Location: Aberfan

On 21 October 1966, a spoil heap collapsed on top of a school in Aberfan. There were 144 fatalities. 116 of them were children. It was one of the worst disasters in British history and the worst mining disaster to affect non-miners. The cause of the tragedy was an engineering failure: the tip was built on a spring, was positioned on a slope, and was saturated by heavy rainfall. It was one of seven giant mountains of coal waste that was produced by Merthyr Vale Colliery.

The disaster was entirely preventable, had the tips been placed elsewhere or had the more unstable tips been removed, as was the request of local residents. As it was, the owners of the tips -- the National Coal Board -- did not listen to the villagers. The Tribunal tasked with leading a legal inquiry into the disaster concluded that the NCB was wilfully ignorant of the dangers posed by its tipping practices.

After the disaster, residents were desperate for the remaining tips to go. They were a reminder of the tragedy and posed a danger to the village. But the government said it would be too expensive to dismantle the tips. They claimed that the fears in Aberfan were irrational. The NCB carried out inspections of the tips and found them to be safe. The people of Aberfan no longer trusted what they were told by experts. Even some of the experts agreed – behind close doors – that the tips were unsafe.

The people of Aberfan were determined to have the tips removed in the first step to rebuilding their village. The fight took six years. Members of the local community formed a special committee to pressure the British government. They staged protests. Some took slurry and created small tips at the Welsh Office. They lobbied politicians. They created alliances with the media.

In the end, with this tremendous effort, the people of Aberfab convinced the government to remove the tips. But they had to contribute to the costs of doing so – from charitable donations given to help surviving children. Around £300,000 was taken from the Aberfan Disaster Fund to pay for the deconstruction of the tip complex. Eventually, three decades later, the money would be returned to the Fund by the Blairite government.

This is the story of how Aberfan was rebuilt after the disaster of 1966. It was done not with the help of, but rather in spite of, the British government.

Merthyr Vale Tips

Tipping began on the top of Merthyr Mountain in 1913, when Merthyr Vale Colliery employed 3,575 men, making it the...

Read more about the Merthyr Vale Tips »

Merthyr Vale Colliery

In the nineteenth century, Aberfan was no more than a public house, a farm, and a handful of cottages. This...

Read more about the Merthyr Vale Colliery »

Memorial Garden

The Aberfan Memorial Garden is located on the site of the former Pantglas Junior School. On the 21st of October...

Ysgol Rhyd Y Grug

Ysgol Rhyd Y Grug Primary was set up as a temporary school for the survivors of the Aberfan disaster in...

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Aberfan Cemetery

A special section of Aberfan Cemetery is dediated to the people who lost their lives in the tragedy. A mass...

River Taff

Aberfan is located on the western incline of the River Taff valley. The River Taff flows through the village from north to south. During our second workshop in November 2023, we walked by the river and captured part of how it sounds and looks like.

Terraced Streets

During our second workshop walking with the children of the Rhyd y Grug Primary School in Aberfan, on the way back to the school, the rain stopped and we were able to see the blue sky and a Red Kite overseeing Aberfan streets.

Community Centre

Aberfan Community Centre was officially opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II. It was designed by members of the Aberfan...