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Aberfan
Aberfan () is a former coal mining village in the Taff Valley south of the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. On 21 October 1966, in the Aberfan disaster, a colliery spoil tip collapsed into homes and a school, killing 116 children and 28 adults. Geography Aberfan is situated toward the bottom of the western valley slope of the River Taff, on the eastern slope of Mynydd Merthyr hill, about south of the town Merthyr Tydfil. The Taff runs north-to-south through the village; at the upper side of the settlement, on the western outskirts, a disused Glamorganshire Canal bed and a railway embankment run parallel to the river. History Aberfan consisted of two cottages and an inn frequented by local farmers and bargemen until 23 August 1869, when John Nixon (mining engineer), John Nixon and his partners started the Merthyr Vale Colliery. Between 1952 and 1965, with mountains denuded there was severe flooding in the Pantglas area of Aberfan on at least 11 occasions. By 1966 the populati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberfan Disaster
The Aberfan disaster () was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry, killing 116 children and 28 adults as it engulfed Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses. The tip was the responsibility of the National Coal Board (NCB), and the subsequent inquiry placed the blame for the disaster on the organisation and nine named employees. There were seven spoil tips on the hills above Aberfan; Tip 7—the one that slipped onto the village—was started in 1958 and, at the time of the disaster, was high. In contravention of the NCB's procedures, the tip was partly based on ground from which springs emerged. After three weeks of heavy rain the tip was saturated and approximately of spoil slipped down the side of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberfan Memorial Garden, Pantglas 3
Aberfan () is a former coal mining village in the Taff Valley south of the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. On 21 October 1966, in the Aberfan disaster, a colliery spoil tip collapsed into homes and a school, killing 116 children and 28 adults. Geography Aberfan is situated toward the bottom of the western valley slope of the River Taff, on the eastern slope of Mynydd Merthyr hill, about south of the town Merthyr Tydfil. The Taff runs north-to-south through the village; at the upper side of the settlement, on the western outskirts, a disused Glamorganshire Canal bed and a railway embankment run parallel to the river. History Aberfan consisted of two cottages and an inn frequented by local farmers and bargemen until 23 August 1869, when John Nixon and his partners started the Merthyr Vale Colliery. Between 1952 and 1965, with mountains denuded there was severe flooding in the Pantglas area of Aberfan on at least 11 occasions. By 1966 the population had grown to approximate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberfan Cemetery
Aberfan Cemetery () is a cemetery near the village of Aberfan, Merthyr Tydfil. It is one of five cemeteries in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, and is particularly well known for the graves of 144 victims of the Aberfan disaster in 1966, when a colliery coal tip collapsed and killed many people in the village of Aberfan. The cemetery was opened in 1876, and includes Bryntaf Cemetery, an extension opened in 1913. It covers about 8 acres (3 hectares). The cemetery is Green Flag Accredited. In 2022 the cemetery, together with the memorial garden and the area of the tip and its slide path, were listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and .... The record of the Grade II* listed site describes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. In , it had an estimated population of , making it the smallest local authority in Wales by population. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from Merthyr Tydfil, the town with the same name. The county borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly County Borough to the east, and Powys to the north. The area was awarded county borough status in 1908 until the original county borough was abolished in 1974. In 1996, Merthyr Tydfil became a principal area and one that is styled as a "county borough" in recognition of its historical status. History Pre-industrial Merthyr What is now Merthyr Tydfil town centre was originally little more than a village. An ironworks existed in the parish in the Elizabeth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoil Tip
A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, they are referred to as slag heaps. In Scotland the word ''bing'' is used. In North American English the term is mine dump or mine waste dump. The term "spoil" is also used to refer to material removed when digging a foundation, tunnel, or other large excavation. Such material may be ordinary soil and rocks (after Coal preparation plant, separation of coal from waste), or may be heavily contaminated with chemical waste, determining how it may be disposed of. Clean spoil may be used for land reclamation. Spoil is distinct from tailings, which is the processed material that remains after the valuable components have been extracted from ore. Etymology The phrase originates from the French word ''espoilelier'', a verb conveying the meanin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merthyr Vale
Merthyr Vale ( or ) is a linear village and community in the Welsh county borough of Merthyr Tydfil. Lying on the A4054 road it is on the east bank of the River Taff. The community includes the villages of Aberfan on the opposite side of the Taff, Mount Pleasant and the village of Merthyr Vale itself. History The area was referred to and written as Ynys Owen as early as 1630, noting that the narrow valley was heavily wooded, with various traditional longhouse (''tyddyn'') farms marking out the rural territories. Ynys Owen, which translates from Welsh to English as ''Owain's riverside meadow'', has been claimed by some possibly to commemorate Owain Glyndŵr, whose followers were involved in an uprising around 1400. There had been small scale coal extraction at Danyderi and Perthygleision, but in 1869 John Nixon (mining engineer) started development of the Taff Colliery, later to be known as the Merthyr Vale Colliery. The village immediately grew up around the shaft deve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "vesting day", 1 January 1947. In 1987, the NCB was renamed the British Coal Corporation, and its assets were subsequently privatised. Background Collieries were taken under government control during the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. The Sankey Commission in 1919 gave R. H. Tawney, Sidney Webb and Sir Leo Chiozza Money the opportunity to advocate nationalisation, but it was rejected. Coal reserves were nationalised during the war in 1942 and placed under the control of the Coal Commission (United Kingdom), Coal Commission, but the mining industry remained in private hands. At the time, many coal companies were small, although some consolidation had taken place in the years before the war. Formation and organisat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She had been queen regnant of List of sovereign states headed by Elizabeth II, 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign, longest of any British monarch, the List of longest-reigning monarchs, second-longest of any sovereign state, and the List of female monarchs, longest of any queen regnant in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King George V. She was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon Abdication of Edward VIII, the abdic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Taff
The River Taff () is a river in Wales. It rises in the Brecon Beacons as two rivers, the Taf Fechan ("little Taff") and the Taf Fawr ("great Taff") before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. At Cardiff, it empties into the Bristol Channel. The river supports several species of migratory fish, including salmon, sewins (sea trout), and eels. Course From its confluence at Cefn-coed-y-cymmer, the river flows south, passing several towns. It picks up a few tributaries, such as the River Cynon, River Rhondda, Bargoed Taf and Nant Clydach. It flows through Pontypridd and through to Taff's Well, the site of Wales' only thermal spring. It flows underneath the M4 Motorway, before turning southeastward and flowing past the Cardiff suburbs of Radyr, Whitchurch, Llandaff, Pontcanna, the city centre and Grangetown, before emptying into Cardiff Bay, near to the mouth of the River Ely. Taf Fawr The Taf Fawr rises below the peak of Corn Du, south-west of Pen y Fan and so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mynydd Merthyr
Mynydd Merthyr is a broad ridge of high ground between Taff Vale ( Welsh Cwm Taf) and the Cwm Cynon in the Valleys region of South Wales. It forms the boundary between the unitary authorities of Rhondda Cynon Taff to the west and Merthyr Tydfil to the east. The high point of 493m is at Mynydd Gethin (OS grid reference SO 044025) (though the summit trig point is at the lower height of 491m) is the culmination of a long ridge which extends northwestwards from the confluence of the Afon Cynon and the River Taff at Abercynon. The ridge includes the subsidiary summits of Twyn Brynbychan and Twyn Sych. To the northwest lies Mynydd Aberdâr. Much of the hill has been planted with coniferous forest. Its flanks are heavily scarred by mining. The village of Aberfan sits at the foot of its eastern slopes, the scene of the Aberfan disaster on 21 October 1966 when a coal tip above the village slipped and engulfed the village school killing 144 people of whom 116 were children. Geology T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal () in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the Bristol Channel at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951. History Construction started in 1790; being watched over by the wealthy ironmasters of Merthyr Tydfil, including Richard Crawshay of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, the canal was thought up as a solution to the issue of transporting the goods (iron ore, coal and limestone) from the valleys to Cardiff, where they would be shipped around the world. Thomas Dadford was hired to inspect and plan a route for the canal and, with support from Lord Cardiff, the canal was authorised by an act of Parliament, the ( 30 Geo. 3. c. 82) on 9 June 1790. Almost £90,000 was raised in preparation of constructing the canal and would be linked to any works within four miles of the canal, through branch canals and linking railways. However, during the few miles approaching Cardiff, the canal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Of Welsh Independents
The Union of Welsh Independents () is a Reformed church, Reformed Congregationalist denomination in Wales. History Welsh Congregational churches or Independent (religion), Independents stand in the Puritan tradition. The first Congregational congregation was founded at Llanfaches, Monmouthshire, in 1639. Early founders were in the Puritan tradition. Later, several churches were founded and formed separate denominations. They embraced different theological positions. Finally, the denomination was founded in 1872 as a voluntary association of churches. It was called Independent because each congregation claims to be under the authority of Christ. Individual congregations cooperate through associations. Now the Union works through six departments: finance, Mission (Christianity), mission, Christian ministry, ministry, education, churches, communication. The Union churches have much in common with other free churches in Wales. Ministers can freely move their ministry among them. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
