Images of Wales

I visited Ebbw Vale on a clear sunny day in March 2003 to take photographs for a client in Ohio, USA. The feature below includes a selection of these photographs, supplemented by two shots taken on a hot and hazy day during a previous commission in the area.

Ebbw Vale was originally a rather insignificant spot with only about 140 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century, but was transformed by the opening of the Ebbw Vale Iron Works (later to become the steelworks) in 1778. This was followed by the opening of a number of coal mines around 1790. By the mid 19th century, Ebbw Vale had become a great steelmaking centre.

Scanned from a colour photograph taken in June 2000
Above: Ebbw Vale, viewed from the north.

EBBW VALE is a parish constituted by Order of the Monmouth County Council, confirmed by an Order of the Local Government Board, dated November 19, 1894, and previously formed into an ecclesiastical parish in the year 1870 from the civil parishes of Aberystruth and Bedwellty, comprising the following places: Ebbw Vale, Briery Hill, Newtown, Pontygof and Victoria.

These closely adjoin each other, and are all in the vale of the Ebbw Fawr river, in the Northern part of the county, bordering on the county of Brecon, 179 miles from London, 2 east from Tredegar, 20 north-west from Newport, 10½ south-west from Abergavenny, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Wentloog, petty sessional division and union of Bedwellty, Tredegar county court district, and in the rural deanery of Blaenau Gwent, archdeaconry of Monmouth and diocese of Llandaff.

The houses are for the most part small, being occupied by the workmen employed in the iron and coal works, which is the sole industry. The Ebbw Vale and Victoria stations in this parish are on the Great Western Railway, and a third station at Ebbw Vale belongs to the London and North Western Railway Co., who have a branch from here joining the Abergavenny line near Beaufort station.

Ebbw Vale is lighted with gas by the Beaufort Gas Light Co. and the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company Limited, and is supplied with water from works in Llangunider parish.

Christ Church is a building of red sandstone, with Pennant stone dressings, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, western porch and tower at the south-west angle containing one bell; beneath the church is a spacious crypt, in which Welsh services are held: there are 750 sittings, 300 being free. The register dates from the year 1870. The Catholic church, dedicated to All Saints, was built in 1865, and there are also Calvinistic Methodist, Congregational and Wesleyan chapels. The Literary and Scientific Institute is a very commodious building with a good lecture room, library, containing about 6,000 volumes, reading room and science and art class rooms.

The works of the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company Limited occupy a large portion of the valleys of the Ebbw and Sirhowy rivers; here railway iron, Bessemer and other steel rails, and every description of manufactured iron and steel are produced in immense quantities; the company are brick makers and also the owners of very large collieries, and ship coal to all parts of the world. They have now six 60 feet blast furnaces, intended to produce together 3,900 tons of pig iron weekly.

Source: Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire, 1901 on the website of the late Bryan Morgan.

Above: Panoramic view of Ebbw Vale tin-plate works (foreground), and Ebbw Vale town (beyond). The view was taken from the south-east. The works, formerly owned by Corus UK, finally closed in July 2002.

Above and below: Views south down the valley from the bridge over Steelworks Road.
Scanned from a colour photograph taken in June 2000

Above: Station Hill, viewed from Libanus Road.

Above: Old shops in Libanus Road.

Above: Street market in Market Street.

Above: Armoury Terrace, looking south from Bethcar Street.

Above: County Hotel on the corner of Libanus Road and Western Terrace.

Above: Congregational Chapel in Libanus Road.		Above: The pub sign of the Rhyd-y-Blew Inn in Rassau Road, on the Beaufort side of Ebbw Vale.

Below: Rhyd-y-Blew Inn.
The Hidden Inns of Wales website describes the inn as "a great pub with lots going on".

As well as being famous for the manufacture of iron, steel, and tinplate, Ebbw Vale is also renowned for its association with Aneurin Bevan, the firebrand socialist and orator who is regarded by many as the father of the National Health Service. "Nye" Bevan was born in nearby Tredegar in 1897, but he represented the parliamentary constituency of Ebbw Vale from 1929 until his death in 1960. Although he never achieved the highest political office, Aneurin Bevan is arguably the most influential, and certainly the most inspirational figure in the history of the Labour party.

Find out more about Aneurin Bevan on the BBC History website.

Please e-mail John Ball at wfha@clara.co.uk with any comments or requests