Abertillery
Abertillery
| |
|---|---|
 The view towards Abertillery from the head of the Tyleri | |
  Abertillery Location within Blaenau Gwent | |
| Population | 11,601 (2011 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SO215045 |
| Principal area | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ABERTILLERY |
| Postcode district | NP13 |
| Dialling code | 01495 |
| Police | Gwent |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Welsh Assembly | |
Abertillery (/ˌæbərtɪˈlɛəri/; Welsh: Abertyleri, meaning mouth of the River Tyleri) is the largest town and a community of the Ebbw Fach valley in the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. Following local government reorganisation it became part of the Blaenau Gwent County Borough administrative area.
The surrounding landscape borders the Brecon Beacons National Park and the Blaenavon World heritage Site.[2] Formerly a major coal mining centre the Abertillery area was transformed in the 1990s using EU and other funding to return to a greener environment.
Situated on the A467 the town is 15 miles (24 km) north of the M4 and 5 miles (8 km) south of the A465 "Heads of the Valleys" trunk road. It is about 25 miles (40 km) by road from Cardiff and 47 miles (76 km) from Bristol.
According to the 2001 Census and information gathered by The Welsh Language Board (Welsh: Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg), 1,146 (9.9%) of Abertillery speaks Welsh.[3] In the 2011 Census, this figure dropped to 7.2%, a 2.7 percentage point drop.[4]
Contents
Town centre[edit]
Abertillery's traditional-style town centre mainly developed in the late 19th century and as such has some interesting Victorian architecture. Spread over 4 main streets the town in its heyday had two department stores and a covered Victorian arcade linking two of the main shopping areas. These were all included in a Blaenau Gwent Borough Council remodelling and modernisation project using European Union funding in a £13 million programme spread over a 5-year period ending in 2015.[5]
The project included a new multi-storey car park, a revamp of public areas and the town's Metropole Theatre.[6] This RICS award-winning building provides state of the art production, exhibition, conference and meeting facilities as well as housing Abertillery museum. In March 2014 Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, officiated at the launch of Jubilee Square, a public facility in the town centre next to St Michael's Church.[7]
Coal mining[edit]
Major industry came to the area in 1843 when the locality's first deep coal mine was sunk at Tir Nicholas Farm, Cwmtillery. The town developed rapidly thereafter and played a major part in the South Wales coalfield. Its population rose steeply, being 10,846 in the 1891 census and 21,945 ten years later. The population peaked just short of 40,000[8] around the beginning of the 1930s. Eventually there were six deep coal mines, numerous small coal levels, a tin works, brick works, iron foundry and light engineering businesses in the area. Just one of the coal mines, Cwmtillery, produced over 32 million tons of coal in its lifetime and at its height employed 2760 men and boys.[9]
In 1960 an underground explosion at Six Bells Colliery resulted in the loss of life of 45 local miners. Fifty years later the archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams officiated at the launch of the Guardian mining memorial. This artistically acclaimed monument standing at 20m tall overlooks Parc Arael Griffin, the now reclaimed and landscaped former colliery site. The adjoining Ty Ebbw Fach visitor centre provides conference facilities, a restaurant and a "mining valley" experience room. Not long after the disaster the renowned artist L. S. Lowry visited the area and recorded the scene. The resultant landscape painting now hangs in the Museum of Wales in Cardiff.[10]
The coal mines remained the predominant economic emphasis until the general run down of the industry in the 1980s.
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