Ebbw Vale
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 Looking north over Ebbw Vale from Hilltop | |
  Ebbw Vale Location withinBlaenau Gwent | |
| Population | 18,558 |
| OS grid reference | SO165095 |
| Principal area | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | EBBW VALE |
| Postcode district | NP23 |
| Dialling code | 01495 |
| Police | Gwent |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
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Ebbw Vale (/ˈɛbuːveɪl/;Welsh:Glynebwy) is a town at thehead of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawrtributary of theEbbw River inWales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre ofBlaenau Gwentcounty borough. The Ebbw Vale andBrynmawrconurbation has a population of roughly 33,000. It has direct access to the dualledA465Heads of the Valleystrunk road and borders theBrecon Beacons National Park.
According to the2011 Census, 4.6% of Ebbw Vale North's 4,561 (210 residents) resident-population can speak, read, and writeWelsh, and 5.7% of Ebbw Vale South's 4,274 (244 residents) resident-population can speak, read, and write Welsh.[1] This is below thecounty's figure of 5.5% of 67,348 (3,705 residents) who can speak, read, and writeWelsh.[1]
There is evidence of very early human activity in the area.Y Domen Fawr is aBronze Ageburial cairn above the town and atCefn Manmoel there is ademarcation dyke believed to be ofNeolithic ormedieval origins. In relatively modern times the area was a quiet uplands spot in ruralMonmouthshire. With only about 120 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century, Ebbw Vale and the whole area was transformed by theIndustrial Revolution.[2]
Ebbw Vale Iron Works, which later became theEbbw Vale Steelworks, opened in 1778, followed by the opening of a number ofcoal mines around 1790. Rails for theStockton and Darlington Railway were manufactured at Ebbw Vale in 1829.[3] Steel from Ebbw Vale was used to construct theSydney Harbour Bridge.[4]
At its height (1930s—40s), the steelworks in Ebbw Vale was the largest in Europe, although it attracted very little attention from German bombers duringWorld War II. 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.[2] A strike in 1980 was followed by closures and redundancies which resulted in the dismantling of many of the old plants.[2] In 2002 only 450 were employed in the old industries, and by July of that year the final works closed.[2] 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.
Largely as a result of the decline of the mining and steel industries, Ebbw Vale had one of the highest unemployment rates in the United Kingdom, but has been recovering.[5] 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 theNational Eisteddfod in 1958. TheWelsh language 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 nearbyRhymney) persisted into the 1970s. The National Eisteddfod returned to Ebbw Vale in 2010.[6]
Aneurin Bevan, theLabour Party politician who was main architect of theNational Health Service (NHS), was theMember of Parliament (MP) forEbbw Vale from the1929 general election until his death in 1960, when he was succeeded as MP byMichael Foot. The seat joined with the neighbouring Abertillery constituency to formBlaenau Gwent.
In 2010, the formercommunity of Ebbw Vale was abolished and replaced byEbbw Vale North andEbbw Vale South.[7] The Ebbw Vale conurbation today runs in an almost unbroken housing street plan three miles (5 km) or so fromBeaufort in the North toCwm in the South. There are significant areas of modern housing to the north and south of the town.
In 2024, the boundaries of theUK parliament constituency were changed to formBlaenau Gwent and Rhymney.[8]
In 1992, theEbbw Vale Garden Festival was the lastNational 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 two 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.[9] However, by 2021, the shopping park had fallen into disuse[10] and, in August 2021, it was sold to a real estate and investment company[11] which planned to redevelop the site into a "mixed use business centre".[12] The last store closed in early 2022.[13]
The Ebbw Vale Steelworks site known as "The Works"[14] has been re-developed with a £350 million regeneration project byBlaenau Gwent Council andWelsh Government using EU redevelopment funding. It provides scope for housing, retail and office space, wetlands, a learning campus and more. Wales' first all-individual-bed hospital,Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan, opened in 2010.[15]
A small development of four prototype houses have been built on the site as a precursor a wider residential development. Following a competition run by the council, several plots were developed in time to be demonstrated at the 2010 Eisteddfod, which was held on the steelworks site.
In 2010,Blaenau Gwent council and theUnited Welsh Housing Association built two eco-friendly prototype buildings. The Larch House and the Lime House, designed byBere Architects, were both highly energy-efficient houses, meeting bothPassivhaus andCode for Sustainable Homes Level 6 and Level 5 respectively. The buildings were open for demonstration at the 2010 Eisteddfod.[16]
Ty Unnos is a two-bed property designed byCardiff University's Design Research Unit. It meets Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 and utilises construction techniques that allow Welsh softwood to be used in the fabric of the building.
The Environmental Resource Centre (ERC) is an educational facility run byGwent Wildlife Trust. Designed by Cardiff University's Design Research Unit[17] 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 byIolo Williams andJane Davidson AM on 21 May 2010.
The General Offices is a Grade II*listed building. 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 theGwent Archives.[18]
The main building is partially opened, with an entrance hall and function rooms, together with a4D cinema.
TheQueen officially opened the General Offices as part of her Diamond Jubilee Tour on 3 May 2012, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh.[19]
As part of the Cultural Olympiad for theLondon 2012 Olympics, Adain Avion,[20] a mobile art space created from the fuselage of aDC-9 aircraft, visited the General Offices between 1 and 7 July 2012.
Ebbw Vale currently is host to a selection ofprimary schools andinfant schools, twosecondary schools (Ebbw Fawr Learning Community and Brynmawr Foundation School) both covering a large catchment area. Penycwm Special School is also located in Ebbw Vale, in a joint building with the primary phase of Ebbw Vale Learning Community. Alongside this there is also the Ebbw Vale campus ofColeg Gwent, aFurther Education college teaching a range of subjects fromMechanics,Media Studies,Humanities toHairdressing andBeauty therapy. 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 theEbbw 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.
Ebbw Vale sporting organisations have a long history.Rugby andcricket have flourished with the town’sEugene Cross Park 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 2000sGlamorgan County Cricket fixtures were regularly held at Eugene Park.
Bowls,swimming and otherfootball and rugby teams play locally at varying levels. The town's leisure centre has facilities including a 33-metre (108 ft)-longswimming pool.[citation needed]Beaufort Theatre, 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.[citation needed] By 2015 an 830-acre (340 ha) motor sport complex and technology park, theCircuit of Wales 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.[citation needed]
South East Wales does not generally have a high incidence ofWelsh 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.[citation needed]
A fictionalised version of the town was the setting for the 2024BBC Three adult animated seriesThe Golden Cobra, created by localsAdam Llewellyn, James Prygodzicz and Thomas Rees.[21]
Arailway service toCardiff Central began on 6 February 2008,[22][23]with trains serving the town from the newEbbw Vale Parkway railway station. An extension of the line to a new northern terminus,Ebbw Vale Town, was opened on 17 May 2015.[24]
TheA465 Heads of the Valleys Road runs just to the north with direct access to the town and its industrial estates.
A direct hourly service between Ebbw Vale andNewport started in January 2024.[25]
A kilometre-long funicular was part of the Garden Festival in 1992, but closed afterwards. In June 2015 a newinclined elevator, theEbbw Vale Cableway, was opened.[26] The lift was built by ABS Transportbahnen (Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group).[27] Its length is 57 metres (187 ft) and has a vertical lift is 24 metres (79 ft).[28][29] It has one car and operates from Monday to Friday, 7 am to 7 pm 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 andColeg Gwent, 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 afunicular, mechanical lift, 'cable car' [sic] and more derisively as a 'Stannahstairlift'. 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.[30] The project was funded through theWelsh 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.[31]
Vandalism a week after opening caused it to close temporarily.[29][32]
In April 2023, it was announced that the cableway was to close.[33] This decision was reversed when the council obtained funding from undisclosed sources.[34]
Ebbw Vale travel guide from Wikivoyage| Principal settlements |  | |
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