Miners Statue & Memorial Gardens

When a young pupil from Cwm Junior School picked up a black stone not knowing it was coal we realised that the time had come to do something to let people especially the younger generation what coal was and to let them know the history and legacy of the Coal Mining Industry in the Ebbw Fawr Valley.

Our Group was formed and after several discussions it was decided that we would erect a Mining Statue and Memorial Garden in memory of the men that lost their lives in the mining industry.

After looking at several designs and cost it was decided we would erect a Statue of a Miner.

It took almost 4 years of negotiations with the local authority and funders to reach our objectives.

Thanks to Nacods Solicitors we were able to have a Lease granted and by doing so we were able to apply for funding from numerous sources.

This took a lot of negotiating and at times we thought we would not achieve it, but suddenly the grant applications became reality and we were able to order the statue and start the project.

We had a lot of help from volunteers too many to name individually and on February 27th 2009 we achieved our ambition and were proud to have the Memorial Dedicated by our Local Vicar and the gardens  opened by our Member of Parliament and Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent

 The Statue and Gardens are situated 4 miles South of Ebbw Vale and approximately 2 miles North of Aberbeeg in Blaenau Gwent and is open to anyone at all times to come and visit and reminisce.

The Gardens and Statue is approximately 100 metres from the Marine Colliery site, on the approach road to the village of Cwm, where 52 miners lost their lives in an explosion on March 1st 1927 .