Ebbw Vale - History

History

Originally a rather insignificant spot in rural Monmouthshire with only about 120 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century, Ebbw Vale—and the whole valley—was transformed by the Industrial Revolution. The Ebbw Vale Iron Works, later to become the Ebbw Vale Steelworks, opened in 1778, followed by the opening of a number of coal mines around 1790. At its height (1930s — 40s) the steel works in Ebbw Vale was the largest in Europe, although attracting very little attention from German bombers during World War II. It might have been that the deep valley proved difficult to bomb but in any event there were few recorded bombs dropped and those that were dropped might have been from bombers dumping unused bombs on their way home. By the 1960s around 14,500 people were employed in the works in and around Ebbw Vale, but the end of the century witnessed a massive collapse to the 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.