Family History Research

Genealogy, Local History and House History Research Undertaken at Reasonable Rates Janet’s Ancestry Research As a Forum we receive quite a few interesting requests from people who are keen to find out more about past members of their families who lived in the Blaenau Gwent area. Our committee members are passionate about local history and…

Blaenau Gwent Chartists

Blaenau Gwent Chartists Four plaques placed to commemorate 150 years since the march on Newport. Looking for the Blaenau Gwent Chartists Plaques – Eifion Lloyd Davies BRYNMAWR – commemorating David Lewis, ‘King Crispin’ and leader of the Brynmawr Chartists NANTYGLO – commemorating four local men who were killed in the Chartist Rising CWMTILLERY – in…

Purple Plaques

PURPLE PLAQUES Celebrating remarkable Women in Wales The Purple Plaques campaign has been created to recognise remarkable women in Wales by awarding them with a plaque to commemorate their achievements and cement their legacy in Welsh history.  Visit Purple Plaques Thora Silverthorne – Nurse and Trade Unionist Born in Abertillery A Purple Plaque, positioned outside…

Tredegar’s Silver Statues

The Tredegar Trails Produced by MADE IN TREDEGAR The Tredegar Trails are 6 interactive audio trails in and around the historic town of Tredegar. Trail 3 – Silver Statues visits the important people who have shaped Tredegar. The trail is approx 4.7 miles long and takes approximately 2 hrs 30 mins to complete. Visit MADE…

RAF Wartime Bomber

SITE OF PLAQUE In the grounds of Bryn Bach Parc REASON FOR PLAQUE This plaque,  on a piece of four foot quarried stone, was unveiled in remembrance of a wartime RAF bomber crash which killed one of its crew. The memorial is important because although many of the military aircraft crashes across south Wales have…

Gwalia Boot Factory

Gwalia Boot Factory This plaque was unveiled by BGHF to mark where the former Gwalia Boot Factory, which later became the ‘Brynmawr Experiment’ reopened by Peter Scott and the Quakers as the Brynmawr Furniture Factory. The factory was heavily involved in war production for things such the webbing for the Mosquito fighter bomber during the…

3rd Mons Battalion

3rd Battalion of the Monmouthshire Battalion Site of Plaque This plaque is placed in the grounds of Bedwellty House and Park.  It was put into position with a dedication ceremony to honour the locally recruited men of the 3rd Mons’ Battalion who gave their lives during the 1914-18 ‘Great War’. Reason for plaque the regiment…

Rhys Davies

SITE OF PLAQUE The Cambrian Inn, Tredegar REASON FOR PLAQUE BGHF funded this  plaque in recognition of Rhys Davies, an engineer from Tredegar who is said to have changed American history. Rhys left South Wales in 1833 to help build Tredegar Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia, which was named in his honour. This Ironworks extended the…

Sir Daniel Gooch

SITE OF PLAQUE The Railway Tavern, Tredegar REASON FOR PLAQUE BGHF funded this plaque  in recognition of Sir Daniel Gooch, the world-famous engineer who received his early training at Tredegar Iron Works and later became Locomotive Engineer for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway. He employed Brunel’s ‘Great Eastern’ steamship to lay the first Trans-Atlantic…