Ebbw Vale
| Ordnance Survey | |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SO165095 |
| Contemporary maps | Map sources |
| Map from 1886 | |
| Administration | |
| Council | Blaenau Gwent |
| Nation | Wales |
| Other | |
| Traditional county | Monmouthshire |
| Ceremonial | Gwent |
| Constituency | Blaenau Gwent |
| Post office and telephone | |
| Post town | EBBW VALE |
| Postcode | NP23 |
| Dialling code | +44-1495 |
Ebbw Vale (Welsh: Glyn Ebwy) is at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr river in the traditional county of Monmouthshire in south Wales. It is the largest town in the Blaenau Gwent county borough, with a population of roughly 25,000. It is also the administrative centre of the County Borough Council.
Originally a rather insignificant spot with only about 140 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 the Ebbw Steelworks) opened in 1778, followed by the opening of a number of coal mines around 1790. Ebbw Vale suffered from the decline of the steel and coal industries and there are now no steelworks or mines left in or around the town.
Ebbw Vale hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1958 and the Garden Festival in 1992.
Aneurin Bevan, the father of the National Health Service, stood for election into parliament as Labour Party candidate for Ebbw Vale in 1929, on his death in 1960 he was suceeded as MP by Michael Foot.