Six Bells ( cy, Chwe Chloch) is an electoral ward and neighbourhood in

Abertillery Abertillery (; cy, Abertyleri) is a town and a community of the Ebbw Fach valley in the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. Following local government reorganisation it became part of the Blaenau Gwent County Borough administrative area. ...

Blaenau Gwent Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, E ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It was originally a village that grew up around the local

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

s. The ward elects two county councillors to

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent) is the governing body for Blaenau Gwent, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 ...

History and description

The village of Six Bells developed in part of

Llanhilleth Llanhilleth () is a village, community and an electoral ward on the A467 road between Ebbw Vale and Crumlin in Blaenau Gwent, Wales. Two large mounds in the field behind the Carpenter's Arms are the remains of the medieval Llanhilleth castle ...

parish during the mid 19th-century, with the growth of the coal industry in the area. It may have gained its name from the Six Bells public house. Employment would originally have centred around the Hafod Fan pit, which was later replaced by the larger Arael Griffin colliery, which opened in 1898 and later became known as

Six Bells Colliery Six Bells Colliery was a colliery located in Six Bells, Abertillery, Gwent, Wales. On 28 June 1960 it was the site of an underground explosion which killed 45 of the 48 miners working in that part of the mine. It is now the site of the artistic ...

. The village was incorporated into Abertillery Urban District and, in the early years of the 20th-century, Alexandra Road and Richmond Road were built which joined Six Bells with

town to the north. Most of the houses of Six Bells lie immediately east of the

River Ebbw The Ebbw River (; cy, Afon Ebwy) is a river in South Wales which gives its name to the town of Ebbw Vale. The Ebbw River is joined by the Ebbw Fach River (Welsh: Afon Ebwy Fach meaning 'little Ebbw river') at Aberbeeg. The Ebbw Fach is itself fed ...

Six Bells Halt railway station Six Bells Halt railway station was a station which served the Six Bells Colliery near Abertillery in the Welsh county of Monmouthshire. History The halt was opened by the Great Western Railway on 27 September 1937 on its line from branch fr ...

closed in 1962. According to the 2011 census the population of Six Bells was 2,396 (with 198 being able to read, speak or write

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

Six Bells Colliery disaster

On 28 June 1960, 45 men were killed by an explosion at the Six Bells Colliery. On the 50th anniversary a 20 metre high memorial sculpture was unveiled by

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bi ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury on the colliery site. Called ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'', the monument was described as the Welsh answer to

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the '' Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another ...

Angel of the North The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and is viewed by an estimated 33 ...

. The colliery closed in 1988.

Governance

Six Bells is in the Blaenau Gwent parliamentary constituency for elections to the UK parliament and a constituency of the same name for elections to the Welsh Assembly government.

Town Council

Six Bells is a ward of Abertillery and Llanhilleth Town Council, electing three town councillors.

County Council

The Six Bells county ward elects two county councillors to

. It is bordered to the north by Abertillery and to the south by the Llanhilleth ward. To the east is the

Abersychan Abersychan is a town and community north of Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales, and lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. Abersychan lies in the narrow northern section of the Afon Lwy ...

ward of

Torfaen Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south- ...

. At the May 2017 elections the ward elected two

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

councillors, Denzil Hancock and Mark Holland. Since 1995 the ward has elected a mixture of Labour, Independent and

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

representatives, with Cllr Hancock being elected for Plaid Cymru in 1995 though subsequently standing as an Independent.

References

{{Commons, Six Bells Abertillery Wards of Blaenau Gwent Mining communities in Wales Neighbourhoods in Wales Populated places in Blaenau Gwent