General History

The Limes House, Abertillery House – Abertillery. The Limes House (as seen middle left on the featured images above surrounded by trees and just behind the railway lines) was originally called Abertillery House. It was one of the oldest premises in the area. Abertillery House. In Mr Edmund Jones first book written in 1779 called “The History of Aberystruth” he …

The Gaen Brothers, Building Contractors. The Gaen Brothers comprised Mr Thomas Gaen, born 1862, Mr Charles Gaen, born 1864 and Mr Frederick Gaen, born 1869. The family were from Langton Matravers, Dorset, the sons of Mr John Thomas Gaen and Ellen Jane Gaen nee Brown. Their father was a stone mason and all three sons entered the trade at an early age …

The Foundry Bridge Abertillery. In the 1830’s Abertillery was divided by the River Tyleri, to the east was Cwmtillery and to the west Abertillery. In the 1850’s the lane leading up past the British School to where Alma Street would later be, was called the Parish Road, this was the official dividing line. In the mid to late 19th century …

Lower Glandwr Street and the King’s Head Area 1960. A map showing the area of the King’s Head and lower Glandwr Street 1960. This is the same area as seen on the photographic image from 1902-03 but with the Black Bridge now moved further north as mentioned. Following is a Link to – An image of this area from 1902-03.

Lower Glandwr Street 1902-03. A portion of an old image showing the lower section of Glandwr Street (in the foreground) after the completion of the houses. Also showing the houses of Park View Terrace (as seen bottom right) under construction. The Kings Head Level Crossing. The Kings Head area originally had a railway level-crossing, in July 1901 the level-crossing was …

Officers of the Good Templars Lodge Cwmtillery 1870’s. Back Row – Mr T. Gulliford; Mr W. Parfitt; Mr T. Cooper; Mr Silas Cooper; Mr H. Ludlow Wiltshire and Mr G. Cooper: Front Row – Mr Eli Taylor; Mr J. Pierce and Mr Enoch Hill.

Cwmtillery Colliery Feeder – Cwmtillery Lake. The Cwmtillery Lake was man-made as a colliery feeder and constructed by one of the Cwmtillery Colliery owners, more than probably Mr Thomas Brown or Mr John Russell. Over the years the feeder has changed shape and size owing to the fact that the colliery and level waste tips that built up around the …

The Day the Navy Came to Abertillery – The 1921 Miners Lock-Out.  Late 1920, early 1921, the collieries in the United Kingdom were still under state control following the Great War, the post war boom in coal exports was over and demand for coal was waning, thousands of miners were to lose their jobs and massive pay cuts were to follow, …

Penybont Bridge. The need for a bridge at Penybont was first discussed in 1889, originally there was a level crossing connecting the New Bridgend Hotel and the Old Bridgend Inn at Old Penybont Road, though as the railway traffic was increasing in the Cwmtillery valley this crossing was becoming extremely dangerous. Pressure was put on the local board to construct …

Nantyglo House. In the early years of the iron & coal industry at Nantyglo it was thought that Messrs Joseph and Crawshay Bailey had the round houses or towers built, I have searched for a construction date and a reason for them but can’t find information. The consensus was that they were built between 1810 and 1822 to possibly protect …