Roman Villa within its defensive enclosure. Right; An interpretative record of the ground-penetrating radar survey of the villa site. (©Terradat)

A Defended Enclosure, and Hints of a Wider Roman Landscape

The geophysical results suggest the villa sits inside a 43m x 55m defended enclosure, with a substantial aisled building to the south-east that may have served as an agricultural storage building, or possibly a later meeting hall used after Roman authority faded. That combination has pushed some researchers to frame the site as more than a fancy rural home: potentially a high-status hub in a productive landscape.

The archaeologists believe the discovery changes how the Romano-British period in Wales is perceived, shifting attention away from forts and marching camps alone and toward civilian wealth and farming estates linked into broader regional networks. In that reading, the Margam villa is a sign that parts of Wales were more embedded in the Roman economy than the “edge of empire” stereotype implies.

That matters because Roman infrastructure and settlement in Wales is often discussed through roads and military control. Yet Roman-connected movement routes such as Sarn Helen, a network of Roman roads across Wales, show how communication, trade and administration could knit landscapes together and villas were frequently part of that picture, acting as estate centers feeding regional markets.

Drone Shot of the Margam Castle in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales

Drone Shot of the Margam Castle in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales. (Clement Proust)

Next Steps

For now, the precise location inside the park is being kept quiet due to concerns about illegal detecting and “nighthawking,” a recurring issue at vulnerable sites. The next phase is expected to focus on protecting the archaeology first, then building a case for further survey and eventual excavation funding.

Public engagement is already part of the story. The Swansea University release describes school visits, volunteer involvement and community archaeology linked to the broader ArchaeoMargam program, with project findings (including villa updates) shared at public events at Margam Abbey Church.

If excavation does move ahead, the stakes are high: Roman villas can preserve details that rarely survive in military-only narratives, from household planning and food storage to social display. Finds at other British villa sites — including mosaics — have reshaped timelines and assumptions about “decline” in the post-Roman centuries, which is why archaeologists are watching Margam so closely.

Top image: Project leader Dr Langlands at the Margam Country Park site, near Port Talbot, Wales.
Source: Swansea University

By Gary Manners