I'm
Noel Evans and I worked for 38 years at Ebbw Vale Steelworks. I started with Richard Thomas & Baldwins in 1964, when over 10,000 people were employed there.
When the steel industry was nationalised the works became part of B.S.C. and in 1999 became Corus. They finally closed down in July 2002, with a final workforce of 400.
Since then I have been helping out at the Ebbw Vale Works Archival Trust and Museum and learning about the 200 plus years history of the works.
The first iron made in Ebbw Vale was in 1790, at a time when iron was being produced along the entire Heads of the Valleys area.
This is where the South Wales coal field came to the surface producing all the raw materials needed for making iron - limestone, wood (charcoal), coal and iron ore. Iron works sprang up from Aberdare in the west to Blaenavon in the east.
From the middle of the 19th century the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company ran the works until 1929, when lack of orders and depression finally shut down 99% of the works, throwing many skilled workers on to the dole.
By 1934, unemployment in Ebbw Vale stood at 54% out of a population of 31,000, with many able bodied workers having moved out of the valley to find employment elsewhere.
In 1935, the government of the day decided that massive help must be made to the district and encouraged a tin plate manufacturer called Richard Thomas to buy the entire site and re-develop it.
He imported the latest technology and developed the site in to a new, modern, intergrated steelworks.
The foremost part of the re-development was to bring in a continuous hot rolling facility, developed in the USA by a firm called United. This changed the way steel was worked in the UK by producing hot rolled coils instead of bars, billets and plates.
Production was massively boosted by the introduction of this mill, actually reaching and surpassing a target of 600,000 tons annually by 1948.
A new era was born in Ebbw Vale. Many people returned to the area with the promise of well paid labouring work. Also many immigrant workers arrived from less fortunate areas of the UK, thus creating a huge workforce.
The whole project took just two and a half years to complete, something, given the timescale and with all the modern technology available today, I don't think would be possible to replicate.
The photographs you see published on this website are taken from three albums of 'progress and development' pictures shot between 1936 and 1938. They are a small section of the total amount of images we have at the Archive.
The hard copies are linen backed, bigger than A4 size and dated with a brief description. They are of astounding quality and we're very lucky to have them.
All are welcome to come and see our collection, which contains photos, deeds going back to the mid 17th century, plus early films, books, artefacts and much, much more.
We are currently open twice weekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays) 10-1pm and 2-4pm, but we can be quite flexible with prior arrangement. To contact us, call 01495 350941 at the above times.
your comments
Graham Whitfield, Bristol
I first saw this film about Ebbw Vale at school in Chepstow. My father Ted Whitfield had recently started at Llanwern blast furnaces as a shift foreman. He had previously worked on blast furnaces at Middlesbrough and in India. He retired in 1978 after 46 years on blast furnaces. I worked at Llanwern in the slabbing mill from 1965 to 1980. The best working years of my life with wonderful workmates and characters. I am still in the steel business and if I work until I am 65 will have done 48 years. What a wonderful industry, and what a tragedy that we are losing it.
Stewart Bradley from Spalding, Lincolnshire
I was lucky enough as a young lad to visit the steel works in the mid to late seventies then as a HGV driver collect steel from the works at Ebbw Vale. I remember as a boy being in awe at the size of the place. One funny thing that sticks in my mind though is when as a lad the driver I was with went for paperwork or something I was left to sheet and rope the tin plate. As I was roping the sheet some guys that worked at the factory stood watching and smiling. They were thinking I was roping the load itself. However I was well briefed by the driver months before just to rope every other hook as no matter what you put on steel if it wants to move nothing will stop it!!
Carol West(nee Fletcher) Ebbw Vale
I have read with interest the entry from Mrs Beese of Cwmavon in which she refers to Jack Beese who was Hot Mills Manager. After leaving Mailing and Central Typing, I went to work as secretary to Jack Beese in 1958 and worked for him until his retirement. He was brought up near my father's family in Plantation Row but you wouldn't think it because he was always immaculately dressed and extremely well spoken. I remember to this day his elegant cufflinks! I then worked for John (Noddy) Powell, Doug Meredith and Doug Ackerman. I left in 1967 when my father Arthur Fletcher went to work at Spencer Works. They were happy days in the Hot Mill Office with many wonderful and entertaining characters. I was so sorry to learn the other day that the model of the hot mill which used to be displayed in the Institute was destroyed, it would have been so wonderful to see it retained. It will be so good to see the archive material displayed in the General Offices where I worked as a mail girl and in central typing. I bet there are some ghosts wandering those corridors!! Keep up the good work.
C Galliers-Tredegar.
Brings back many memories, as I mainly worked at the hot mill, from the age of 15 in 1961 to 1976 when the mill was just short of closing (1977). Every item in this history flashback is brilliant. Many, many thanks for taking me back in time.
Ken Brookman Ebbw Vale
A brilliant site showing the history of the steel works. I actually spotted my father Tom Brookman on the ETL tinplate video. Many thanks
Derek Allcard
I hope this site continues to show bits of our history, as although many of us have left the valleys there is still a bit of "Ebbw Vale" in us. Please keep it up.
Graham Hughes, Brecon, Powys.
I have a brick that holds my garden gate open that has 'Ebbw Vale' stamped into the 'frog'. While searching the web to see when the brick was made, I found this excellent site. My village is only 15 miles north of Ebbw Vale, and the Hay to Brecon tramway (opened 1816) came through it. Dennis Letourneau whose comments appear above regarding the piece of rail he found in Canada, may be interested to know that a length of this tramway track was found with 'EV' stamped on it. It is thought in this case to stand for Evan Vaughan of Clydach ironworks.
John Lamacraft. South Carolina, USA
I was born in Ebbw Vale in 1935 and visited "the works" many times on school projects. I was not able to find work there, so I left to work in Rugby at English Electric. Seeing these pictures and hearing the audio has revived many memories, and I have often thanked my good fortune in being raised in "Ebbw". I am saddened that the loss of the industry has had such a poor effect on the area. Having been back to see my family this is all too evident. However, hopefully it will turn around and perhaps the area will thrive again. I still follow Ebbw Vale rugby, Glamorgan cricket and of course all the local information of the area. Having travelled the world I do not miss a day when I do not think of all I was taught in Ebbw Vale. My regards to anyone who reads this that I knew when I was growing up there, I still miss it, it will always have a special meaning for me.
Dennis Letourneau , Canmore, Alberta
I stumbled across a section of rail embedded in an abandoned railway embankment here in the Canadian Rockies that has the markings EV STEEL - 8(5?) (M?)CR
I suspect that the rail would probably be close to 100 years old as it has considerably deteriorated. Can someone in the Trust confirm and possibly date the rail? It measures 3 inches by 3 inches which classifies it as "30-pound rail". This is too light to have been used on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), laid in 1883 with 56lb rail. Some local experts have suggested that it was used on the industrial spur to carry limestone to a ballast pit near the CPR mainline.
Gerard Harris, Ebbw Vale
Excellent archive of information and media. Shows how important the steelworks site was to the area. To see how the site is now being redeveloped, visit www.theworksebbwvale.co.uk
Glyn Walters
Excellent - well done to the small band of volunteers who have made this available. Wouldn't it be nice if similarly qualified enthusiasts could produce something similar on mining in Ebbw Vale.
Yamela Joy Beese from Cwmavon, Pontypool
I was very happy to see all the photographs and a video from Ebbw Vale ... very nice for you to share this history that's very important to me and all the people of Ebbw Vale. My husband's father is John Gaythorne Beese, the only son of former manager in the steel works Jack James Beese. I also have some photographs, old newspapers, and a knife made of steel presented to my husband's grandad, the first ever knife made when the new machine arrived. I wish I could visit the gallery ... very nice site.
Derek Woodman, Ebbw Vale
Excellent idea to put an audio commentary over each photo. Could we have some of the Cold Mill and ETL Lines ie circa 1960s/70s when most of the expansion was done in that period?
John Lewis
The photographs are brilliant as is the Ebbw Vale Archive Trust and the people who run it. There is a wealth of information to be seen and it shows how important the iron and steel industry was the North Monmouthshire valeys. An excellent site.
