Abertillery History

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 Washery Riot – Monday 1st July 1912. Towards the end of June 1912, a man employed by the J. Lancaster Company at the Penybont Coal Washery, Cwmtillery was laid-off from his employment, the remaining workers being displeased at this dismissal had put up union notices of “show cards” in connection with the Miners Federation, this action by the workers …

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 …

Nantyglo Iron and Coal Works History. I understand a lot of books, other articles and web pages have been written on the exploits of the Bailey Brothers and the alleged tyranny of Mr Crawshay Bailey, though this is just a brief non-judgemental timeline with a few previously unknown, details on Crawshay and Joseph Bailey and their life and times at …

Mr Thomas Brown and the Monmouthshire Hills Iron Masters. The Monmouthshire Hills Iron Masters. The image shows the signatures and official seals of the Monmouthshire Hills Iron Masters. They are on a legal document from 1860 for the purchase of land at Ebbw Vale by the Ebbw Vale Company to which the signatories are the directors. The signatories are – …

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Powell’s Tillery Institute Gymnastics Teams. The Powell’s Tillery team was known as such but also reported as being the Tillery team, Powell’s Gymnastics team, the Tilleryites and also the Tilleryans. There was no right or wrong way to refer to the squad, it was just the preference of the individual reporters who wrote their stories. It may look confusing to …