[2] Formerly a major coal mining centre the Abertillery area was transformed in the 1990s using EU and other funding to return to a greener environment.

These were all included in a Blaenau Gwent Borough Council remodelling and modernisation project using European Union funding in a £13 million programme spread over a 5-year period ending in 2015.

[5] The project included a new multi-storey car park, a revamp of public areas and the town's Metropole Theatre.

In March 2014 Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, officiated at the launch of Jubilee Square, a public facility in the town centre next to St Michael's Church.

[7] Major industry came to the area in 1843 when the locality's first deep coal mine was sunk at Tir Nicholas Farm, Cwmtillery.

This artistically acclaimed monument standing at 20m tall overlooks Parc Arael Griffin, the now reclaimed and landscaped former colliery site.

The adjoining Ty Ebbw Fach visitor centre provides conference facilities, a restaurant and a "mining valley" experience room.

[11] The street plan and housing stock flow uninterrupted from Cwmtillery in the north to Six Bells in the south, forming the town that is Abertillery.

Historical data relating to Abertillery occasionally refers to this AUDC area meaning that it can be difficult to compare like with like.

These apart, terraced council tax band A and B properties predominate, meaning that average house prices are among the most affordable in the UK.

In 1799 clergyman and historian Archdeacon William Coxe toured the area and in writing a diary of his travels described it as "... richly wooded, and highly cultivated...we looked down with delight upon numerous valleys ... with romantic scenery".

[17] Formed in 1877, Abertillery Urban District Council incorporated the adjoining smaller communities of Six Bells, Cwmtillery, Brynithel, Aberbeeg and Llanhilleth.

The surrounding landscape provides hill walking opportunities and walker led groups are thriving in the area.

Local people of note in the fields of civil engineering, sport, science, medicine, religion and art: Abertillery is twinned with Royat in France.