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Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale maps
Historic maps of Ebbw Vale and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Ebbw Vale maps
Ebbw Vale area books
Displaying 1 of 3 books about Ebbw Vale and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Ebbw Vale
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Ebbw Vale.
There are 9 shared memories to read.
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The Old Arch
I was brought up the other side of the arch from this picture in Wesleyan Row. (No8) My mother still lives there today. I remember when this was the main road from the Steelworks and all the heavy lorries used to struggle up the hill. It was a bit of a risky business cutting through the arch on foot, as you had to look for a gap in the traffic and dash through, hoping you didnt get hit! In the 1970s they built the foot tunnel which made things safer. Eventually the rail line was closed and turned into the road. Wesleyan Row then became quiet and a lot cleaner and safer as the traffic was not going past the house any more. I joined the RAF and moved away in 1980, living all over the place, eventually leaving the RAF in 2002. But I didn't move back to Ebbw, oh no - thats too easy ! I moved to California instead! I am still in the desert... Read more
The Arch
I used to live just around the corner from where this photo was taken in a place called The Crescent. Next door lived Stan Bowen on one side and Billy Comer (the fruit shop owner) on the other. Tommy Lloyd and Mr Rosser (can't remember his first name) both butchers in Ebbw Vale also lived in the same street. My art teacher from secondary school did oil paintings of the Arch from both sides for Billy Comer. I stood on that corner shown in the photo and waved as the Queen drove past after visiting RTB's in the coronation year.
Going to Pontygof
I remember going to Pontygof from 1966 to 1969 then going on to Glyncoed Secondary as it was called then. I lived at 12 The Crescent before moving up to Beaufort in 1970. I have been trying to find anybody who also remembers going to RTBs youth club to play football. I remember us winning the local cup, played at Glyncoed playing fieds, I think it was a first for Pontygof as I can recall, back in those days most kids were rugby mad.Can anybody else out there recall the fantastic times we seemed to have back then?
Pontygof Boys School
Joe Richards went on to be Headmaster of Pontygof Boys School. I went there from 1958 to1962 and remember these teachers: Mr Davies, Mr Jones who always used to sell stamp approvels from the draw in his desk where he also always had a big bar of chocolate which he constantly nibbled through the day, Dapper Lewes who was an out and out bully, he always punished you with a dap or a length of flex across the backs of your legs, and lastly Mr Harris (Maths) or Flemmy Harris as he was known owing to his bad chest. He always made us constantly recite our times tables and God help you if you got it wrong.
Personal Memories
My father was born in Alexandra Street in 1921 in the house owned by my great aunt Miss Ida Thomas who was a school mistress, my grandparents lived in Letchworth Road and my father's sister, Kathleen Jones, who was also a school teacher, lived in Hughes Avenue. I stayed with my grandparents for much of 1958 after my brother was born and well recall the trains going through the main street, often with a man carrying a red flag, and places like the Plaza and the Astoria and Ida's Cafe and the leisure centre being built in the 1960s. I went to Ebbw Vale lots of times through the 1970-90s, the last time I was there was 2001 when the last resident in my family, my father's sister, passed away. It's always been a special place to me.
No 7 6th Row
I remember visiting my Uncle Martin who lived in this house that my Gran Hannah and Robert Scanlon formerly lived in, they had 10 children, although they were not all in the house at the same time, things must have been pretty tight. Two bedrooms upstairs, main room, with a fire etc for cooking and my grandparents room downstairs. The toilet was across the row, at the bottom of the garden, bit scarey on a dark windy night for us kids,there was a half door and if you didnt close it the horses and sheep used to come into the house. My Granddad and some of my uncles worked in the mines, and later at Richard Thomas Baldwin the steel works, I think Martin who was known as Berry worked there, my Auntie Mary also cleaned the offices, I loved this place, it was full of characters, and I still have fond memories of my visits there.
The Birth of my Welsh Pride
My memories as a son of a daughter of the valleys are: Rugby allowed in for free a half time Trains, lying in bed hearing the clang of the wagons moving coal and steel to and from the works Armageddon when the furnaces blasted Chasing and riding bare back on the wild ponies Collecting all the keys from the privies and mixing them up, a lot of angry desperate people Walking the hills with my uncle, what great country Wind-berry tarts after nearly sixty years I still hanker after them The tells of the miners in early graves The stories of injuries at the steel works The birth of being proud of my Welsh descent
The Arch. Mr David Isacc
My uncle Stan Bowen lived in No 1 The Crescent, Ebbw Vale, Mon. If I can remember, there were about six steps to go down to the back door. Uncle Stan's sister and brother also lived there. We used to go down on a Sunday from Newtown before the war to visit them. Regards, Idris Bowen
