Wales on the Web A flash movie about the Town of Abertillery in South Wales, including Abertillery, the Town Centre, tinplate works, Blaenau Gwent, Metropole Theatre, Six Bells Colliery, Orpheus Choir, Charlie Chaplin, John Wesley, Cwmtillery Colliery and more, part of the largest collection of movies on any culture anywhere on the Web.
Wales on the Web Abertillery - wales flash movie Abertillery stands at the Tyleri Valleys mouth, an area described in 1801 by Archdeacon Coxe as "an extensive district, well peopled, richly wooded and highly cultivated". Only a few years later this rural community would change dramatically. Coxe noted also St. Illtyds Church, at Llanhilleth, a C13th structure with a mound alongside, the latter legendary burial place of a warrior, and possibly Bronze Age in date. John Wesley preached here, even Charles I may have visited the church. Perhaps he stayed here? 1924 excavations at nearby "Castell Taliorum" revealed remains of medieval buildings. Now renovated but redundant, St. Illtyds acts as a public hall. By 1846 a tinplate works was established and Cwmtillery Colliery - the coalfields first deep mine - was sunk in 1850. Others followed: by 1911, Abertillery’s population had reached 40,000, many newcomers arriving from Somerset and Dean Forest coalfields. Coal mining brought prosperity; between 1897 and 1903, extensive building programmes made Abertillery the largest, and best, retail centre in the Eastern Valleys. Pontlottyn Shop and Bon Marché were celebrated stores, where one could buy almost anything from new coat to pickaxe, from tin tub to boiled sweets. A Co-Operative Society flourished, housed in an imposing Church Street building still standing today. The Arcade, an early form of pedestrian precinct was constructed in the 1890s and since renovated in traditional style. Like other coalfield towns, religion played a vital role. Nonconformity appeared in Blaenau Gwent in the mid C17th, and by 1715 one of the earliest Baptist chapels had been built. But there was deep-rooted opposition to these new ideas; it is said that when a visiting Nonconformist tried to preach in the parish, angry Anglicans pelted him with dead hedgehogs! Social activities were often inspired by chapels, and the Abertillery Orpheus Male and Ladies' Choir still continue to entertain. At the Towns Metropole Theatre, a C19th building now being renovated, a variety of stars, including Charlie Chaplin appeared. Its ground floor now houses the towns museum, established in 1964, and an arts centre is planned for visitors. In 1960 tragedy struck when 45 men were killed in a Six Bells Colliery explosion. Coal working ceased in 1998 and now industrial estates have replaced heavy industry whose derelict land has been reclaimed for leisure pursuits. Cwmtillery Lake and Leisure Park are one result, adding to the many interesting valley and upland walks. Legends and fairy tales are linked with several places on these walks, indeed the valley is becoming once more something akin to what was so appreciated by Archdeacon Coxe.