Ebbw Vale
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the
head of the valley The head of the valley or, less commonly, the valley head, refers to the uppermost part of a valley.Leser (2005), p. 935. Description The head of a valley may take widely differing forms; for example, in highland regions the valley often ends i ...
formed by the Ebbw Fawr
tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
Ebbw River The Ebbw River (; cy, Afon Ebwy) is a river in South Wales which gives its name to the town of Ebbw Vale. The Ebbw River is joined by the Ebbw Fach River ( Welsh: Afon Ebwy Fach meaning 'little Ebbw river') at Aberbeeg. The Ebbw Fach is itself ...
in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent
county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...
. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr
conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
has a population of roughly 33,000. It has direct access to the dualled
A465 The A465 is a trunk road that runs from Bromyard in Herefordshire, England to Llandarcy near Swansea in South Wales. The western half is known officially as the Neath to Abergavenny Trunk Road, but the section from Abergavenny to the Vale of N ...
Heads of the Valleys The A465 is a trunk road that runs from Bromyard in Herefordshire, England to Llandarcy near Swansea in South Wales. The western half is known officially as the Neath to Abergavenny Trunk Road, but the section from Abergavenny to the Vale of ...
trunk road and borders the
Brecon Beacons National Park The Brecon Beacons National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) is one of three national parks in Wales, and is centred on the Brecon Beacons range of hills in southern Wales. It includes the Black Mountain ( cy, Y Mynydd Du) i ...
.


Welsh language

According to the 2011 Census, 4.6% of Ebbw Vale North's 4,561 (210 residents) resident-population can speak, read, and write
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
, and 5.7% of Ebbw Vale South's 4,274 (244 residents) resident-population can speak, read, and write Welsh. This is below the
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
's figure of 5.5% of 67,348 (3,705 residents) who can speak, read, and write
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
.


Early history

There is evidence of very early human activity in the area.
Y Domen Fawr Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
is a
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
burial cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...
above the town and at Cefn Manmoel there is a demarcation dyke believed to be of
neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
or
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
origins. In relatively modern times the area was a quiet uplands spot in rural Monmouthshire. With only about 120 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century, Ebbw Vale and the whole area was transformed by the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
.


Iron and steel making

Ebbw Vale Iron Works, which later became the Ebbw Vale Steelworks, opened in 1778, followed by the opening of a number of
coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
s around 1790. Rails for the Stockton and Darlington Railway were manufactured at Ebbw Vale in 1829. Steel from Ebbw Vale was used to construct the
Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...
. At its height (1930s—40s), the steelworks in Ebbw Vale was the largest in Europe, although it attracted very little attention from German bombers during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. By the 1960s, around 14,500 people were employed at the steelworks. The end of the century witnessed a massive collapse of the UK steel industry. A strike in 1980 was followed by closures and redundancies which resulted in the dismantling of many of the old plants. In 2002 only 450 were employed in the old industries, and by July of that year the final works closed. Today there are no steelworks or mines left in the area. Ebbw Vale is still recognised for its innovation and contribution to the development of Britain as an industrial nation.


Modern times

Ebbw Vale is recovering from a period of one of the highest unemployment rates in the United Kingdom, largely as a result of the decline of the mining and steel industries. There are several industrial estates with some significant manufacturing facilities. In 2003 work began on demolishing and redeveloping the steelworks site. By 2015 the site was completely changed with a new hospital, college campus, school and leisure centre. Ebbw Vale first hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1958. The
Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...
was dominant in the area until the last quarter of the 19th century and remnants of the language (Welsh hymns and pockets of Welsh being spoken in nearby
Rhymney Rhymney (; cy, Rhymni ) is a town and a community in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales. It is within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. With the villages of Pontlottyn, Fochriw, Abertysswg, Deri and New Tredegar, Rhymney is ...
) persisted into the 1970s. The National Eisteddfod returned to Ebbw Vale in 2010.
Aneurin Bevan Aneurin "Nye" Bevan PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, noted for tenure as Minister of Health in Clement Attlee's government in which he spearheaded the creation of the British National Health ...
, the Labour Party politician who was main architect of the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
(NHS), was the
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr con ...
from the 1929 general election until his death in 1960, when he was succeeded as MP by
Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
. The seat joined with the neighbouring Abertillery constituency to form
Blaenau Gwent Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw ...
. In 2010, the former
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
of Ebbw Vale was abolished and replaced by
Ebbw Vale North Ebbw Vale North is a community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographica ...
and
Ebbw Vale South Ebbw Vale South is a community and electoral ward in Blaenau Gwent, South Wales, including the south of the town of Ebbw Vale. It was formed in 2010 from part of that community. The population in 2011 was 4,274. Governance Ebbw Vale South ...
. The Ebbw Vale conurbation today runs in an almost unbroken housing street plan 3 miles or so from
Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions ...
in the North to Cwm in the South. There are significant areas of modern housing to the north and south of the town.


National Garden Festival of Wales

In 1992 the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival was the last National Garden Festival. It was sited on the south side of the recently demolished steel works. The festival ran for five months between May and October 1992 attracting over 2 million visitors. The development cost around £18 million. Since then the site has been considerably redeveloped with new housing, some light industry and the Festival Park Branded Outlet, a retail outlet comprising approximately forty shops. By 2021 the shopping park had fallen into disuse and in August 2021 it was sold to a real estate and investment company who planned to redevelop the site into a "mixed use business centre". The last remaining store,
Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...
, closed in early 2022.


Steelworks development

The Ebbw Vale Steelworks site known as "The Works" has been re-developed under a £350 million regeneration project by
Blaenau Gwent Council Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent) is the governing body for Blaenau Gwent, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 197 ...
and
Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...
using EU redevelopment funding. It provides scope for housing, retail & office space, wetlands, a Learning campus and more. Wales' first all individual bed hospital
Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan ( en, Aneurin Bevan Hospital) is a community hospital in Ebbw Vale, Wales. It is managed by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) ( cy, Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Aneurin Beva ...
opened in 2010.


Welsh Future Homes

A small development of four prototype houses have been developed on the site as a precursor to the wider residential development parcels being developed. Following a competition run by the council several plots were developed in time to be demonstrated at the 2010
Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...
which was held on the steelworks site. In 2010
Blaenau Gwent council Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent) is the governing body for Blaenau Gwent, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 197 ...
and ''United Welsh Housing Association'', built two eco-friendly prototype buildings. The Larch house and the Lime House (by Bere Architects) are both highly energy efficient houses meeting both
Passivhaus "Passive house" (german: Passivhaus) is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building's ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or coo ...
and
Code for Sustainable Homes The Code for Sustainable Homes was an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes in United Kingdom. First introduced in 2006, it is a national standard for use in the design and construction of new homes ...
Level 6 and Level 5 respectively. The buildings were open for demonstration at the 2010
Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...
. Ty Unnos is a 2-bed property designed by
Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...
's Design Research Unit. It meets Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 and utilising construction techniques that allow Welsh softwood to be used in the fabric of the building.


The Environmental Resource Centre

The Environmental Resource Centre (ERC) is an educational facility run by
Gwent Wildlife Trust Gwent Wildlife Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Gwent) (GWT) is a The Wildlife Trusts, wildlife trust covering the area between the lower River Wye, Wye and Rhymney River, Rhymney rivers which forms the Watsonian vice-counties, vice county of Mo ...
. Designed by Cardiff University's Design Research Unit and Located on the Hotmill Plateau it was the first building to be completed as part of the redevelopment of the former steelworks site in Ebbw Vale. The centre is located on an ecologically rich site next to the Pumphouse cooling ponds, which have become a haven for wildlife since the closure of the steelworks. It was officially opened by
Iolo Williams Iolo Tudur Williams (; ; born 22 August 1962) is a Welsh ornithologist, nature observer, television presenter and author, best known for his BBC and S4C nature programmes, working in both English and his first language of Welsh. After a 14-year ...
and
Jane Davidson Jane Davidson (born 19 March 1957) is a Welsh former Labour politician, the former Assembly Member for Pontypridd, and served as minister for environment, sustainability and housing in the Welsh Government. She also previously served as the We ...
AM on 21 May 2010.


General Offices

The General Offices is a Grade II*
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
which is undergoing renovation. Built between 1913 and 1915 it formed part of the steelworks site. A brand-new modern extension (contrasting with the original building) officially opened on 24 October 2010 and houses the
Gwent Archives Gwent Archives ( Welsh: ''Archifau Gwent'') is the local records office and genealogy centre, based in Ebbw Vale, South Wales for the historic county of Monmouthshire. It covers the modern local authority areas of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly Cou ...
. The main building is partially opened with an entrance hall and function rooms together with a
4D cinema 4D film is a high technology multisensory presentation system combining motion pictures with physical effects that are synchronized and occur in the theatre. Effects simulated in 4D films include motion, vibration, scent, rain, mist, bubbles, fo ...
. The
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
officially opened the General Offices as part of her Diamond Jubilee Tour on 3 May 2012 accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. As part of the Cultural Olympiad for the
London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, Adain Avion a mobile art space created from the fuselage of a
DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...
aircraft, visited the General Offices between 1 and 7 July 2012.


Education

Ebbw Vale currently is host to a selection of
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
s and
infant school An infant school is a term used primarily in England and Wales, for the education of children between the ages of four and seven years. It is usually a small school serving a particular area. It is sometimes a department in a larger primary school ...
s, two
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
s (Ebbw Fawr Learning Community and Brynmawr Foundation School) both covering a large catchment area. Alongside this there is also the Ebbw Vale campus of
Coleg Gwent Coleg Gwent ( en, Gwent College) is Wales' largest further education college at various locations in the former county of Gwent, South Wales. It has 24,000 students ranging from secondary school leavers to mature students. A wide range of part-t ...
, a
Further Education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...
college teaching a range of subjects from
Mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects r ...
,
Media Studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...
,
Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
to
Hairdressing A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...
and
Beauty therapy Cosmetology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''kosmētikos'', "beautifying"; and , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'') is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty include hairstyle, hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/p ...
. There is also an institute which provides a range of courses for mainly adult learners. A new Coleg Gwent building was opened in 2012 alongside Wales' first 3–16 educational establishment titled the Ebbw Fawr Learning Community, a £52m investment. This has resulted in the closure of both Glyncoed Comprehensive School and Ebbw Vale Comprehensive School along with Pontygof Primary School, which now functions as a Pupil Referral Unit for behaviourally challenged students, and Briery Hill Primary School


Sport and culture

Ebbw Vale sporting organisations have a long history.
Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
and
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
have flourished with the town’s
Eugene Cross Park Eugene Cross Park is a rugby and cricket ground in Ebbw Vale, Wales. In November 1919 the Ebbw Vale Welfare Association was formed and bought the "Bridgend Field". The of land became known as the Welfare Ground, and in 1973 its name was change ...
as their home. Ebbw Vale Rugby Football Club can trace its roots back to the 1890s. Nicknamed the "Steelmen" after the area’s former industrial base they have a successful record with many players achieving international honours. By 2015 they were playing at a semi-professional level in the Welsh Premiership just one level below regional rugby. Cricket predates rugby in the area with the first recorded match as far back as 1852. The town’s association with the game grew such that until the early 2000s Glamorgan County Cricket fixtures were regularly held at Eugene Park.
Bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
,
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
and other
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and rugby teams play locally at varying levels. The town’s leisure centre has facilities including a 33m long
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
.
Beaufort Theatre The Beaufort Theatre is the principal theatre in Blaenau Gwent in Ebbw Vale. Until 2 April 2017 it was part of the Blaenau Gwent Venues, which also includes The Market Hall Cinema and Metropole Theatre, and formerly the Abertillery Communit ...
, the largest in Blaenau Gwent, holds regular music, drama and other cultural events. In 2009 the town centre underwent a great deal of improvements, including the addition of a major art work in the form of a 10.5-metre-high clock that cantilevers over the central boulevards. By 2015 an 830 acre motor sport complex and technology park, the
Circuit of Wales Circuit of Wales ( cy, Cylchffordd Cymru) is a failed motor racing circuit and technology park development proposal in Blaenau Gwent on the outskirts of Ebbw Vale, Wales, adjacent to the Neath to Abergavenny Trunk Road (A465). The intention wa ...
was in the advance planning stage with commitments from major investors. To be located on moorland to the north of Ebbw Vale it was to host major motor bike racing events. With the potential for a claimed 6,000 new jobs (although other estimates put it at 3,300) the scheme had strong support from some local and national government, although as of 2019 the project has been cancelled indefinitely due to doubts over the financial viability of the project and plans.
South East Wales South East Wales is a loosely defined region of Wales generally corresponding to the preserved counties of Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and Gwent. Highly urbanised, it includes the cities of Cardiff and Newport as well as large towns in th ...
does not generally have a high incidence of
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
speakers in the population. That was not always the case and until the late 1800s, the Ebbw Vale area was largely Welsh-speaking changing as industry brought workers in from outside the area.


Transport

A railway service to Cardiff Central began on 6 February 2008, with trains serving the town from the new
Ebbw Vale Parkway railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Ebbw Vale Parkway railway station in 2010.jpg , borough = Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent , country = Wales , coordinates = , grid ...
. An extension of the line to a new northern terminus, Ebbw Vale Town, was opened on 17 May 2015. The A465 Heads of the Valleys Road runs just to the north with direct access to the town and its industrial estates.


Funiculars

A kilometre-long funicular was part of the Garden Festival in 1992, but closed afterwards. In June 2015 a new
inclined elevator An inclined elevator or inclined lift is a form of cable railway that hauls rail cars up a steep gradient. Introduction An inclined elevator consists of one or two inclined tracks on a slope with a single car on each carrying payload. In t ...
, the ', was opened. The lift was built by ABS Transportbahnen (
Doppelmayr Garaventa Group Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an international manufacturer of ropeways and people movers for ski areas, urban transport, amusement parks, and material handling systems. As of 2019, the group have produced over 15,000 installations in 96 countri ...
). Its length is and has a vertical lift is . It has one car and operates from Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm fully automatically, without attendants. The short, 20 second, journey is free to travel and it is intended to improve access between levels in the town, from 'The Works' site and
Coleg Gwent Coleg Gwent ( en, Gwent College) is Wales' largest further education college at various locations in the former county of Gwent, South Wales. It has 24,000 students ranging from secondary school leavers to mature students. A wide range of part-t ...
, up to the town centre. The Works site is the site of the old steelworks and the current focus of much redevelopment for the area. Reception of the funicular has been mixed. Commentators and journalists have described it variously as a
funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
, mechanical lift, 'cable car' and more derisively as a ' Stannah
stairlift A stair lift is a mechanical device for lifting people, typically those with disabilities, up and down stairs. For sufficiently wide stairs, a rail is mounted to the treads of the stairs. A chair or lifting platform is attached to the rail. A per ...
'. Most criticism has focussed on the £2.3 million cost, at a time when Blaenau Gwent council are facing a £10M deficit and other services in the area are facing substantial cuts. The project was funded through the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) with most of the money being European-sourced and the local council providing around a third. Operating costs have been cited as £16,000 per year, and these too have been questioned – especially regarding any teething troubles in the first year, or the costs of the inevitable vandalism repair. The need for the lift has also been questioned on health grounds, although there is good justification for this on disability access grounds and also encouraging movement between levels as part of encouraging development.
Vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term f ...
a week after opening caused it to close temporarily.


Notable people

*
Jeff Banks Jeff Banks PPCSD (born Jeffrey Tatham-Banks, 17 March 1943) is a Welsh fashion designer of men's and women's clothing, jewellery, and home furnishings. Born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, Banks co-founded the fashion chain Warehouse in the late 1970s. ...
, fashion designer *
Clive Burgess Robert Clive Burgess (25 November 1950 - 2 May 2006) was an international rugby union flanker who played for Wales from 1977 to 1982. Burgess was a popular player who had many nicknames some of which were ''Budgie'', ''Animal'' and ''The Steel Cl ...
, nicknamed 'steel claw', rugby player for both Wales and Ebbw Vale RFC * Dai Davies, Welsh politician and independent MP *
Myrtle Devenish Myrtle Devenish (29 July 1912 – 21 January 2007) was a British film actress. She appeared in Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult film ''Brazil'', in a 1988 episode of Crimewatch, and had a role in the 1980s drama Together. Devenish was born in Ebb ...
, Actress * Joseph Duffy (born 1988), Irish-born mixed martial artist *
Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
,
Member of Parliament (United Kingdom) In the United Kingdom, a member of Parliament (MP) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Electoral system All 650 members of the UK House of Commons are elected using the first-past- ...
(MP) for the Ebbw Vale constituency from 1960 to 1992 * David Garner, political artist *
Nicky Grist Nicky Grist (born 1 November 1961) is a Welsh former rally co-driver, born in Ebbw Vale. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1993 to 2002. He won 21 rallies with more than one driver. Grist's first WRC win was i ...
, rally co-driver *
Brian Hibbard Brian Hibbard (26 November 1946 – 17 June 2012) was a Welsh actor and singer from Ebbw Vale, Wales, best remembered as the lead vocalist in the original The Flying Pickets. Early life and career Hibbard was born into a working class family in ...
, singer and actor *
Alan Hywel Jones Alan Hywel Jones, usually Hywel Jones professionally, is a British materials scientist, working on ceramic composites and body armour, tribology, metals, including sustainable use of precious metals and rare-earth elements, and decorative alloys ...
, materials scientist and inventor *
Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist *Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...
, athlete, world marathon record-holder *
Jackson Page Jackson Page (born 8 August 2001 in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He is a former European U-21 champion and the former Under-18 World Snooker Champion and in 2017 also became the Under-18 European Snooker Ch ...
(born 2001), Under-18 World Snooker Champion *
Jemima Phillips Jemima Phillips is an English-born Welsh harpist. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2004 to 2007 but was later convicted of handling stolen goods. Biography Phillips was born in North London, where her father Robert was an ...
, harpist * Arthur Smith, rugby player for the British Lions, Scotland and Ebbw Vale RFC *
Victor Spinetti Vittorio Giorgio Andre "Victor" Spinetti (2 September 1929 – 19 June 2012) was a Welsh actor, author, poet, and raconteur. He appeared in dozens of films and stage plays throughout his 50-year career, including the three 1960s Beatles films ' ...
, actor, born in Cwm * Mark Williams, snooker player, born in Cwm *
Nathan Wyburn Nathan Wyburn (born 24 October 1989)Griffiths, Niall"First Person: Ebbw Vale artist Nathan Wyburn" ''South Wales Argus'', 10 August 2016. Retrieved on 25 January 2020. is a Welsh variety act artist and media personality who has created celebrity ...
, pop culture portrait artist *Sir
Frederick Brundrett Sir Frederick Brundrett, (25 November 1894 – 1 August 1974) was a British civil servant and mathematician who served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence from 1954 to 1959. Education and early life Frederick Bru ...
, civil servant and mathematician


References


External links

* {{authority control Towns in Blaenau Gwent Former communities of Wales