It is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Newport on the A467 between Cwmcarn and Newbridge, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.

An estate at Abercarn was owned by the ironmaster Richard Crawshay; in 1808, it passed to his son-in-law, the industrialist and politician Benjamin Hall.

[2] The district was traditionally associated with the coal mining collieries, ironworks and tinplate works of the South Wales coalfield and South Wales Valleys, although all have now closed;[3] the town, which lies in the middle portion of the Ebbw valley, being situated on the south-eastern flank of the once great mining region of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire.

[4][5] On 11 September 1878, an underground explosion at the Prince of Wales Colliery killed 268 coal miners.

Under the Local Government Act 1972 the urban district was abolished in 1974, becoming part of the borough of Islwyn, Gwent.