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Monday 10am - 3:30pm Wednesday 10am - 3:30pm Friday 10am - 1pm

Ebbw Vale Works Museum

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Ebbw Vale Works Museum

Open :
Monday and Wednesday:-10.30 to 15.30. Friday:- 10:30 to 13:30. Bookings preferred.

The Ebbw Vale Works Museum is the only intact steelworks archive in the UK. It is without doubt a collection of National and International importance and makes a vital contribution to the heritage of Blaenau Gwent.

31/05/2026

RTB Dramatic Society:
The postwar era 1945 - 70 has been defined as a Golden era for the both the town of Ebbw Vale and the Ebbw Vale Workforce with high levels of relatively well-paid employment and the company supplying & supporting outside activities for the workforce and the youths of the area. Much has been written about the Works Club, the Lever Hall, Youth Club and Sports Fields, but they also supported more artistic interests such as Drama.
We have little information on what was organised during the WW2 period; the Company Newspaper only commenced in mid 1946, but articles from that early period indicate that the first RTB Drama group was set up soon after the end of the war. They did not sit on their hands and in 1946 organised a Drama Festival in Ebbw Vale with seven local amateur dramatic groups from across South Wales taking part in a competition. This was well before the works had its own Concert Hall, so they used the Workmen's Hall in Ebbw Vale.
Plays were regularly held there, until the works built its own facility with the Lever Hall opening in 1955. From then on, the Ebbw Vale Works Dramatic Society performed plays there regularly as well as further Drama Festivals, which by then had been adopted by the Company, becoming RTB Drama Festivals, with drama groups from other works in the huge RTB organisation. We do, however, have one report, which showed that the Ebbw Vale Youth Club had 2 entries in the Competition. We have a report in the Ingot News from 1956 on a Company Drama Festival held in the Lever Hall, where 11 plays were featured, an opportunity not on offer to Blaenau Gwent residents in the modern era! The Dramatic Society continued into the 1960’s, but then seems to disappear, perhaps being encompassed in other related activities such as the RTB Variety Concert Party, the RTB Pantomime Group and regular Youth Club events, while many RTB employees were very active in the Tredegar Thespians Group, set up in 1956 ( see our post 27 February 2024).

We have attached photos from some of the Plays, and we have included actors' names, where available. Further details are available from screenshot photos of the Ingot News reports on the events.

06/05/2026

Just a quick reminder, this coming Saturday 9th May, Ebbw Vale Works Museum will be open from 10:00 -16:00. This will afford an opportunity for those working during the week, to visit the Museum on a weekend. The Museum hopes to repeat the Saturday openings in future months. The Museum Volunteers look forward to welcoming you.
The date for June opening is Saturday 13th.

02/05/2026

The link between the Ebbw Vale Works Youth Club and “The Boys’ Club Show" that was held at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1962:
For the next few posts, we move away from our more normal content of Blast Furnaces, Steel Mills & Steam Locos, to remind followers of the support that successive works companies gave to employees and their families outside the Works environment. RTB was particularly active in this sphere with the development of Sport facilities, the Works Club, the Lever Hall and the Youth Club.
The Youth Club opened in 1958 and was very fortunate in having Sam Mutters as its first leader. His leadership and initiatives are fondly remembered by all that passed through the Youth Club in its 30+ years of existence.
We have selected one piece of its history from 1962, when two musical groups, nurtured in the Youth Club, were selected following a regional audition at Birmingham, to appear in “The Boys Club Show” in the Royal Festival Hall, organized by the National Association of Boys Clubs. They were two of just ten acts selected from the whole of the UK, a very significant achievement for one Youth Club. The show was presented by Frankie Vaughan, who those of a “certain age”, will remember as a celebrated singer and entertainer in that era!
The two groups were:
The Melody Four – a "Singing Waiters" style group, made up of Neil Jones, Hugh Daniels, Ray Jones & Barrie Caswell.
The Emeralds – A band, based on "Cliff Richard and the Shadows" comprising Robert Evans, Gary Hartsorn, Paul Dallenigra, Frankie Allen and Nat Nancarrow.
Significantly, Frankie Vaughan and the panel of judges, awarded the Melody Four the Trophy of Boys Club Entertainers of the Year. Both groups were also invited to perform with Frankie at a show at the Hippodrome in Derby.
The photographs with this post were taken at the Festival Hall together with screenshots from the Ingot News giving details of the achievement.
Mention must be made of the late David Harris, formerly a Works Finance Accountant and also the Musical Director of the Youth Club, who did much to nurture musical talent in the Youth Club.
If anyone wishes to learn more about Sam Mutters and the RTB Ebbw Vale Youth Club, there are Facebook posts on this site, dated 29 April 2020 & 23 May 2020.
David Harris wrote a book on the Youth Club that gives a detailed history of the club with lots of stories and photos. It is unfortunately out of print, but if anyone wishes to join us for an hour, to look through it, there is a copy in the Works Museum.
As a reminder, the next Saturday opening of the Ebbw Vale Works Museum and Gwent Archives is on the 9th of May, 10am to 4pm

14/04/2026

Steam Locos Nos 80 & 81:
We have noted that in our recent post on the 1950 – 56 Phase 1 Development, we did not mention that the steam loco that featured in the photos, was part of that £12M Works Development. Two new Locos were purchased and significantly, they were the largest and most powerful Steam Locos purchased in the history of the Company.
Any increase in outputs, not only meant more steel movements to be handled but also more raw material movements. Iron Ore & Coal from the North sidings to the yards at Victoria, but significantly increased Limestone from the Quarries at Tredegar, Trefil and the new Ystrad Quarry. This involved the tortuous 9-mile rail trip, with 700 feet change in altitude and gradients of 1 in 20, which is very significant for rail. In addition, it crossed 3 main roads and passed through Ebbw Vale Town Centre. There were normally 4 loads a day comprising 15 hoppers with a total weight of 350 tons per journey. The locos in use before this purchase had all been delivered in the period 1938-42 and with the increased plant loading envisaged under the development, RTB decided to purchase more powerful locos.
The new 0-6-0 Locos numbered 80 & 81 were supplied by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorne of Newcastle upon Tyne and were specifically purchased to be suitable for the Limestone Quarry trips. One slight mystery to the Steel buffs of the museum, is that while RTB are seeking locos to pull 350 tons, the photo of the locos, published by RS & H, indicates that they were designed to satisfy a requirement to pull 150 tons? Perhaps someone from the legion of Steam Loco lovers amongst our readers can help us with that anomaly?
The demise of Steam in favour of Deisel meant that the two locos had a particularly short life. Significant purchases of Deisel locos in the early 1960’s, culminated in a mass scrapping of Steam Locos in 1965. The Diesels were not required to take over the Limestone run from the Quarries, because this route was closed in 1963 due to pressure from the local Council, with the task transferred to lorries.
Much more of the history and a number of photos of the locos at work can be found in the photos with this post. We do have a substantial number of photographs and the history of the many Steam & Deisel locos that operated within the works available to view in the museum.
For those unable to visit the museum during the working week, there are two more Saturday openings already arranged, in conjunction with Gwent Archives – 9th May & 13th June.

07/04/2026

Just a quick reminder, this coming Saturday 11th April, Ebbw Vale Works Museum will be open from 10:00 -16:00. This will afford an opportunity for those working during the week, to visit the Museum on a weekend. The Museum hopes to repeat the Saturday openings in future months. The Museum Volunteers look forward to welcoming you.
The date for May opening is Saturday 9th.

04/04/2026

Hello all,
Please see below for information on the next Blaenau Gwent Heritage Forum talk to be held in Bedwellty House Tredegar.

03/04/2026

The 1950-56 Phase 1 Development:
The new works built at Ebbw Vale in 1938 incorporating Hot and Cold Continuous Rolling processes, had proved to be a great success, both technically and economically and it was evident by the end of the first decade that a major development was required to keep up with changing technology and to be able to increase plant outputs to match an expanding market.
In 1950, a five year, £12m plan was announced to meet this requirement. It involved changes throughout the process, but for this post we will focus on Tinplate Cold Reduction. A 5 Stand mill is designed to reduce the thickness of Hot Rolled & Pickled coil down to the thickness required by Tinplate customers. The aim would be a 90% reduction, taking the thickness down from perhaps 2.1mm to 0.21mm. by passing the lubricated strip through 5 sets of rolls under huge, applied forces.
The 1938 5 Stand Cold Reduction Mill was supplied by United in the USA. Ebbw Vale now required a faster, more powerful Mill to increase the weekly tons produced and to give the capability to roll to the thinner gauges required by customers. The new mill was supplied by the Davy United; Darnall works in Sheffield and delivery of the 100-ton housings took place in February 1955. The Mill was equipped with 20 Timken, four roll taper bearings and was successfully commissioned in March 1956.
Rather than focus on the technology, for those interested we have photographs of the 1955 project, from footings to completion, available to view in the museum. The photos for this post, focus on the journey of the lorry carrying one of the housings on what was the main Abergavenny to Ebbw Vale Road, from the top of the Rock through Beaufort. There were only 5 wagons in the UK capable of conveying housings of this size and weight at the time. Some of the kit was delivered by rail, and we have also included those photos.
The Mill, as built, is shown in the first photo, and it operated very successfully until the works closed in 2002. It underwent many changes from 1956 to closure, the significant ones being Auto Gauge control, a new front end with walking beams and most significantly re-motoring, computerization and a move to pulpit control in 1980.
The whole Phase 1 project was deemed a success with significantly higher plant outputs. Confidence in Ebbw Vale Works was such, that a Phase 2 Major Development was approved in 1959.
I apologise if the sequence of photos of the lorry journey are in the wrong order - I am not a local!!

01/04/2026

Please note that for anyone planning to visit the Museum, the access to the General Offices has now changed. Visitors can no longer access the building through the old main entrance on Steelworks Road. Access to the building and the Reception Desk is now via the rear of the building i.e opposite Gwent College. The new entrance is well signposted from Steelworks Road and the Train station.
We look forward to seeing you!

23/03/2026

The Ebbw Vale Workforce saves £6m!:

During World War 2, the government encouraged industry to set up National Savings schemes with money deducted directly from wages to help with the war effort. With the massive debts facing the UK post war, to pay off war loans and to rebuild the country, the scheme continued.
The owners of Ebbw Vale Works in this era, Richard Thomas & Co and Richard Thomas &
Baldwins became involved and the photo with this post confirms that the Ebbw Vale
workforce were actively saving for many years.
By 1953, the works savings group had 4100 members, which was 52% of the workforce, saving an average of £1 a week and at that time they had saved £1m!
The photo, taken in 1962, celebrates that they saved a further £2m between 1957 & 1962. It
is believed that by 1968, a total of £6m had been saved. We have no reports after that, so
perhaps the scheme wound down?
The photo shows the General Manager, Cedric Treharne Thomas, receiving the updated
plaque to commemorate the extra £2m savings. C T Thomas had moved from RTB Redbourne to become General Manager of Ebbw Vale. A point of interest was that he was a family descendant of Richard Thomas, who founded the company that bought out the old EVSIC Co and built the state of the art steelworks that opened in 1938 and brought prosperity to Ebbw Vale for the next 40+ years.
The plaque was on the wall of the corridor in the General Offices, that leads to our museum
until the works closed in 2002. Unfortunately, along with a number of other items, it was not
there, when the building reopened in 2012! #

12/03/2026

Steelmaking in a different age! :
The first three photos from our museum collection were taken by a RTB photographer for an Exhibition in 1947.
1. Photo showing Steelworkers standing under & between the Bessemer Converters, which convert Pig Iron from the Blast Furnaces to Steel by blowing air through 25 tons of molten iron and so reducing the Carbon content in the iron. Please note the molten iron is circa 1600 deg C and note the workers seemingly relaxed demeanour and lack of any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)!
These vessels were later updated to the top blown LD Process, serving as a test bed for the much larger vessels installed at Spencer Works (Llanwern).
2. Photo shows the vessel turned down and the worker probably taking a sample from the molten steel, for a Chemical analysis check to enable additions to be made to ensure the cast meets the required Specification. Again note the lack of PPE.
3. This photo shows a gang, wrestling with a bar that reaches into an Open Hearth Steelmaking Furnace. This was a much slower process but there was 100 tons of Molten Iron inside the adjacent furnace.
4. We are not sure about the history of this photo. It seems to show Open Hearth workers, it was not part of the Exhibition collection but looks to be from the same era. Perhaps someone recognises a Father or Grandfather?

All Steelmaking ceased in Ebbw Vale in the 1970’s, when all the Primary Processes were shut down and the Works focussed on Tinplate & Galvanised Steel production in a modern Cold Mill.

Hopefully the photos help to explain the special camaraderie that existed between workers on such processes - There were many major hazards and perhaps the camaraderie was driven by the need to keep everyone safe!

We have thousands of photos that can be viewed in the museum.

As a reminder, there is another opportunity to visit the museum this Saturday 14th March 10am to 4pm. We are taking advantage of the special opening of the adjacent Gwent Archives for one Saturday a month for the first 6 months of 2026. (See details on previous post).
For anyone interested in Local History or Family History, this is a tremendous opportunity to visit both establishments outside the normal opening hours. The museum, is as the name suggests, focused on the over 200 year history of Ebbw Vale Works, while the Gwent Archives has a much wider brief with the long history of the old Gwent County.
Why not visit both establishments ? They are only 25 yards apart!
As many will notice from the post, there is a lack of Steelmaking expertise amongst the museum volunteers, who are mainly ex Cold Mill. Please would any frustrated Steelmakers out there, use the comments to augment our knowledge!

Address

Steelworks Road
Ebbw Vale
NP236AA(WHAT3WORDS,OPENS/TAME/MAGIC.

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 3:30pm
Wednesday	10am - 3:30pm
Friday	10am - 1pm

Website

http://evwat.co.uk/

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